Midwest Sports

Do the Cincinnati Bengals need to worry about Joe Burrow's future with the team? The owner, general manager, and head coach need to do whatever it takes to keep Joe Burrow in Cincinnati. When healthy he plays so well that he is one of only a few quarterbacks that have beaten Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs.  If they trade him (they shouldn't), they should ask for three first round picks and players.

Myles Garrett sits at 22 sacks for the season. He only needs a half a sack to tie the NFL record in a season. I hope he breaks the record this week so Giant fans don't complain about how Garrett had an extra week then Michael Strahan did.  The Browns play the Steelers this week and it would be even better if Garrett broke the record against Cleveland's division rival.

Packers travel to Chicago trying to beat the Bears for a second time in three weeks. Winner of this game most likely wins the NFC North and stays in the hunt for the top overall seed in the NFC since the Seahawks did everyone a favor and beat the Rams on Thursday Night Football.  Packers look to show they can still win without their late offseason acquisition, Micah Parsons. Green Bay lost Parsons to a torn knee last week. The Bears look to show everyone they are a force to play against even against playoff teams.

The Chicago Bears lead the league in turnover differential at 20. They also lead the league with 21 interceptions.  Quarterback, Caleb Williams has 21 touchdown passes and only 6 interceptions. Head Coach, Ben Johnson has turned Caleb's play around and turned this franchise around going in the right direction.  Great game this Saturday night when the Bears play against the Packers for the second time in three weeks. It came down to the wire last time when the Packers won. It is hard to imagine Green Bay sweeping Chicago this year. These aren't the same old Bears.  It'll be interesting to see if the Bears can make some noise in the postseason. 

Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos finally beat a team with a winning record. Of course they did it against the Packers. The Packers had the ball with about 12 minutes left of the third quarter winning by 9. Then receiver Christian Watson gets hurt and then pass rusher Micah Parsons tears his ACL. If those two things don't happen, I would guess the Packers end up winning that game. Let's see if Denver can beat the Jaguars or Chargers to close out the season.  If the playoffs started right now, surprisingly Denver would have the first round bye. Do you think the Broncos can beat the Patriots in the playoffs?

The Kansas City Chiefs Dynasty may be over. Kansas City was officially eliminated from the playoffs last weekend and for a bonus Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL.  They had a good run - 7 straight AFC Championship appearances, 5 Superbowl appearances, and 3 Superbowl wins.

Talk about how quickly things can change. With about 12 minutes left of the third quarter Green Bay was beating Denver 23-14 and they had the ball. In that situation, if the Packers don't have two key playmakers get hurt, they probably win that game. But injuries are part of sports. Jordan Love then throws an interception and wide out Christian Watson gets hurt. Shortly after that Micah Parsons tears his ACL and is out the rest of the season. The Packers go on to lose the game against the Broncos and fall all the way down to the 7th seed in the NFC. Now they still can win the NFC North and possibly get the number 1 seed, but they lost Parsons who led the league in quarterback pressures before getting hurt.  Jeff Hafley will need to get creative without Parsons the rest of the year. It may be that the Packers may need to do what they did most of the time when Rodgers was their quarterback, put up points and outscore their opponents in a shoot out. The NFC playoff race is getting ver...

This season has not gone well for the Minnesota Vikings. Kevin O'Connell and the Vikings chose not to resign Sam Darnold or Daniel Jones and did not bring in anyone to compete with McCarthy for the starting quarterback position. That resulted in a 5-8 record and last place in the NFC North.  But all is not lost. The future may be bright. I want to compare past first year starting quarterbacks to McCarthy: Terry Bradshaw was 4-9, 6 TDs, 24 INTs, 38.1 completion percentage.  Peyton Manning was 3-13, 26 TDs, 28 INTs, 56.7 completion percentage.  Eli Manning was 1-6, 6 TDs, 9 INTs, 48.2 completion percentage.  Josh Allen was 5-7, 10 TDs, 12 INTs, 52.8 completion percentage.  Jalen Hurts was 4-10-1, 6 TDs, 4 INTs, 52.0 completion percentage.  Bryce Young was 2-15, 11 TDs, 10 INTs, 59.8 completion percentage.  JJ McCarthy is 3-4, 9 TDs, 10 INTs, 56.0 completion percentage.  Looking at the number of interceptions Bradshaw and Peyton threw during their ro...

At the beginning of the year Adam Thielen asked the Carolina Panthers to trade him to Minnesota so he could end his career as a Viking. The Vikings gave up a 4th and 5th round pick for him. At the time of the trade Justin Jefferson was hurt and Jordan Addison was suspended.  Thielen wasn't being used and was a healthy scratch his last game as a Viking. He asked for the Vikings to release him because he wasn't being utilized enough. The Steelers picked him up via waivers.  His first week with Pittsburgh Adam Thielen says how he fell in love with football again. What the hell? He had 1 target, 1 catch, 4 yards, and zero touchdowns.  Throughout his career he has been a diva wide receiver, throwing temper tantrums on the side lines, and throwing his helmet. Seems like the Vikings were smart to get rid of Thielen.  You know who should be pissed off is Justin Jefferson. It has been a rough season for the Vikings and I am surprised Jefferson hasn't been more vocal. It's bee...

Christian Watson has been playing great since returning in Week 8. It seems he may have been the missing piece to the Packers offense.  Is he Green Bay's number one wide out?  Some would argue no. He is only averaging just over 5 targets per game. Yes he can stretch the field with his speed and has 5 touchdowns. But other receivers like Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Amon-Ra St Brown, Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, and George Pickens are getting 9-13 targets a game! Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love need to find ways to get Watson the ball more. Then he'll be a true number one wide receiver. 

The Indianapolis Colts were playing well with new quarterback, Daniel Jones. They looked like the team to beat in the AFC before Jones tore his Achilles on Sunday. Rookie sixth round pick, Riley Leonard played well, but he injured his knee. Anthony Richardson is still on injured reserve. So the Colts called 44 year old grandpa, Philip Rivers and signed him to their practice squad.  If Rivers starts a game this season he will be the fifth quarterback to start an NFL game at least 44 years old. The other four were Tom Brady, Vinny Testaverde, Steve DeBerg, and Warren Moon.  Philip Rivers is older than 13 current NFL head coaches and he is older than his offensive coordinator. 

The Tennessee Titans travel to Cleveland to take on the Browns. These two teams will likely be the top two picks in the NFL draft in 2026. Browns pass rusher, Myles Garrett has 19 sacks so far this year. He only needs 3.5 sacks to tie Michael Strahan for sacks in a season. Oh and Garrett has five games to do it.  Garrett only needs four more sacks to tie Dwight Freeney and that will get him into the top 20 for total number of sacks ever in the NFL. And Myles Garrett is only 29 years old. At least Cleveland has something to cheer for.

Green Bay beat Detroit last week on Thanksgiving giving the Packers the sweep of the Lions this year. If the playoffs were this week, the Lions wouldn't be in it.  Now the Bears travel to Lambeau to take on the Packers. Chicago and Green Bay play each other twice in three weeks. The division is up for grabs between these two teams. The Bears didn't have a signature win this year prior to last week when they went into Philadelphia and beat the defending champs.  The Packers started the season hot, then lost winnable games against Cleveland and Carolina.  Matt LaFleur has been the Packers head coach since 2019. If he can't get his team to beat Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams at home at the start of this new Chicago Bears chapter then Green Bay has more problems then we thought.  More pressure on Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers to win today.