I must admit—of all the teams that are still undefeated in the National Football League, the Denver Broncos are the most surprising. When new head coach Josh McDaniels came to town and stirred things up by dealing Pro Bowl quarterback (and arguably Denver’s best player) Jay Cutler to the Chicago Bears, I questioned his sensibility. And when receiver Brandon Marshall—despite his immense talent—was playing the role of disgruntled diva and dividing (or so I thought) a locker room that was most likely not willing to put up with his childish behavior, I feared the worst for this team. In all …read more

In an unexpected turn of events late this afternoon, the Denver Broncos traded quarterback Jay Cutler to the Chicago Bears. Here are the details: the Bears get Jay plus a fifth round Draft pick this year. The Broncos get quarterback Kyle Orton, two first round Draft picks (one this year and one next year) and a third round Draft pick this year.

This deal was surprising in that all signs were pointing toward a trade to the Washington Redskins until the Bears stepped in and made the deal worth Denver’s while. Chicago GM Jerry Angelo was understandably excited and pleased …read more

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It didn’t look good for Chicago Bears quarterback Kyle Orton as he was carted from the field during his team’s 27-23 win over the still-winless Detroit Lions today. Rumors immediately began circulating that Kyle’s season was over with a broken ankle, but several sources are now reporting that the injury is a high ankle sprain that could keep him out anywhere from practice this week to four games — yes, quite a discrepancy. I guess he drove himself home after the game so how bad could it be?
Really, Kyle’s injury is mostly speculation until …read more

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This is why we love the National Football League, right? Even if your team came out on the losing end of one of these games, you have to appreciate the beauty of the fantastic finish. And five of today’s games had ‘em. If you were watching the 1 p.m. ET games on DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket Game Mix, good for you. You got your money’s worth. Four of the five fantastic finishes were early games ending at roughly the same time:

After trailing for most of the game, Minnesota Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell hit a 26-yard …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith today announced that quarterback Kyle Orton will be the team’s starter when their season opens September 7 against the Indianapolis Colts. Kyle will also start this Thursday’s third preseason game with the San Francisco 49ers. It was an open competition when training camp began, but Kyle beat out QB Rex Grossman for the starting job. Coach Smith said:
“To come to a decision like that we’ve taken a lot of things into consideration: Last year, how (Kyle) finished the season … training camp, preseason games. In the end, it comes …read more

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Former Washington Redskins and San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Lloyd signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Bears yesterday. He’ll be reunited with his former college coach from the University of Illinois, Ron Turner, who is the Bears’ offensive coordinator.
Brandon was one of my favorite receivers during his time with the Niners. He made some of the most spectacular catches I’ve ever seen in three solid years there that had me believing he was going to be a superstar in the Bay area. His best season was in ‘05 when he …read more