The NFL no longer has any winless teams and that proved to be the chagrin of the Chicago Bears, who dropped a 37-34 overtime NFC North Division contest last Sunday to the Detroit Lions, the league’s last remaining winless team.
The Lions’ victory ended a two-game winning streak for new Chicago head coach John Fox, an alumnus of Castle Park High School, Southwestern College and San Diego State University.
The Bears’ saw their record drop to 2-4 while Detroit improved to 1-5.
Both teams trail the division leading Green Bay Packers (6-0) and Minnesota Vikings (3-2).
“We had to play a good team on the road; we had to overcome a lot of different things,” Fox said in his post-game press conference. “We came up a little short.
“We scored 34 points, which usually in this league is enough. Today it wasn’t.”
Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford hit receiver Calvin Johnson for a 57-yard gain in overtime that set up teammate Matt Prater’s game-winning field goal with 2:29 to play in the extra period.
It was an offensive day for both quarterbacks. Stafford, much maligned on the season and benched the previous week after throwing three picks, completed 27 of 42 passing attempts for 405 yards and four touchdowns – all to Johnson (six catches, 166 yards). Conversely, Chicago signal-caller Jay Cutler passed for 353 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the loss.
Stafford also had one interception to finish with a 117.7 quarterback rating.
Alshon Jeffery returned to the Chicago line-up after a four-game absence due to injury. He caught eight passes for 147 yards and one touchdown.
Fox said it was a boost to his team to have Jeffery back catching passes.
“Any time you get starters back in the line-up it’s a lift,” he said. “To have players like Eddie Royal and Alshon Jeffery back sparked our offense.”
Chicago sent the game into overtime as Robbie Gould kicked a 29-yard field goal as time expired. The game-tying score was set up by a pass interference call on the Lions’ Darius Slay after Cutler had thrown successive 25- and 25-yard passes to Jeffery.
“We went 70 yards in a short amount of time to tie the game,” Fox explained. “I think Jay did a good job, and our play-calling coaches did a good job. It gave us an opportunity to try to win the game in overtime.”
Gould, an 11-season veteran, made all four field goal attempts in the game while adding two successful PAT conversions to finish the game with 14 kicking points. He is 15-for-15 field goal attempts to start the 2015 season.
Matt Forte rushed 24 times for 69 yards and scored one rushing touchdown; Jeremy Langford (five carries, 10 yards) scored the Bears’ other rushing TD.
Fox refrained from commenting on questions dealing with controversial officiating calls in the game
“In this league, you’ve got to overcome everything, every week,” Fox stated succinctly.
The Lions collected 155 rushing yards but no rushing touchdowns in the game. Ameer Abdullah led Detroit with 48 yards on 14 carries.
Next up for Detroit is a key divisional game against the visiting Vikings on Sunday while Chicago enjoys a bye week. The Bears host the Vikings on Nov. 1.
Fox’s teams have made the playoffs in seven of his 13 years as a head coach.
Tony Jefferson (Eastlake High School)
Jefferson picked up five tackles, including four solo stops, in the Cardinals’ 25-13 non-conference loss at Pittsburgh last Sunday. Arizona led 10-3 at halftime before being outscored 22-3 in the second half.
Both teams are 4-2 on the season. Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer threw for 421 yards in the loss. He had one touchdown pass but was intercepted twice, including a critical pick late in the game at the goal line while trying to force the ball between Pittsburgh defenders.
John Brown had 10 catches for 196 yards in the loss while veteran Larry Fitzgerald had eight catches for 93 yards.
Steelers QB Landry Jones completed eight of 12 passing attempts for 168 yards and two touchdowns to Matavius Bryant (six catches, 137 yards). Michael Vick played the first half, completing three of eight attempts for just six yards.
Le’Veon Bell rushed 24 times for 88 yards while Vick had five carries for 47 yards to lead Pittsburgh in the rushing department.
Arizona totaled just 55 rushing yards on 20 attempts.
