Green Bay Packers

Wide receiver Donald Driver returned to practice Friday with the Green Bay Packers about the same time that the Houston Police Department took the three officers off the street who have been accused of beating his father.

There was a time, in fact not so long ago, when a defensive touchdown by the Green Bay Packers merited star treatment on sportscasts that night and a separate story in sports sections the next day. This season, the Packers' defenders have reeled off so many touchdowns on extraordinary plays that they're almost getting lost in the postgame coverage.

A lot of front offices around the National Football League are keeping one eye on the league office. The playoff race in the National Football Conference could well be determined by what comes out of there, most likely on Monday or Tuesday.

Evidently the Bears have a different take on the NFL schedule from the other 31 teams in the league.

I think what's most irritating about Smith's comments about the season starting over with six games to go is that I'm not surprised, or even really all that angry. I mean, this is a team that can't even manage a game clock, so why should anyone expect them to know how to read a calendar?

Or maybe now is the time the Bears have decided to play like the team they claim to be - you know, the best team in the league. THAT'S what it is - the Bears have lulled the rest of the NFL in to thinking they're a delusional, overpaid, underachieving bunch of wasted talent, and now they can execute their master plan to show everyone who the best team in the NFL is!

Or maybe it's more of the same old mealy-mouthed crap.

I choose door number three, and if like me you think you've heard the beginning of this story before, you probably have a feeling the sequel is going to have a pretty similar ending too. The Bears are, in fact, 5-5 and tied for first in the brutally bad NFC North, but right now that's akin to being the prettiest Denny's waittress - not much of a compliment.

The Vikings and Packers are not without their flaws - remember, they're tied for the same sad-sack 5-5 record as the Bears are - but the Bears have simply not looked like a playoff-caliber team in the last three weeks, and remember, two of the Bears' five wins come against 0-9 Detroit.

Chicago's remaining schedule is the "easiest" amongst the three NFC North . . . "contenders", I guess is the word to describe the teams vying for the crown, but that's cold comfort given how badly the Bears have played. There's no such thing as a "gimme" win with this team, not in St. Louis, not anywhere.

If the Bears are to have any hope of making the playoffs, they need to put a good old-fashioned whipping on the Rams this weekend. A close victory over a team as bad as St. Louis is does nothing to prove the Bears are any kind of legitimate contender.

The Bears then visit Minnesota, host Jacksonville, New Orleans and Green Bay, and then end the season in Houston. You'd have to be incredibly optimistic to pick the Bears to get more than three wins out of the remaining six games. Minnesota will be looking for payback at the Metrodome and they already hung 41 on the self-proclaimed "best team in the league" in their first meeting. The Packers already blew the Bears out once and it would not surprise me to see them do it again. And while the Bears have sort of had New Orleans' number in recent years, I have a hard time buying in to them beating the Saints with the garbage pass defense they have.

That leaves the Rams, Jaguars and Texans as absolute must-win games, and I see the Bears flubbing at least one of those three. The Bears are going to be exposes for who they really are in the last six weeks - a bad football team. They'll finish 7-9, 8-8 at absolute best, and be sitting at home for the playoffs again.

MVN's Chris Maier and NFLDraft101.com's Dan Wernery breakdown this week's action around the NFL in our usual hard hitting style.

We start by going off topic a bit to discuss the BCS going to ESPN and whether it could pave the way for the Super Bowl to go to Cable as well.  We then discuss the big stories of week 11 including the league's first tie since 2002, bad calls with spread implications, how good are the 7-3 Cardinals and Jets and more.

We then shift gears in Around the League as we breakdown the NFC East and NFC North.  Which team's are in the hunt and which team's are building for next year.  In the case of the NFC North - does anyone want to take charge in the division.

To wrap up the show Dan and Chris make their week 12 picks.

Thanks for joining us on The Blitz.  Send your comments and questions to cmaier@nfldraft101.com (or comment below)