Yes I Am Drinking The Bears' Kool-Aid

Note: This has been a very busy week for me, so I'm slowly writing this blog day-by-day, so that's why this didn't come out on Tuesday.

Yeah both teams played sloppily Tuesday night and yes two Jay Cutler interceptions were nullified by penalties, that's Jay Cutler, he takes chances and throws interceptions. Does Peyton Manning take chances? Does Tom Brady? Newsflash: they do. The difference is Brady and Manning have better personnel, and in the case of the Colts, I would say elite. What the Bears have going for them is they have an elite coach in Mike Martz. Sportsyak like to bang on Martz for every little thing. Yes he is a control freak and gets mean when things don't go his way. Did he make mistakes as coach of the Rams? Absolutely. Remember in the off-season after the Super Bowl loss to the Patriots? He cut ties with several defensive superstars, including London Fletcher, and came under fire when ordering a field goal at the end of regulation in the playoff game against the Panthers. I would admit that Martz is not the best when it comes to personnel decisions but he is a bona fide offensive genious, and has been for the past decade.

What's different about Martz's offenses is that a.) a defense simply cannot scheme against it. You expect pass on every play, but if you defense for that, you'll get run and vise-versa. b.) his offense does not audibleize that much. They come to line, have crazy motions, and then snap the ball with very little pre-snap "chicken dancing" from the quarterback. c.) he likes to control the pace. If the game is flowing slowly, he'll loosen it up by passing. If it's going super quick, he'll slow it down by calling a few runs.

Martz has recognized that the Bears do not have the talent or the o-line the caliber of his St. Louis teams, so he does not call passes that involve Jay Cutler dropping back, holding the ball for seven seconds and heaving the ball 60 yards for a big gain. The Bears offensive line simply cannot handle that. Even when the Packers rushed just three, it seems they hurried Cutler into moving outside the pocket for time to throw.

The Bears' defense is opportunistic, which is scary. They don't steal the spotlight with mega-bucks talent or monster turnovers, they just play good defense, much like the Bengals. So while the sports media are drinking the Michael Vick Kool-Aid, I'll take the Bears.

In other NFL news, the Micheal Vick beat a crappy team and Steelers can win without Ben Roethlisberger and the Chiefs, the freakin' Chiefs are 3-0. Maybe from now on I should call them "Patriots West" because their quarterback, offensive coordinator, linebacker and defensive coordinator used to be with the Patriots.

Browns Rant of the Week:

Another new feature to this blog. Living in Ohio I see the Browns week-in and week-out. They are making progress somewhat, but it's painful to watch sometimes. I have my doubts about the Ravens. They gave up 173 yards rushing to the Browns and fullback Peyton Hillis. And they would have given up more if it had not been for the conservative play calling of the Browns. They had spurts of aggressiveness, like on their very first drive where they threw on the first two plays and picked up considerable gains. And then there were two third and longs where they threw a rinky-dink screen on one, and simply and run up the middle that got stuffed on another.

And then there's their defense. On the game-icing touchdown to Anquan Boldin, the Browns blitzed eight, leaving Boldin practically uncovered. Thankfully though, that was really the only Browns defensive blunder of the game.

They need a lot of work to become a good team; cut down on penalties and loosen up on offense. I do however think they have the coaches and talent to be a .500 team.

Adventures in Officiation: The conclusion of the Saints-Falcons overtime game was, well, interesting. With two minutes remaining in the first overtime period the Falcons attempted a 41-yard field goal to win the game. The kick was blocked by the Saints, but...Sean Payton called one of those stupid timeouts just as the ball was snapped, nullifying the try as well as the block. On the second try Matt Bryant's field goal was good, but...the Falcons were penalized for a false start, pushing them back five yards. On the third try, this time from 46-yards, the kick was good with no timeouts or penalties and the game was over. Anyone else think the sneaky timeout before the field goal think is kind of stupid?

Charlie Batch Best Backup QB Ever?: Charlie Batch, Steelers backup quarterback, is 36 and has been in the league for 13 seasons. A second-round pick of the Lions in 1998 he started 12 games for the team in his rookie year (which was Barry Sanders' last before his abrupt retirement) and went 5-7, accounting for all five of the Lions wins that year. Batch was the highest-rated of the three starting quarterbacks of the Lions that season, going 173 for 303 for 2,178 yards with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions. Not bad for a rookie, especially one that was thrown into a less-than-ideal situation. And he did throw a 98-yard pass to Johnnie Morton, the longest pass of the season. The next season the Lions were 8-8 and made the playoffs even without Sanders. Batch started 10 games, going 6-4. Despite not being the leading passer for the team that year he still led the team in touchdowns with 13 and threw the same amount of INTs (7) as Gus Frerotte, who started the remaining six games.

The next season, 2000, the Lions were 9-7, which happens to be the last time the Lions have had a winning season. A miracle field goal by the Bears kept the Lions out of the playoffs. Batch was the primary starter, starting 15 games. Batch went 221 for 412 for 2,489 yards with 13 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.

2001 was a disasterous season for the Lions. They only won two games. Ty Detmer was coach Marty Mornhinweg's starter. But after throwing seven interceptions and a bad showing against the Rams, Detmer was benched and Batch became the starter.

Since 2002 Batch has been on the Steelers staff but has only started five games in that span, but has always been effective and efficient. And unless Roethlisberger really struggles or gets hurt, then it's doubtful that we'll see him again this year.

Useless Stats Section:

Stat #1: The Seahawks and Cardinals are tied for the lead in the NFC West. Remember when we all thought the road in the NFC playoffs would go through San Francisco? The 49ers will be lucky to have a winning season based on the way they look and the way things are going.

Stat #2: The Giants have turned the ball over 10 times so far this season, the Colts, twice.

Stat #3: The Vikings have the 29th ranked offense in the NFL.

Stat #4: With one more interception, Favre will match his total from last season...in the fourth game.

Stat #5: The Cowboys are on pace to throw 688 passes this season.

Brett Favre Rant of the Week:

Adrian Peterson has almost 392 yards rushing already this season, that's a 2,091 yard pace, and with Favre playing as bad as he is, he's going to need every one of those yards. Favre threw two more interceptions, bringing his total to six in this young season. If he throws one more he'll have the same amount of interceptions as last year. Not all hope is lost for the Vikings though, they'll just have to rely less on Favre this season, and it's still unclear if he's injured, in pain, or just plain old. Next week the Vikings have a bye.

College Football Scores From Schools You've Never Heard Of:

Score #1: Southern Connecticut State 28, American International 7

Bonus Score: St. John Fisher 34, Hobart 14

CFSFSNYNHO Basketball-Football Score: Macalester 44, Crown College 41

CFSFSNYNHO Blowout of the Week: Southwest Baptist 69, Southern Nazarene 27

On TV Next Week: This week Fox has the doubleheader. I'll be seeing the "Battle of Ohio 2010 1.0" at 1:00 on CBS. Meanwhile on Fox at 1:00 I'll be seeing Saints-Falcons and Redskins-Eagles at 4:15. The Sunday Night game is Bears-Giants and Monday Night is Dolphins-Patriots. The Chiefs, Cowboys, Buccaneers, and Vikings, a combined record of 8-5, have byes next week.