Technically it’s Wednesday, but oh well. I didn’t get to see many of the games this weekend, but I’ll comment anyway. On a fantasy football note, I benched Stephen Davis and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, both of whom did amazingly, and I still got the second most points in my league this week. So well done by me.
Well, after a week of everyone saying “The Lions are definitely the best team in the NFC North,” now everyone’s saying “No, we meant the Bears.” Hopefully the Bears don’t blow it this coming weekend, so they can retain that title, but at this point, who knows. The newly revamped Bengals will be a very good test for this defense, but all I know is, they are just plain mean. We can win 7 games just with that defense alone. And the way things are looking, that may take the division.
Mike Brown and Brian Urlacher being healthy = good things
I could say more, like our offensive line looks solid; Kyle Orton’s playing better than Favre, Culpepper, or Harrington; Muhammed has been everything he advertised to be; and Lovie Smith may just turn out to be one of the better coaches in the league, but I think I’ll just bask in the really good feeling of being a Bears fan right now. Who knows how long that will last.
Now on to the other games. Even though I hate to say it, the Vikings offense is really lost without Moss. Him being on the field creates mis-matches, plain and simple, and they’re realizing that Burleson is not a #1 wide receiver. Culpepper has been running frantic and turning the ball over like he used to, and Mike Tice is a miserable coach (I’ve been saying that for years). If they can’t pull a victory out of either of the next two games (or when they get stomped by the Bears in 4 weeks), you might see Tice making an early exit, and the team would be the better for it. I can tell with the Minnesota people that I’ve chatted with up here, that they’re ready for it. But it’s still early, and with how much I love watching Culpepper fall on his face, he still scares me when it’s first and goal at the 4.
As much as I hate the Packers, I’d also hate to see Favre go out on this note, but I think he’s going to. That team is just miserable, and I have a feeling they might be going 5-11 this year. But it’s early (you sense my theme yet?).
Ravens start off 0-2, can’t deny I enjoyed that. I’ve been secretly (well, not that secretly) rooting against Boller, mainly because the Bears had a choice between him or Grossman, and I don’t want to regret that decision anymore than I already do. Zona starts off 0-2 as well, which I don’t really care about, other then the fact that I want Tim’s crazy underdog pick to be wrong. Although my underdog pick of Houston is blowing up in my face as well.
On that note, what is the freaking deal with the Texans? They had an emerging year last year, with Carr finally getting to the point of proving himself, Dominick Davis looking injury prone, but could still churn out 1,000 yards with bum knees, and Andre Johnson being a premier wideout, and everyone’s favorite sleeper fantasy pick. And they have looked miserable. I picked up David Carr and Dominick Davis, and may end up benching both of them, or dumping em. Now to their credit, they don’t have the easiest schedule in the world (like the Bears, hee hee), but they haven’t shown any signs of life yet. But it’s early.
It also brought a smile to my face to see everyone go “Oh, nevermind” in regards to San Fran and Miami. The 1st week is never a good barometer of things to come, but I suppose we have to do something right?
Well, that’s all my thoughts for this week. For the Bears, they’re entire season will be determined by the next four games. We have chance with this schedule to start off at least 4-2, if not 5-1. But……….(drum roll) it’s early.