Mike Mulligan: The charm of a crazy season was all but drained out during one miserable Sunday in Green Bay, but as much as nobody wants to hear it, Bears coach Lovie Smith is perfectly correct in his uncomplicated statement that his team is left with a six-game season. Two straight losses have erased the magic of an unexpected 5-3 first half, but division-wide mediocrity leaves the Bears with a clear path to the playoffs.
Mike Mulligan: There comes a point in every season for every team where you either stand up and make a move or you fade away and die. The Bears reached that point Sunday after a dreadful 37-3 loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. It was a wretched game in which nothing went right and a couple of truths were painfully revealed.
Mike Mulligan: You can add envy and jealousy to the turbulent mix of emotions in Green Bay these days. Brett Favre's success with the New York Jets -- after an overtime victory Thursday at New England moved them to 7-3 and alone atop the AFC East -- comes as an affront to some fans in troubled Cheeseland.
Mike Mulligan: here was a time this season when Brandon Lloyd seemed on the verge of emerging as a lovable underdog, a Comeback Player of the Year candidate set to make his old team look foolish and his old college coach look like a genius.
Mike Mulligan: There will be a lot of talk today about what might have happened if Kyle Orton had able to start at quarterback instead of Rex Grossman on Sunday. Grossman failed to turn the terrible field position he faced for most of the day and the Bears became just another victim of the unbeaten Tennessee Titans by a score of 21-14. Presumably, Orton would have fared better.
There's no secret formula, no magic potion, no real blueprint to copy. The success of the Tennessee Titans, the only unbeaten team in the NFL, comes down to the simplest of things: running the football, playing great defense and winning on special teams.
Mike Mulligan: Nothing seems to spur righteous indignation as much as the massive sums of money paid to pro athletes, especially when there isn't any bang for the buck. Salaries are often described as obscene or absurd and the men who earn them regarded as pampered and unmotivated.
Avictory -- any victory, even a victory over a winless team -- is a glorious thing in the NFL. A victory that gives a team sole possession of first place is one that should be celebrated and enjoyed with pagan pleasure.
10Texans receiver Andre Johnson has at least 10 catches in three consecutive games. He can become the first player in NFL history with four 10-catch games in a row today against the Vikings. Johnson shares the record with former Lions receiver Brett Perriman (1995) and Colts receiver Reggie Wayne (2007-08).
Mike Mulligan: The Bears haven't even reached the middle of the season, but without a doubt the best thing to happen to the franchise in years -- well, a couple of years anyway -- is the offense.