Bears-Giants game could have a playoff feel
The Chicago Bears travel east to play the New York Giants in a Sunday night match up of teams that could wind up in the NFC championship game.
Neither team had a stellar showing last week, as the Giants barely squeaked by the hapless Texans and the Bears fared even worse and suffered a home field loss to the Miami Dolphins. Of the 93 people who played in the Beat the Pro Contest last week, seven picked the Dolphins over the Bears. I can only assume they are either from Miami or huge Dolphin fans. The Bears were at home and unbeaten while the Dolphins came in riding a four-game losing streak, so there was no legitimate reason for picking them.
The Giants enter tonight’s game with the possibility of being without injured DE Michael Strahan. For the Bears, linebacker Brian Urlacher was dinged last week but he’s expected to play. Chicago’s biggest problem is the fact that QB Rex Grossman had four turnovers last week, giving him 10 in his last three games.
The Bears defense also gave up a season-high 161 years on the ground to Miami, so facing league-leading rusher Tiki Barber could make for a tough day.
If Grossman can hang onto the ball and the Chicago D returns to it’s pre-Miami form, it should be a win for the … BEARS.
Houston at Jacksonville: Did Jacksonville actually go down to Houston and lose? To the Texans? Ah, not twice in a season … JAGUARS.
San Diego at Cincinnati: The Bengals have lost two straight and there’s fighting amongst the troops. The Chargers and LaDanian Tomlinson are running toward a third straight win … CHARGERS.
Washington at Philadelphia: Before their bye last week, the Eagles were on a three-game losing streak. Washington has also lost three in a row, before pulling out a 22-19 victory of Dallas last week. Riding a short wave of hope … WASHINGTON.
The rest of the games:
Buffalo at Indianapolis
Baltimore at Tennessee
Cleveland at Atlanta
Green Bay at Minnesota
Kansas City at Miami
San Francisco at Detroit
N.Y. Jets at New England
Denver at Oakland
St. Louis at Seattle
New Orleans at Pittsburgh
Dallas at Arizona
Monday's Game
Tampa Bay at Carolina
Last week 9-5; overall: 79-49
This is the opinion of Nancy Allen, who can be reached at 232-5845 or nallen@citizen-times.com.
