The 8-1 Green Bay Packers can clinch the woeful NFC North Division title this week. If they beat the 2-7 Minnesota Vikings and if the 3-6 Detroit Lions lose to the New York Jets, it’s over with six games left.
What about the 2-7 Bears, you ask? If the Packers win their ninth game, the Bears also could finish 9-7, but the Bears would lose the tiebreaker based on wins within the division.
The Packers already have two wins against the Lions.
The NFL worried about mediocre 8-8 teams winning the new four-team divisions, but they didn’t much consider such lopsided races when realignment began this season. Had the 7-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers remained in the old NFC Central, the Packers wouldn’t be sitting so pretty. The Bucs are tied with New Orleans in the new NFC South.
The good fortune of the Packers enables coach Mike Sherman to play it safe with injured players. Running back Ahman Green sustained a mild concussion against the Lions on Sunday and backup Najeh Davenport sustained a sprained right ankle.
Sherman said defensive linemen Vonnie Holliday and Cletidus Hunt could return after missing the Lions’ game with knee injuries.
“Vonnie feels well ahead of schedule and wants to work this week, but we have to be careful about that,” Sherman said. “Cletidus the same way.”
A dozen Green Bay starters have missed games, yet the Packers have overcome injuries. How? Depth helps, but the main reason is turnovers.
The Packers have taken the ball away 29 times compared with 14 giveaways. Their plus-15 margin leads the NFL by five over Tampa Bay. Quarterback Brett Favre has thrown only four interceptions.
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Favre wants to get rid of a brace on his sprained left knee even though he has played two outstanding games with it.
“We’ll see what the doctors say,” Sherman said. “He didn’t seem like the brace affected him or the knee affected him very much.”
According to Culpepper: Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper said coach Mike Tice confirmed he will start against the Packers even though he was pulled in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Giants. On Monday, Tice would not announce Culpepper or backup Todd Bouman his starter, but said he had made up his mind.
“It’s the same as always,” Culpepper said. “I’m starting. That’s how I’m going to approach it.”
Tice probably was reluctant to admit it publicly. Culpepper’s NFL-high 14 interceptions and five lost fumbles are big reasons why the Vikings (2-7) are tied with the Bears for last in the division. Metrodome fans began to boo him and chant for Bouman, a Minnesota native who played at NCAA Division II St. Cloud State.
Culpepper completed just 9-of-20 passes for 91 yards before Tice sent in Bouman with Minnesota trailing 19-6. With the usual number of Packers fans in the Metrodome this week, Culpepper is not likely to get a warm welcome. Bouman turned the ball over with a fumble on his first possession, but he led the Vikings to long touchdown drives on their next two possessions to take a 20-19 lead with 2:43 left. The Giants responded with a long scoring drive and won 27-20. Culpepper had never been benched before.
Carter laid up: Dolphins receiver Cris Carter is improving, but he is in the hospital and won’t play Sunday while doctors determine what caused his kidneys to malfunction.
Doctors believe Carter’s condition isn’t chronic and was likely caused by several things, including dehydration, coach Dave Wannstedt said Monday.
“He has made improvement,” Wannstedt said. “He will be fine. It’s just a matter of how long.”
Carter, who turns 37 on Nov. 25, came out of retirement three weeks ago and played one game.
Taken to school: Washington’s Steve Spurrier still thinks he’s in college. After losing 26-7 to Jacksonville’s Tom Coughlin in the stadium where his Florida Gators played against Georgia every year, Spurrier admitted, “We threw the ball too much. Every time you lose and you throw more than you run, you throw too much. We didn’t really plan on it going that way.”
Spurrier insisted he wasn’t trying to show off for fans who wanted Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver to replace Coughlin with him last season. The Redskins threw 51 passes and ran only 16 times.
For their last three games, Spurrier had called more runs than passes, but he strayed from that strategy even though Coughlin’s defense ranked 26th against the run.
“No, I don’t think that (showing off) had anything to do with it. What did have something to do with it was what a beautiful night it was. We’ve had such perfect weather to throw the ball, it’s unbelievable,” Spurrier said.
“Maybe sometimes I have more confidence in our passing attack than I should have. I’ve seen our guys throw and catch in practice pretty well. We see the coverages they’re running, and we think we’ve got some good plays on, but we’re not quite hitting the way I think we’re capable. So maybe I need to temper my confidence.”
Coughlin refused to gloat on Monday. “We won the game. Let’s put it like that,” he said.
Coughlin stuck to his game plan, playing defense and field position and never giving up on his running game, even though it struggled at times.
“You have to stay with it,” he said. “It’s not always going to be automatic right off the bat. If you play the game the way you want to play and can stay with the run and keep the good mix, eventually you have to believe you’re going to get some opportunities.”
“Everybody has egos,” Jacksonville cornerback Fernando Bryant said. “But let’s be honest. Everybody was talking about how Spurrier should have been the head coach here. If you’re a man, you take that personal. I’m glad [Coughlin] did. I would be disappointed if he didn’t.”
A real good guy: Former special teams player Dwight Stone, who played 14 years in the NFL with the Steelers, Panthers and Jets, just became a Charlotte, N.C., police officer.
He makes $33,800 a year, about what he got paid per game late in his career. At age 38, Stone is financially secure, so there was considerable doubt whether he would make it through the rigorous, 24-week police academy program.
Ginny Woodlief, the police officer who was lead instructor for Stone’s recruit class, told the Charlotte Observer: “We all had come to a general consensus that Dwight probably wouldn’t stick it out. But he did, and he will be an excellent police officer. I wish I had 50 more just like him.”
Stone rises each day at 4:45 a.m. to make his 6:15 a.m. roll call.
“It’s never the same–no radio call, no hour, no second,” he said. “I love that about it.
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“People say a lot of things about pro athletes. They think what we do is for the money, that we just think of self. I’m trying to erase that myth. There are some of us out there who really do care.”