Ten Thoughts on the NFL and the Bears

1) Washington fired head coach Jay Gruden, but when you look at that roster, what was he supposed to do with those guys? But with that being said, his 35-49-1 record in five plus years is bad enough to get him the pink slip.

2) I loved watching the Indianapolis Colts pound the rock on Sunday Night Football against the Kansas City Chiefs. They had 45 rushing attempts for 180 yards, while quarterback Jacoby Brissett only threw 29 passes. The Colts won 19 to 13 with kicker Adam Vinatieri making 4 field goals. Wasn’t Vinateri rumored to be retiring a couple weeks ago?

Colts’ left guard Quenton Nelson is one of my favorite players to watch and he had another fine day.

3) Deshaun Watson has had a strange season so far, and if we follow the trend he’s going to have a very pedestrian game against the Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday in his first head to head match-up against Patrick Mahomes.

Check out some of his passing numbers for the first five games this year.

Week 1 - 268 yards, 3 TDs, 114.3 passer rating

Week 2 - 159 yards, 0 TDs, 70.9 p.r.

Week 3 - 351 yards, 3 TDs, 135.8 p.r.

Week 4 - 160 yards, 0 TDs, 75.3 p.r.

Week 5 - 426 yards, 5 TDs, 158.3 p.r.

The roller coaster indicates that Watson will be down in K.C, but in his only meting against the Chiefs, as a rookie in 2017, he threw for 5 TDs and 261 yards in their 34-42 loss.

I have a feeling this game will feature some video game numbers from both QBs.

4) After five weeks the front runner for offensive player of the year is Carolina Panthers Christian McCaffery, and it’s not even close. He has rushed for 587 yards so far with 279 receiving yards for a league leading 866 yards from scrimmage. That last total is the most through five games since 1950 behind the 988 Jim Brown put up in the 1963 season. If MVP wasn’t almost always a quarterback award, McCaffery would be a legit candidate for that too.

5) It would appear I was completely wrong* about the Cleveland Browns and quarterback Baker Mayfield. He’s on pace for more yards this season, but his TD percentage is down and his interception percentage is up. While he’s not playing well, his coaching staff isn’t doing him any favors. Some in the media are suggesting that the Browns coaching staff is in over their heads and that it might be one and done for head coach Freddie Kitchens.

*Then again, he’s a young quarterback that is going to go through some growing pains, so let’s check back on him at the end of the year.

6) The San Francisco 49ers meanwhile are still undefeated, but I need to see them beat a good team before knowing if they’re legit or not. My guess is they are but a showdown with the L.A. Rams on Sunday will tell for sure.

7) The other undefeated team, the New England Patriots, has played one of the easiest schedules in the history of easy schedules, but they get the benefit of the doubt as the defending champs. They also get the Giants, Jets, and Browns in their next three so 7-0 is a real possibility.

8) Playing the New York Jets is a good cure to get a defense back on track, and the Philadelphia Eagles D exploded on Sunday in their 31-6 win with 10 sacks, and 2 defensive TDs, becoming the first team in NFL history to do that.

9) The Arizona Cardinals picked up their first win and it was rookie QB Kyler Murray that led them down in 6 plays that covered 62 yards that got them in position for the Zane Gonzalez field goal to win it. On the day Murray had 253 passing yards and 93 rushing yards.

10) If you guys would have checked out the interview Bill Zimmerman conducted with Olin Kreutz on his podcast, Bears Banter on our WCG Podcast Channel, you would have heard him talking about the Chicago Bears’ offensive line and in particular the struggles of Kyle Long. It’s a really good interview, so if you missed it be sure to go back and listen, but in the meantime here’s a small snippet of Kreutz and Matt Forte talking about Long on NBC Sports.

I don’t know if there’s one injury holding Long back, or if his body has just had enough after three years of surgeries, but Long isn’t able to play football right now. Don’t be surprised if there’s a move before the next game with Long going on injured reserve.