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The Chicago Bears 09′ season is one filled with optimism. The Denver Broncos did the Bears a favor by creating trade talk with Jay Cutler, the Bears knew if they wanted to reach and win the Super Bowl they needed more then a game manager quarterback.

Having acquired a stud quarterback in Jay Cutler, the Bears were ready to eliminate and overcome the one major question mark that may have weighed them down over the past few seasons.

Now with their franchise QB (hopefully for Bears fans’ sake) the Bears can score points on offense and compete in a division that is winnable for them.

The loss of Brian Urlacher was devastating to the Bears defense – he is the quarterback of the defense. With his loss, the rest of the Bears defense must raise their game to a whole new level if they expect to compete for a division title.

The Minnesota Vikings might be the favorite to come out of the NFC North – the Bears have a chance to be there as well at the end of the season. With the exception of facing the Detroit Lions, every game the Bears play against the Vikings and Green Bay Packers should be well contested.

WR Devin Hester must elevate his wide receiving skills to the same level his kick returning skills once were. Hester was one of the greatest return men of all time and if he could translate that to the wide receiver position, Cutler to Hester will be the norm all season.

Cutler redeemed himself in the team’s second game. Facing the defending Super Bowl champions, Cutler and the Bears looked like a different team out there, finding their way to a 17-14 victory over the Steelers, highlighted by a 4th quarter comeback that saw the team score 10 points.

This was a nice way for the team to redeem itself, and the Bears suddenly have a clean slate going forward.

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The Indianapolis Colts came into the 2009 season with high expectations. Always a competitive team, anything short of a Super Bowl may be seen as a disappointment in their minds.

Having the football on offense for less the 15 minutes and still winning just shows you have talented on offense the Colts can be. Peyton Manning is completing nearly 70% of his pass attempts and will certainly make another run at the league MVP again this season.

The Colts are favored to win this game by about 3 points, but odds aside, there are some minor concerns about the state of the Colts team entering this game.

While Peyton Manning looked to show his best stuff and Reggie Wayne received for over 160 yards in game 1, the bigger issue at stake is the absence of Anthony Gonzalez. With Marvin Harrison no longer an option for Peyton, the Colts will hurt out wide with Gonzalez injured on the sideline.

Peyton Manning looked great during the first week of the NFL season, there’s no doubt about that. He connected with Reggie Wayne like they did in 2007, and made use of the rest of his receivers too. However, Anthony Gonzalez, the team’s number two wide receiver, was forced out of the game with injury and will probably miss the remainder of the year as a result. Since the team no longer has Marvin Harrison, this is ample cause for concern.

This is a tough loss for a Colts team that is suddenly not too deep at the wide receiver position for the first time in several years.

Keeping NFL teams from scoring, on average, less then 20 points per game gives the Colts the opportunity to win every single game with Manning leading the way.

The Monday night game at Miami is a must win for the Indianapolis Colts. Expect Manning to rise to the occasion, that’s usually what he does!

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The Miami Dolphins were the feel good story of the 2008 NFL season. The team finished with a 1-15 regular season record in 2007, and was written off as quite possibly the worst football team of the decade.

The 09′ season for the Miami Dolphins has been nothing like 08′. Statistically, Chad Pennington is the most accurate passer of all-time. While he might not have the “big arm”, he finds his receivers when they are open.

No one expected much out of Pennington, and neither did the Jets. Somehow, Pennington led the Dolphins to an AFC division championship in 2008, bringing the Dolphins into the playoffs to the surprise of many. This was a perfect way for Chad to rub it in the face of the Jets organization.

Things looked promising for 2009, until the Dolphins lost their first three games. Things looked even worse, when during their third game, the team lost Pennington for the season.

Young and inexperienced second year QB Chad Henne was called upon to lead the team, which didn’t really bode well for the Dolphins’ chances.

Seven points scored in a game against an average Falcons defense raised questions about the Dolphins’ offense and their effectiveness. It’s going to be a long season if they don’t get it right.

The Dolphins won the division in 08′, but New England’s QB Tom Brady was out the entire year and New York Jets QB Brett Favre was also hurt in the second half of the season – now, the rest of the division has improved. The Dolphins have more questions then answers at this point.

It’s a very long football season, and the Dolphins are well within the game. Chad Henne is a skilled quarterback who seems to look better every week. Maybe he’ll surprise the NFL world like Pennington did last season.

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This weekend’s EPL activity saw the “big 4″ all win while the two fakers to their supremacy were both defeated. Aston Villa came back to where everybody thought they would be, & Blackburn moved to where every person hopes they’ll stay.

The first big event of the season produced a vintage in forward play & a headache in defensive play as Manchester United thrashed Manchester City four-three with Michael Owen coming up in the sixth minute of injury period to claim the victor after Micah Richards went off on his own instead of remaining with his man.

Mark Hughes cried foul, as the fourth referee had originally confirmed that the game might only have four minutes of injury play, 1 minute prior to City tied it up in the last moment, as it turns out, the celebration lasted for 1 minute.

Moreover, the injury time allotted is a) at the referee’s discretion and b) available for both franchises. I wonder if Hughes might offer the goal back if it was City that had scored?

For utter entertainment the game was a delight to watch, a real seven goal affair.

Defensively it was a mess.

Shay Given made one of the most horrible errors of his lifetime for Fletcher?s 1st, Rio Ferdinand had an utter gaffe and was the distinct reason for two of City?s scores.

While Sir Alex Ferguson will be putting Edwin van der Sar into a type of rehab tank to get him back playing as quick as viable, lets just say that Ben Foster will not be Capello?s first selection in South Africa.

Peter Kenyon’s leaving from his Head Executive role at Chelsea comes as no surprise, Eugene Tenenbaum isn?t a fan of the ex-United executive and he has been operating on rented time since Scolari’s dismissal.

There’s a heap of in-battling & back biting in the corridors of power at Chelsea that might threaten to derail all of the franchise’s nice work.

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