Lawrence Timmons and Mike Mitchell each had interceptions for the Steelers. Chris Boswell kicked four field goals to give Pittsburgh a boost as he finished the game with 13 kicking points, including one successful PAT conversion.
Jefferson has made 33 tackles in six games to start the 2015 NFL season. His career best is 79 tackles in 16 games last season.
The Cardinals host the Baltimore Ravens (1-5) on the upcoming Oct. 26 Monday Night Football telecast.
Alex Smith (Bonita Vista Middle School)
Kansas City’s Smith (282 passing yards, one touchdown, 92.4 quarterback rating) out-dueled Minnesota quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (249 passing yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, 65.1 quarterback rating) but the visiting Chiefs lost 16-10 to fall to 1-5 on the season.
It was the fifth consecutive loss for Kansas City.
The Vikings built a 13-0 lead through three quarters before the Chiefs rallied with 10 points in the fourth quarter.
Smith threw a touchdown pass to Albert Wilson (three catches, 57 yards) while Cairo Santos kicked a 48-yard field goal.
Smith has completed 62.4 percent of his passes in 2015 for 1,573 yards with six touchdowns and three interceptions. He’s been sacked 23 times. He has an overall 88.8 quarterback rating through six games this season.
‘The way we’ve started is extremely disappointing, we’re not happy where we’re at,” Smith stated in a midweek press conference. “We’re all accountable, we’ve all had our hand in this, we have to work collectively, this is how we get out of it.”
The Chiefs host Pittsburgh on Sunday in a key match-up for both teams. Kansas City will play Detroit Nov. 1 in London as part of the NFL’s International Series.
Smith went to London with the 49ers, so the game experience will not be a new one for him.
“Like anything, you try to eliminate distractions,” he said. “As much fun as it is going over there, to a different country, you’re there to win a game … with a short week, it’s about getting on the same page.”
The Steelers are up first for the Chiefs, however. “It’s going to be physical, four quarters, you’ve got to be ready for that pressure,” Smith noted.
Smith said he and his team must to look for positives down the road wherever they play. “You’ve got to look forward, you can’t look backward,” he said. “It’s up to the team to find a way to get a win, try to execute better.”
Air Rivers
Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers received his third FedEx Air Player of the Week award after throwing for 503 yards and two touchdowns in a 27-20 non-conference loss last Sunday at Green Bay.
The game matched the NFL’s elite signal-callers: Rivers and Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers.
Chargers completed 43 of 65 passes – both franchise records, as was the 503 passing yards. Ladarius Green and Dontrelle Inman each caught touchdown passes for San Diego. Keenan Allen had 14 catches for 157 yards before leaving the game with an injury.
Rodgers completed 16 of 29 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns – one each to James Jones and James Starks.
The Chargers trailed 14-3 after the first quarter and were down 17-3 late in the second quarter before Rivers connected with Inman on a one-yard scoring play to trim the Green Bay lead to 17-10 at halftime. Rivers came out and threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Green to open the third quarter as the visitors tied the game 17-17.
Green Bay went ahead 24-17 at the end of third quarters and the teams traded field goals in the fourth quarter. Rodgers hit Jones from eight yards out. Josh Lambo then made it a 24-20 game on the strength of a 32-yard field goal (his second of the game) but Mason Crosby hit his second field goal of the game, a 28-yarder with 3:37 to play, to put the hosts back up by a touchdown.
Rivers led the Chargers on one final drive that reached the Packers three-yard line in the dying seconds of the game. However, Rivers’ pass on fourth down intended for running back Danny Woodhead was broken up by Green Bay’s Damarious Randall with 15 seconds to play to prevent a potential game-tying touchdown.
The loss dropped San Diego to 2-4 on the season, though the Chargers could easily be 4-2 with a bit of better luck. It was the second time in as many games that the San Diegans had dropped a game inside the final minute of play.
Chargers head coach Mike McCoy termed the loss “brutal … losing the way we did.”
