Not only are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the only unbeaten team in the NFC, the Bucs and the New York Giants are the youngest teams in the NFC, with an average age of 25.95 years for the starting lineup.
The Bears are 14th-youngest in the league (26.95) and second-oldest in the NFC Central Division to Green Bay (27.09). The Lions (26.27) and Vikings (26.90) are both younger.
The Cincinnati Bengals (25.63) are the youngest in the league. The San Francisco 49ers (29.72) and Dallas Cowboys (28.95) are the oldest.
More surprises: With the season past the one-quarter mark, the Buccaneers overshadow all else, but their amazing 5-0 start isn’t the only surprise in the NFL.
They are being quietly joined on the up ramp by the New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions. The foursome won 16 games total all last season. Already this season, they have won 14. All four are being coached by first- or second-year coaches.
The 0-5 Bears have company among the surprising disappointments. The 1-3 Philadelphia Eagles were looking to start where they left off as a 10-6 wild-card team. The 1-3 Cincinnati Bengals and Tennessee Oilers were looking at breakthroughs from their 8-8 finishes. The 0-4 Indianapolis Colts were coming off two 9-7 wild-card appearances in a row.
Best games: The NFL will play its 10,000th regular-season game this weekend. A media survey last week determined the top 10 of all time. Bears games finished second and third.
The 1968 “Heidi” game was unanimously chosen as the most memorable. The Raiders beat the Jets 43-32, but not many saw it. With 50 seconds remaining and the Jets leading 32-29, NBC pre-empted the game to show the previously-scheduled children’s movie “Heidi.” The Raiders scored two touchdowns in the final 50 seconds to win.
The 1985 Dolphins’ 38-24 victory that spoiled the Bears’ perfect season finished second. The 1965 Bears’ 61-20 victory over the 49ers in Wrigley Field was third. Rookie Gale Sayers scored six touchdowns, rushing for four, receiving one, and returning a punt for another.
Mike Ditka coached in the 1985 game and played in the 1965 game.
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Finishing 10th on the list was last week’s 37-35 comeback by the Bills over the Colts, who blew a 26-0 lead.
Fair advantage: Usually, a 12th man helps, whether it’s a loud home crowd or an illegally large huddle. The Lions and Packers both gave credit to a sellout Silverdome crowd for making it difficult on the Packers Sunday in the Lions’ 26-15 win. But when the Lions’ defense was caught twice with 12 men on the field, Packers quarterback Brett Favre completed two of his biggest plays of the day–a 45-yard pass to Robert Brooks and a 22-yard pass to Antonio Freeman. No wonder Favre thought he could beat the Lions while on his knees.
Favre became the second-fastest passer to 20,000 yards, reaching the milestone in his 86th game. Miami’s Dan Marino got there in 74 games.
Home fields: If you think it’s too early to start looking at home-field advantage in the playoffs, wait until they start looking back at this weekend’s marquee matchups, Tampa Bay at Green Bay and New England at Denver.
“I’m not even thinking of home field. That’s so far away,” said Packers coach Mike Holmgren.
But the defending world champions have to beat Tampa Bay to stay a game off the pace in the Central.
“It’s still early in the season to have must-wins, but it’s a pretty big game. It’s a huge game,” Holmgren conceded.
Calling Desmond: Bill Schroeder was pressed back into punt- and kick-returning service by the Packers after Holmgren benched the NFC’s leading punt returner because of fumbles.
Holmgren was asked Monday about departed Super Bowl MVP Desmond Howard, who signed with Oakland.
“I would suggest you look and see how Desmond is doing out there,” Holmgren said.
Howard has returned 14 kickoffs for 350 yards, a 25-yard average. He has returned 11 punts for 83 yards, a 7.5-yard average. Neither ranks him among the league leaders. The Raiders also promised him a role in the offense as a receiver. Howard has played, but has no catches.
No diet allowed: Abe Gibron, who died Tuesday at age 72, once told former Tribune columnist Robert Markus: “People look at me and scoff, `Why, that fat slob. How can he discipline players when he can’t discipline himself? Well, I do discipline myself. I don’t drink to excess. I don’t chase women. If I wanted to cut down on eating, I could do that too.”
But he didn’t want to. Bears scout Jim Parmer recalls that somebody at training camp in Rensselaer, Ind., once put Abe on a diet.
“They convinced him he would lose weight if he ate nothing but strawberries and whipped cream,” Parmer said of the former Bears coach. “He had the people at camp fix a big crock. He’d eat about 10 pounds every day and he kept getting bigger and bigger.”