December 19th update

Packers fall, Colts finally win

• If someone had told you Sunday morning that the vaunted 13-0 Green Bay Packers would lose while the listless 0-13 Indianapolis Colts, playing without franchise QB Peyton Manning would win, most people would think you were either crazy or joking, but you would have been right.
• The Packers and Aaron Rodgers were harrassed by a fearsome Kansas City Chiefs pass rush led by Tamba Hali and his 3 sacks (which leaves him 1 behind the AFC leader). The Packers never looked comfortable due to a great strategy by interim coach Romeo Crennel (he's taking over for Todd Haley who was fired this week) who had the Chiefs play 5+ speedy defensive backs to guard the Packers wide receivers on nearly every play. The Chiefs have lost most of their best players to injury this season but the one constant has been Hali who has certainly earned the 5 year, $60 million deal he signed this offseason.
• On the other side of the NFL landscape, the Indianapolis Colts were so bad that fans are ignoring the season and just wondering whether the team will keep Peyton Manning next year, trade him and start presumptive #1 pick Andrew Luck or keep both and have Manning mentor Luck. But despite playing a pretty good Tennessee Titans team, the Colts dominated in every aspect and won easily. Dan Orlovsky, the Colts QB in this game, won for the first time as a NFL starter and the Colts won for the first time with a QB other than Peyton Manning since this game (notice the date). The QB in that game was Jim Harbaugh, now the coach of the San Francisco 49ers, who play the Pittsburgh Steelers tonight in a matchup of 10-3 teams.
It was only the third time in NFL history that a team that was 10-0 or better lost and a team that was 0-10 or worse won on the same day.
• In other news, The Tebow train came to a screeching halt against the New England Patriots, the Baltimore Ravens (the first place team in the AFC) got crushed by the San Diego Chargers, and the Detroit Lions took a big step towards making the playoffs with another late comeback, this time beating the Oakland Raiders after being behind by 13 points with 5 minutes left.


Making it look Breesy

• The New Orleans Saints continue to win... again and Quarterback Drew Brees is currently on pace for a season never seen before in the NFL. While his Green Bay Packers counterpart Aaron Rodgers is getting a lot more publicity and more attention from car insurance agents, Brees is on the brink of breaking two of the most sacred quarterbacking records.
• From 1956-1960 Johnny Unitas had a streak of 47 consecutive games with a touchdown pass. Besides Brees the closest anybody has come to that streak in the last 50 years was Brett Favre’s streak of 36 straight games. Coming into this weekend, Brees’ streak stood at 40 straight games. Just to make sure there was no doubt about 41, Brees threw for 5 touchdowns on Sunday. Tom Brady also has a streak of note, with a TD in 29 straight games, the 5th longest in history.
• In 1984 Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins threw for 5,084 yards setting a single-season record that still stands today. In 2008 Brees came tantalizingly close to eclipsing that record but fell just short, throwing for 5,069 yards. This season Brees has thrown for 4,780 yards, and has two games left to get the additional 305 yards he needs to break the record. The craziest part of this is that Brees could very easily set a record that has stood for more than 25 years with a game to spare!


Note - Keep looking this week as we will have a preview of the major bowl games and a preview of the NBA season for your enjoyment.