Ten Thoughts on the NFL and the Bears

1) The Miami Dolphins pulled off one of the best plays in the history of the NFL in their win against the New England Patriots. The “Miami Miracle” win was Miami’s fifth in their last six tries against New England at home, and it moved them to 7-6 on the season. It also kept their playoff hopes alive as they only trail the 7-6 Baltimore Ravens for the 6th seed.

If you haven’t watched the play yet, here you go...

I’ve heard of letting the moment breathe, but the Patriots’ radio announcers were flabbergasted.

The best part about the Tecmo version is Rob Gronkowski at the end.

2) When it comes to fantastic plays, no player has opened more eyes this season than the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes.

His latest was a no-look pass in their win against the Baltimore Ravens.

In case you were wondering, Mahomes did play a little basketball back in the day.

Also, in case you were wondering, this wasn’t the first time he pulled off the no-look pass in a game.

3) The Indianapolis Colts snapped the Houston Texans’ nine game win streak with a 24 - 21 win behind Andrew Luck’s 399 yards passing. The Colts were the butt of a lot of jokes this offseason and earlier this year, but head coach Frank Reich has that team playing good football right now.

Next year they are set to have a boat load of cap space and I’d expect them to go all in to bolster the talent around Luck.

4) The New Orleans Saints survived a first half scare in Tampa Bay and rallied from a 14-3 deficit to win 28-14. The best part of the game was this play by the Saints Mark Ingram.

5) Way back on Thursday night, Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry went off for 238 yards rushing and 4 TDs. He either gave Fantasy Football teams a heck of a boost, or caused owners to pull out their hair seeing that production from their bench.

He wasn’t even on a roster in one of my leagues.

6) Another monster performance was turned in by 49ers tight end George Kittle, who I think may be the best TE in the game today. After posting 7 catches for 210 yards and a TD, his season totals are up to 69 receptions for 1,103 yards and 4 TDs.

Keep in mind that Kittle was drafted because of his excellent blocking skills and you can see why I have him up there with the best at his position.

7) Jon Gruden’s decisions to part ways with Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper have helped the Bears and Cowboys to the 3rd and 4th seeds in the NFC playoff race.

Any chance he gets some coach of the year votes?

8) The Green Bay Packers played with a renewed energy after they fired head coach Mike McCarthy, and they beat the Atlanta Falcons 34 to 20. At 5-7-1 they’re still hanging on to a slight postseason hope, but with trips to Chicago, then the Jets, before hosting the Lions week 17, they’ll likely need to win out plus get some help.

The 6th seed in the NFC is currently held by a 6-6-1 team, and with two 6-7 teams in the 7th and 8th seed, the Packers (currently the 9th seed) even at 7-8-1 could still get in. That would likely set up a 6th seed (G.B.) vs. 3rd seed (Chi) match up in round one.

The ESPN Playoff Machine is a fun little time waster if you want to play around with scenarios.

9) The Minnesota Vikings fired offensive coordinator John DeFilippo following their horrible offensive showing last night against the Seattle Seahawks. DeFilippo, if you remember, was the favorite by a lot of analysts and Bears’ fans, to take over after John Fox was fired in Chicago.

Things change quickly in the NFL, but I have a feeling he’ll get a job before the year is over.

9a) Speaking of the Vikings game, this Tweet is getting a lot of traction.

10) From Club Dub, to the hype videos, to the behind the scene clips, to awesome stuff like the following Tweet, the Chicago Bears social media and video team has been absolutely killing it this year.