Rivers’ performance was impressive in that it came with a patchwork San Diego offensive line. Both Rivers and Rodgers were sacked three times in the game. Neither quarterback threw an interception.
The 43 completions were the most by an NFL quarterback in a loss.
Rivers did not run on any play in the game, though it appeared he could have easily scored on one of the Chargers’ last-minute plays inside the five-yard line.
Lambo hit a 36-yard field goal in the first quarter to offset Rodgers’ five-yard touchdown pass to Starks. Starks then ripped off a 65-yard scoring run to put the Packers up by 11 points.
Green Bay finished the game with 133 rushing yards to San Diego’s 60 rushing yards. The Packers averaged 7.8 yards per carry in the game while the visitors averaged 2.9 yards per carry. Starks led the hosts with 10 carries for 112 yards.
The Packers wore their 1937 throwback uniforms in the game.
The Chargers will attempt to regroup against a familiar foe in the Oakland Raiders (2-3) on Sunday. Rivers enters the game having thrown for more than 2,100 yards this season with 12 touchdowns and five picks.
The Chargers and Raiders have been heated rivals since 1960 as members of the original American Football League. However, with both teams interested in moving to Los Angeles next season, one has to wonder if this will be the last meeting between the teams in San Diego?
Thursday Night Football
Week 7 kicked off with the Seattle Seahawks besting the host San Francisco 49ers in an NFC West match-up. The Seahawks improved to 3-4 with their 20-3 victory while he 49ers fell to 2-5.
Seattle’s Russell Wilson threw for 235 yards with one touchdown, two picks, and was sacked five times while San Francisco’s Colin Kaepernick threw for 124 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions but was sacked six times.
The Seahawks controlled the ground with 176 rushing yards, led by Marshawn Lynch (27 carries, 122 yards, one touchdown). Wilson threw a touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett (five catches, 79 yards). Steven Hauschka rounded out scoring for the visitors with two field goals, including one measuring 49 yards.
Seattle led 17-0 at halftime. Phil Dawson hit a 35-yard field goal in the third quarter for the only points of the game for the 49ers.
NFL Leaderboard
(Through Oct. 22)
AFC Top Teams
Cincinatti Bengals 6-0
Denver Broncos 6-0
New England Patriots 5-0
New York Jets 4-1
Pittsburgh Steelers 4-2
Buffalo Bills 3-3
Indianapolis Colts 3-3
Miami Dolphins 2-3
Oakland Raiders 2-3
San Diego Chargers 2-4
Cleveland Browns 2-4
Houston Texans 2-4
Tennessee Titans 1-4
Baltimore Ravens 1-5
Kansas City Chiefs 1-5
Jacksonville Jaguars 1-5
NFC Top Teams
Green Bay Packers 6-0
Carolina Panthers 5-0
Atlanta Falcons 5-1
Arizona Cardinals 4-2
Minnesota Vikings 3-2
Philadelphia Eagles 3-3
New York Giants 3-3
Seattle Seahawks 3-4
Dallas Cowboys 2-3
St. Louis Rams 2-3
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2-3
Chicago Bears 2-4
New Orleans Saints 2-4
Washington Redskins 2-4
San Francisco 49ers 2-5
Detroit Lions 1-5
NFL Scoreboard Week 7
Thursday, Oct. 22
Seattle 20, San Francisco 3
Sunday, Oct. 25
Oakland 37, Chargers 29
Atlanta 10, Tennessee 7
Jacksonville 34, Buffalo 31
Minnesota 28, Detroit 19
New Orleans 27, Indianapolis 21
New England 30, New York Jets 23
New York Giants 27, Dallas 20
St. Louis 24, Cleveland 6
Miami 44, Houston 26
Kansas Cty 23, Pittsburgh 13
Washington 31, Tampa Bay 30
Carolina 27, Philadelphia 16
Monday, Oct. 26
Baltimore at Arizona, 5:30 PDT
