Do you believe that the Detroit Lions fans walking out of the game is a good protest against the owners and president? Because there will be a football game going on between the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions, and my belief is that this is a slap in a face to the Lions players.  The players have been putting out a strong effort every week to get a victory for their fans, its not there fault the president of the team has no clue. Since Matt Millen has taken over operations for the Detroit Lions the team has had a record of 23-71 the worst in the NFL since 2001. The fans are paying for the tickets, so it’s their right to do what thy please. Walking out on the team doesn’t really show up the president or owner it actually makes the football team look bad.  It’s not like every fan will walk out just a select few.
So on this Sunday December 24, 2006, with 8:36 minutes left in the 2nd quarter some fans have decided to walk out on the team in a protest to let the owner understand that it is time to fire Matt Millen. Football team win games, coaches call the right plays to win games, but management only pays the players to win games so who is really to blame.  A new coach came in and he continued the teams losing ways and if you bring new management they will either win or lose with the old management team. It’s a win/lose situation that is why I would suggest to the fans in the protest to just hold up signs and scream their heads off to fire Matt Millen.  That would show the football team it is not about them, but a message to management.

The great debate should professional athletes need to carry guns to protect themselves? Every sport has this problem, but the one professional sport that seems to have the most problem is the NFL.  Most of the players in the NFL have come from the poor neighborhoods and the streets; they don’t have a college educations and keep hanging out with their past.  These NFL players are putting themselves in danger and putting their teams at risk.  For instance, Tank Williams of the Chicago Bears house was raided for guns; he was already on probation for having a handgun in the car.  Chicago Bears as a team had to suspend him for one game, the league hasn’t given their ruling yet because the case hasn’t gone to trial. Mr. Williams has put his team at risk while they are making a push for the playoffs and he can’t join them. Why do players think that they need to care guns for protection? 

The main reason is they have names, faces, and money that the whole world knows about now.  The NFL has players who don’t have an education, their beliefs is that they need to keep it real.  What is real? People being true to themselves and knowing where they came from. The players hang with the guys who they grew up with but now they have the jewelry and cash they never had when they were younger. So these players are still trying to prove that they belong, but the problem is they don’t belong.  No NFL player should need to have a gun if they were home or at work (practice or game) which the average professional is doing.  They get paid lots of money from their teams to play a game they love for the money. Players should show their bosses the respect of not getting involved in criminal acts.

Every year there are a couple of players who don’t make the Pro Bowl team that have stats to show. Every year there is a debate about who selects the teams and where do they get the credentials. It is time for the NFL to allow players, coaches, and fans each have a say in the voting process.  The players know you they believe should be on the team, and the coaches also have a good understanding on who should make the team. The fans are voting on a popularity contest with each player that represents them making the team.  I truly don’t believe in the Pro Bowl. It’s the end of the season after the Super Bowl game which is only a vacation for players in Hawaii that really don’t want to play. 

If the current selection process is not working the NFL needs to go to a system that both the AFC & NFC needs to use.  Only players that rank in the top 5 in all categories that matter for their position can be put on the ballet.  For instance, Warren Sapp of the Oakland Raiders lead all interior defensive linemen in sacks with 9 should be on a Pro Bowl team.  Five years ago when he was popular these stats would have guaranteed him a spot, now he can’t even make it as an alternate. Post season stink for all star games and the NFL needs to change this up before the Pro Bowl game gets designated the Garage Bowl.

Terrell Owens can’t go a week without having his name and face on TV.  Saturday Night America watched as he scored two touchdowns and looked a team with the possibilities of going to the Super Bowl. On Sunday we found out that the main character in the NFL, Terrell Owens spit into another players face. Now is this called for in sports? This shows a complete lack of respect for the player and the game. It goes to show you a class of a man that we never found out until the next day, DeAngelo Hall or the announcers of the game never brought this up till the next day. He never retaliated against Owens he just played the game the way it was supposed to be played.
How in the world can a player get on another player nerves after 6 plays? That is not even enough time for them to cover one another, well that is what happen between Hall and Owens. On Monday the NFL fined Terrell Owens $35,000.00 for spitting on Hall, but what they really need to do is suspend him for the final two games without pay.  Talking smack is the norm in sports, and if you follow football we all know that DeAngelo Hall and Terrell Owens both love to talk smack. We have a major problem in sports when we have professional athletes disrespecting one another with spittle. The youth today looks up to these players as role models and them spitting on one another is not something the youth should hear or see.

From Thursday to Sunday, the NFL showed us why we still must watch the games as a team’s record is no indication on who will win the game.  Thursday Night the San Francisco 49ers surprised the Seattle Seahawks, then Saturday night comes it looks like the Dallas Cowboys are the team to beat in the weak NFC. Then on Sunday it all broke loose, the Tampa Bucs’ took Chicago Bears to overtime and Washington Redskins beat the NO Saints outright. The only team in the NFL that we can depend on is the San Diego Chargers, with MVP candidate La Dainen Tonlinson, they beat the KC Chiefs on Sunday Night by 11 pts.

If you had to choose a team in the NFC to go to the Super Bowl, most people would pick the Bears.  Chicago Bears have home field advantage throughout the playoffs in the weak NFC, but they can barely beat a team that has only won 2 games this year. The most consistent team in the NFC is the Philadelphia Eagles which no one gave a chance 4 weeks ago when their starting quarterback went down. Tonight game in Indianapolis will tell us much more about the AFC, but at least we know that teams in this division are the real deal.

