NFL Pick – Bears at Redskins

Week 13 was a disastrous week for me. I went 5-11, but I still have a winning record for the season at 108-74 for a winning percentage of .593.

Chicago at Washington – NFL Network, 8:15 p.m.
Both teams come off losses and for the Redskins, it’s been an emotional two weeks having to deal with the death of Sean Taylor. They sent 10 men on the field for their first play on defense against Buffalo on Sunday, but then proceeded to lose the game when Joe Gibbs inexplicably called two consecutive timeouts to ice the kicker in a 17-16 loss. Then on Monday, several teammates went to Florida for the funeral. So it’s a truly emotional time for the Redskins.

The Bears come off a loss to the Giants in which Chicago had control of the game, then allowed Eli Manning to somehow engineer two scoring drives and allow New York to possibly avert a dreaded second half collapse. You could say both teams are coming into tonight’s game as disappointments, Chicago especially coming off an appearance in Super Bowl XLI.

Rex Grossman seems to be doing much better at QB for the Bears after he was benched early in the season. Jason Campbell has had fumblitis in recent games for the Redskins.

The running attack for the Redskins is led by Clinton Portis, although he has left the ball on the ground in some instances. Both teams have an outside shot at the playoffs and a win would help either one immensely.

I do believe last Sunday’s game might have sealed Joe Gibbs’ fate. While he is a Hall of Fame coach based on what he has done in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, his comeback has not been as stellar. Up until last week, I thought his comeback would not affect his legacy, but seeing him call two straight timeouts essentially losing the game for his team, turned a lot of his defenders into detractors.

Luckily, we have not heard from any Redskins kickers who want to challenge Devin Hester. He is always a threat for the Bears and can give the team a spark at any time. I’ll take the Bears tonight in a close game, 24-23.