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1) Charles Tillman may not have the multiple Pro Bowls as some of his Chicago Bears peers, or an eventual place in the Pro Football Hall Of Fame, but make no mistake about it, he is one of the greatest players to ever don the Navy and Orange of the Bears.
His on field numbers are outstanding, but off the field, few players have done as much for his community as Charles "Peanut" Tillman. If the Bears elect to part ways with the free agent to be, I'm sure I won't be alone in wishing him well in his future endeavors.
2) With the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers both winning, I was all set to make a witty joke about the 2008 Detroit Lions cracking open some alcohol of some kind to toast their 0-16 remaining intact. But after reading about 248 such jokes via Twitter, I'll just move along...
For the record, my go-to alcohol joke usually revolves around the crisp taste of Zima.
3) What other solution to the fiasco in Miami is there other than to fire the coaching staff, maybe shake up the front office, and go for a clean re-boot?
4) I'm not a big fan of Shannon Sharpe the analyst, but his take on the situation on Miami is spot on in my opinion.
5) After losing their first two games by a total of six points, the Carolina Panthers are 6-1. If they can knock off the New England Patriots this Sunday I think a case can be made that they are the best team in the NFC. They still have both games remaining with the division leading 7-2 New Orleans Saints, so the NFC South is up for grabs.
6) Did anyone predict the fall of the Atlanta Falcons? They've had some injuries, but their defense is bad, and they are dead last in rushing.
7) Speaking of surprising teams, the Houston Texans dropped their 7th straight after starting 2-0. How's this for a crazy stat, they have the #1 defense by only allowing 280 yards per game, but they are 28th in giving up 27.6 points per game. All those pick 6's they gave up, and their -9 turnover ratio, really hurt the bottom line.
8) The New York Giants have won three straight after their 0-6 start, and are only two games back in the NFC East. I'm not a Giants fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I would love to see them come all the way back and win that division.
9) It looks like the Dallas Cowboys are struggling with the nuances of the Tampa 2 defense. They are 32nd in passing yards allowed, and 32nd in yards allowed. Losing middle linebacker Sean Lee for 3-4 weeks is a big blow for that struggling D.
10) How badly did losing to the Detroit Lions hurt the Chicago Bears? Bad enough that it caused wide out Brandon Marshall to break character and say some fairly stupid things. Calling the Lions the "little brother", saying he'll punch the little brother "in the face", taking a shot at the city by saying Detroit should fix their "financial problems."
I get it. He was pissed. He was frustrated.
The film of their loss to the Lions was probably still fresh in his head, and the punishment doled out to his quarterback made him even angrier. Since coming to the Bears, Marshall hae been a model citizen, but this time he stuck his foot in his mouth. The Bears were swept by Detroit, and on those two afternoons the Lions were the better team.
I know the Lions are an NFC North rival of Bears and their fans, but over at SBN's Pride Of Detroit, they had a very good take on the situation, with as you would expect, a Detroit slant.