The Seattle Seahawks are lucky this year that their division is not that good, because in the last two weeks this team shows that they don’t belong in the playoffs. In the last two weeks they have lost games to two teams nowhere close to making the playoffs and also having losing records. There is only three weeks left of this season and the Seahawks hold a 2 game lead over the San Francisco 49ers. In a head to head match up the 49ers hold the tie breaker since they beat them twice this season. So the only way that are theory of the losing Super Bowl champs not making the playoffs the following season will end.
 

This season it goes to show you that there is a big difference in the NFC and AFC. Seattle would be fighting to get into the playoffs if they were in the AFC division. Experts were picking this team to go back to the Super Bowl at the beginning of the season, and they looked good up until their best two players got hurt. In the absence the team went 3-3, the team didn’t gain or lose ground but the problem lies in that now they are both back and still can’t win.  Will the football gods help out our conspiracy theory and not let the Seattle Seahawks not make the playoffs, wait for the next three games to see what happens.

Again this year the Colts were the last NFL team to lose a game, but again this year they are the only division leader going into the playoffs on a down note.  Last year the cause of their demise was for resting players and the death of the coach’s son. This year it’s about defense, Coach Tony Dungy came to the Indianapolis Colts as a defensive head coach and if he could ever make the defensive side of the ball as good as the offense this team would be sure shots to a Super Bowl win. In the last 2 weeks the colts have lost two games, one to next year up and coming team the Tennessee Titans which they came back from 10pts down to beat them and the Jacksonville Jaguars which basically blew them out. Jacksonville showed the rest of the league the way to beat the Colts by running the ball at their weak defense.

In the NFL they always say offense brings excitement, but defense wins championships well if the Colts want to go far in the playoffs they better learn defense.  They are easily one of the top 3 teams offensively in the league and have one of the best quarterbacks of all time in Peyton Manning. Even though this offense doesn’t run the ball as good as last year, their defense is going to kill them again. The last 5 Super bowl Champs have had a defense that ranked in the 10 of the NFL in defensive categories the Colts are ranked in the last 10. Tony Dungy this is why you get paid the big bucks, you better fix your side of the ball or start looking for another job.

Vince Young of the Tennessee Titans is leading the way of the backup quarterback carousel. He has won 6 out of 10 games he started this year. We also have a quarterback in Philadelphia, Jeff Garcia who also has a winning record of 2-1 since he became the starter of the Eagles. The NFL is only in week 14 and only 47 backup quarterbacks have played in games, the average for the last 5 years is 57.1 so far the starters are staying healthier. Most of the back ups who are starting this year will be projected starters for their team the following year, especially the four rookie quarterbacks for the Broncos (Jay Cutler), Cardinals (Matt Leinart), Cowboys (Tony Romo) and Titans (Young).
The 15 replacement quarterbacks who have started games have posted a record of 41-42 this year. Last season the combined mark for backups was 32-57, and the winning rate for backups over the past ten years was just around 40%. The question going into next season which of the backup quarterbacks who are now starting are going to be lost to free agency or stick with their team. It has become essential in the NFL to have a good backup quarterback, some backup quarterbacks are making above 3 million dollars a year to sit on the bench for a just in case. Look at Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs these two teams have backup quarterbacks that have kept them in the playoffs as the starters got healthy. Next year we will have many quarterbacks fighting for jobs, but look for the next competition to be at the second string quarterback job.

The Chicago Bears last night showed the NFL and the TV audience why they are the team to beat in the NFC conference. The only team in the NFC that can beat the Chicago is the Bears themselves, if they turn the ball over and score at least 20 pts no team can beat them.  They have one of the best defenses’ in the league and they will be hard to beat in Chicago with their weather. The Bears have a two game lead on the NO Saints for home field advantage throughout the playoffs with 3 games to play.
As much as we see the dominance that the Bears have displayed this year the burning question is at quarterback. Rex Grossman is the biggest deciding fate the Chicago Bears have if he plays well and doesn’t turn the ball over the Bears will reach the Super Bowl. As good as Chicago has been this year the question also comes up with who have they played against so far? The only two loses this year have come to teams in the AFC conference and Super Bowl will be played in a warm climate city. Experts are still picking the Seattle Seahawks or Dallas Cowboys as the teams to beat in the NFC, what do the Bears need to do to make the Super Bowl, better yet win the Super Bowl?

Six years ago if you asked anyone who the hottest coach in the NFL was the answer would have been Jon Gruden. He was the youngest coach to ever win a Super Bowl. Jon had one of the best defense team in the league so why couldn’t this team become the next dynasty. Since that Super Bowl Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had only one winning season which they weren’t even picked to win that season.

We would like to blame Jon Gruden for all these losses, but the main problem has been at quarterback were the Buccaneers have lost their starting quarterback 4 times in the last 6 seasons.  The Buccaneers defense has lost many of their pro bowl players and the ones they have left are getting older. So the question is it time for them to head in a new direction with a new coach and younger players, or is management going to stick with Gruden and go with veterans that he likes in free agency. My pick is stick with the coach who brought you a championship and is still young enough to turn things around.