GO TO PREVIOUS SECTION: November 2 to November 8

PART VI, continued

November 9th to November 15th

November 10, 2005

As we float around the halfway mark of the NFL season, the general sentiment of fans and analysts is that this is a pretty boring year. Only one team, the undefeated Indianapolis Colts, is a sure-fire Super Bowl contender. The big three from a year ago, New England, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, have all experienced set backs in one way or another. Meanwhile, off-the-field stories have dominated, the most damaging from a PR stand point involving the Minnesota Vikings, in which a bunch of their players were busted for their “love boat” bye week after throwing some kind of giant orgy party on a rented yacht.

The current story that has everyone talking?

Terrell Owens’ suspension from the Eagles, and Philly’s subsequent announcement that T.O. will not play for the rest of the year.

Personally, I’m bored with this story. The always candid, often caustic Terrell Owens was his usual bastard-self, stating in an interview that the Eagles would not be struggling if they had Brett Favre at quarterback rather than Donovan McNabb. That statement, to go along with his usual routine of jackass behavior, seems to have been the tip of the iceberg for Owens’ suspension.

As usual, the media coverage has bounced around from one side to another. Most commentators and columnists immediately positioned themselves on the “T.O. is a team-killing bastard who tried to call the Eagles’ bluff, and in response they give him the heave-ho. Philadelphia is taking an ethical stand and doing what is best for the team, and we applaud him. As far as we’re concerned, Terrell Owens can go back to San Francisco where we hope he promptly jumps into the bay” stance…and then once that position became over-crowded and extremely popular, the other commentators and columnists went to the other side, positioning themselves on the “You guys are being too hard on T.O. This guy doesn’t use drugs and has never been arrested, and the Eagles knew what they were getting when the acquired him” stance.

Me? I’m somewhere in the middle.

Yes, it’s true that apart from being a less-than-ideal teammate, Terrell Owens has never been an off-the-field problem. The man has never been arrested, which is, sadly, something to be proud of in sports these days. Jamal Lewis pled guilty to setting up a drug deal, spent four months in a halfway house, and was back on the field this preseason. Countless NFL players are arrested and continue playing every season; it’s almost pointless to list them. Teams are willing to overlook any criminal indiscretion short of murder in order to get their best players on the field; wins and losses have truly become the end all-be all in sports…

…which is funny, because if the Eagles were 6-1 instead of 4-3, would they have still suspended Owens? Consider this: at the time of his suspension, Owens had caught 47 passes for 763 yards, a 16.2 yards per catch average, and six touchdowns. He was among the league-leaders in all of those categories, and his projected totals over sixteen games were 107 catches for 1744 yards with about 14 scores. The reception mark would have been a career high, the yardage mark would’ve beaten his previous best by nearly 300 yards, the yards per catch average would have been his best since 1998, and his touchdowns would have tied his career high. For a potential Hall of Fame receiver to have a career year on a winning team…what more could the Eagles want?

Well, there’s the rub: they are not a winning team. When Owens caused a fuss during training camp because he wanted to restructure his contract, a contract he had just signed last year, and people were wondering how Owens and Donovan McNabb could play together if they weren’t speaking to each other, what was the company line out of Eagles camp once Owens finally showed up?

“It’s not The Dating Game,” coach Andy Reid said. “They’ll be fine on the field. That’s where our business is done.

All we heard from McNabb, bless his heart, was that they didn’t have to like each other or speak to each other to be successful, and for a while that seemed to be the case. Philly began the season 3-1, and all was well. Then they dropped two of three, getting blown out by Dallas and Denver by a combined score of 82-31. That’s when the problems came. That’s when the Eagles decided that they’d had enough of Owens’ schtick and sent him home. It was as if they said, “We can deal with T.O. being a jerk, and we can deal with losing, but we can’t deal with both at the same time, and since we can’t change our record…”

Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad that Philadelphia had the sack to cut Owens loose. They Took a Stand and they Made a Statement, and for that I’ll applaud. But in the end, just like everything else in sports, they made their decisions with only one thought in mind: winning and losing. Like Andy Reid said, our business is done on the field. Being a jerk? Well, Owens has always been a jerk. A 4-3 record? That’s why he’s going home.

November 13, 2005

The Bears beat the 49ers at Soldier Field this afternoon, and if anyone was worried that New Soldier Field would somehow be lacking on the weather front, those fears were permanently assuaged today with a brutal, swirling wind. This made the passing and kicking games all but impotent, which was fine with me, because that means a focus on the running game.

Much to my distaste, the Bears were wearing their hideous orange jerseys. These aren’t the “throw-backs” that they wore on Thanksgiving last year in Dallas, (though those were awful as well). Rather, they are the Bears’ regular jerseys in orange instead of blue or white. Simply disgusting.

It was a slow, nearly unbarable game. The first quarter was scoreless, and with Thomas Jones out with an injury, Benson and Peterson were given the go-ahead. Both produced season highs, with Benson carrying the ball 12 times for 50 yards in his first NFL start before going down in the second quarter with a sprained right knee. Peterson had already gotten some carries, but it was now his show, and he put up a monster of a game, running for 120 yards on 24 carries and scoring his second touchdown of the season. Gotta love A.P.

The Bears were pretty sluggish for most of the game, and trailed the 49ers 3-0 in the second quarter. Their offensive possessions through three quarters: punt, punt, Gould missed FG wide right, Maynard fumbled snap/incomplete pass on FG attempt, punt, Orton intercepted. Doo-fair.

Fortunately, we had Nate Vasher to put us on the board.

In a sloppy and windy game, it took the longest play in NFL history to put the Bears on top. With three seconds remaining in the first half, San Fran lined Joe Nedney up for a 52-yard field goal…what the hell are they thinking?...and Vasher dropped back into the endzone to field a potential miss. Nedney booted it, and the ball took a tremendous hook from left to right, running Vasher to his left in the endzone before reaching his arms out to secure the ball. He was nearly at the back line of the endzone when he caught it.

He brought the ball out, running far to his left, and at around the 15 yard line he found himself in a group of 49er defenders. Quickly, he spun to his right—oh man!—keeping his balance with his right hand on the grass Barry Sanders-style, and since he was being pursued by offensive linemen—the field goal unit, after all—he was able to outrun them to the sideline, where he found a high concentration of orange jerseys. Sure they were gross looking, but damn if they weren’t a welcome sight.

Suddenly, the Bears had a wall of blockers going, quite similar to the Music City Miracle with Andre Dyson. With Chris Harris, Lance Briggs, and Brian Urlacher leading the way, Vasher rode the orange wave into the endzone for the longest play in NFL history.

“Holy crap!” I yelled to Meghan as Vasher reached the 50, “depending on where they say he fielded it, I think he’s about to put up the longest play in NFL history!”

“What is it?”

“107 by Chris McAlister.”

“You think that was 108?”

“It sure looked it.”

And it was, and the Bears had a shocking 7-3 lead going into halftime. It was awesome. San Fran got a field goal in the third, but the Bears followed that up with a touchdown in the fourth off a seven yard Peterson run. The two teams then traded field goals, and the Bears left with a 17-9 victory. San Fran’s quarterback Cody Pickett—a one-time fourth stringer—finished with these numbers: 1 of 13 (ouch), for 28 yards (impressive, considering), no TD and one INT, a QB rating of 50.1. He was also sacked three times. Big goo. A great win for the Bears, with one major drawback: