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That’s Pro Football Focus, of course, and today we’re asking you to answer a couple of questions aimed at helping us understand our readers and subscribers, what they like or don’t like, and how we can improve for 2011.

It was a great 2010 — we had a lot of new folks on board, and it’s been a tremendously positive experience for all of us.

While we had many more free articles than in years past, this was our first year as a subscription service — a controversial decision, and one we didn’t take lightly. We’re hoping that through your opinions, we can come up with the best possible plan for next year to make everyone happy.

Please take a few seconds to answer our questions and leave any comments you’d like, and we look forward to hearing what you think.  CLICK HERE TO TAKE OUR POLL.

(Note: If you click submit and there’s no obvious signal that the poll has been accepted, don’t sweat it — it got to us.)

In the first two meetings between these two teams, there was one constant — the Packer defense getting the better of the Bears’ offense. No Bear offensive player graded positively in both games vs. Green Bay.

In the Week 17 game, the Packers completely baffled Jay Cutler (-2.9) who only had 4.3 yards per attempt, and was sacked six times. But the Bears also showed some D of their own; Charles Tillman (+4.0) had a great game getting an interception and only allowing one completion. It was Julius Peppers (+6.1) getting loose in the Week 3 matchup,

Does Chicago’s offense have tricks up its sleeve? Or will it take special teams and defense playing huge games to pull a rare home upset in the playoffs?

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Call this one the MVP Bowl.

In a memorable game featuring our top two MVP finishers, the Falcons won in an epic battle 20-17 the last time these two teams met. Matt Ryan (+5.6) led the Falcons with only three incompletions and one throw away. Aaron Rodgers (+4.6) led the Packers with a brilliant game, especially on throws between 10 and 20 yards.

The teams exchanged touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but an Eric Weems’ kick return for the Falcons along with a facemask penalty put the Falcons in field goal range to score the game winning points with three seconds remaining.

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To begin the 2010 season the Packers went to Philadelphia and came out victorious 27-20. The Packers did this with amazing play by outside linebacker Clay Matthews (+10.0) who had one of the best games we’ve seen by an outside linebacker this season. He had six pressures, one hit and three sacks, and was the difference in an otherwise even game.

This game saw the beginning of the Michael Vick (+5.1) Era in Philadelphia. Kevin Kolb (-4.0) started the game, and in 13 dropbacks had only two completions where he threw the ball past the line of scrimmage and was sacked three times. Vick on the other hand had a great performance with 7.3 yards per passing attempt and 103 rushing yards on 11 attempts.

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These teams last played to kick off the 2009 season. The Ravens hosted the Chiefs, and put up an excellent team performance to win 38-24. The Ravens did not have a single player on offense with a rating in the red (below -1.0), and only two players on defense.

The Chiefs offense looked very different from what it does now. At quarterback was Brodie Croyle (+3.6) who got his only start of the season, and put up respectable numbers with 7.4 yards per attempt. Running the ball was Larry Johnson (-1.4) who didn’t help much, rushing 11 times for 20 yards. The leading receiver was Mark Bradley (-0.5) who had four catches for 73 yards.

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1. Which of the four wild-card games intrigues you most?

Sam Monson: Ravens at Chiefs. I’m looking forward to seeing if the Ravens can contain a potent Chiefs rushing attack with Jamaal Charles averaging more than 6 yards a carry every time he touches the ball. The Ravens can stop the run when they want to, and it’s really the key to the game. I’m also curious to see what Cassel can do IF the Ravens can force KC to the air.

Khaled Elsayed: Green Bay at Philadelphia. Intrigued in as much as I haven’t got a clue who is going to win it. So many questions as to how the Packers plan on stopping Vick, or how the Eagles are going to slow down the Packers offense. Should be an excellent game. Read the rest of this entry »

The problem with the NFL’s MVP debate is that it plays out like the chase for the college football championship: It’s all subjective. It’s all supposition, and inference, and who did what against who, and in the end there can be several different options for No. 1.

Our seven voters were asked to pick their top 20 choices for MVP, and there were 44 different players mentioned – including four different players as MVP: Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning. Cases can be made for all four as deserving of the crown, which we’ll detail below, and trying to decide between them is nitpicking on an epic scale.

But what does it all mean? Considering the fact that only one of our top 10 finishers (Philip Rivers) won’t be in the postseason, the true MVP won’t be crowned until February.

Whichever one of these superstars actually ends up with the Vince Lombardi Trophy will be 2010’s real MVP – and there’s nothing subjective about that. Read the rest of this entry »

Every team comes into the season with some weaknesses they know need to shore up.

Some manage it nicely. Others, well, not so much.

Many of those teams who couldn’t protect their Achilles’ heels are playoff spectators now because of it; here’s a look at the 20 teams that didn’t make it to the promised land, and the specific problem that haunted them right to the end.

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1. Of the 20 non-playoff teams, which is most likely to be a Super Bowl contender in 2011?

Sam Monson: San Diego. I’m tempted to pick the Rams here, I like what they’re doing and they are better than they showed vs Seattle, but San Diego should have been there this season. Their roster doesn’t have many holes and they just need to stop digging themselves a hole to start the season.

Khaled Elsayed: You could make a case that a more disciplined Dallas Cowboys with Tony Romo at QB are real a threat. Romo was playing exceptionally well before injury, and considering how they played with Jon Kitna that should give teams plenty of food for thought. Read the rest of this entry »

Our Sam Monson spent some of his week on with the Patriots Football Weekly podcasters, talking about the MVP race and why Tom Brady – still – isn’t atop our list. His ears are still ringing from the cries of disbelief.

The MVP debate has been boiled down to quarterbacks, and rightly so. There are at least seven and maybe even eight MVP-caliber QBs this year, and Brady certainly seems like the easy choice with everyone more or less using the same formula: Best passer rating + best team record = MVP quarterback.

It’s not invalid, and it’s tough to argue against. But Brady is in second place after our 10 internal ballots were tabulated, behind a guy with a worse passer rating and a worse record – but one we agree is having a better and more valuable season.
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