Ten Thoughts on the NFL: Chicago Bears and beyond

1) Hours before his Friday practice, Aldon Smith of the San Francisco 49ers, crashed into a tree and was arrested. He blew a .15 on the breathalyzer, nearly twice the .08 legal limit in the state of California.

It bears repeating, this was hours before his team's practice.

49er head coach Jim Harbaugh, along with his GM, elected to play Smith in yesterday's loss to the Colts, and I vehemently feel that was the wrong decision. Drunk driving is a problem not only in the NFL, but in society in general. Stiffer penalties are desperately needed.

2) I wonder how much action was bet on the Jaguars +19 against the Seahawks? If I were a betting man, I would have taken Seattle. And just how bad are the Jags you ask; Seattle back up QB Tarvaris Jackson was 7 for 8 with 129 yards, and a TD.

Expect another one of those lame knock knock joke memes (Who's there? Owen) to be awaiting them next week as they host the Colts.

3) Speaking of the Colts, that was a very impressive win, going into San Francisco and beating the 49ers 27-7. I wonder if teams are catching up with Colin Kaepernick, or maybe the Niners were still physically and emotionally drained after being beat-down the week prior in Seattle? Then again, maybe they just aren't running the ball enough. Frank Gore is pissed.

4) Running a fast-break style of offense only works if you have a good enough defense to get off the field. Remember the Jim Kelly K-Gun offense in Buffalo that went to four Super Bowls? They had a playmaking defense that allowed them to remain up tempo on offense. The Philadelphia Eagles aren't good enough to run Chip Kelly's high octane offense, yet.

Over the past 150 minutes of play, the Eagles have held the ball for 52:55 and opponents have had it for 97:05.

That is seriously lopsided.

5) So much for Ed Reed and his circled calendar. His 3 tackles didn't do much to help prevent his old team from beating his new team 30-9.

6) The New York Giants are bad.

7) The New York Jets, despite their 2-1 record, are also bad.

8) When the Cleveland Browns traded Trent Richardson, most NFL pundits expected them to miserably tank the rest of the year. No one told the Browns players and coaches. QB Brian Hoyer went over 300 yards passing, and wide out Josh Gordon had nearly 150 yards receiving. Their defense had six sacks, and their special teams executed both a fake punt and a fake field goal.

9) I thought it showed leadership and class when Brandon Marshall made a point to compliment fellow wide out Earl Bennett. He talked about Earl's professionalism, and the fact that he took a pay cut when asked by management.

We already discussed how the Bears don't utilize a traditional slot receiver, but Earl Bennett is a big part of what the Bears want to do offensively, as he can play any receiver spot for the Bears.

10) I mentioned this thought on Twitter last night (follow me @wiltfongjr), but I think the Bears are blitzing too much because of the lack of consistent d-line pressure. That blitzing is causing the Bears to play more man to man than they would like, and when the blitz isn't getting home, it's giving QBs more opportunities for big plays.