Week 1 in the NFL was bad news for the Bears in more places than Soldier Field.
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Next up: the Packers in Green Bay. Rarely a happy trip no matter the circumstances.
Then at Minnesota, where quarterback Daunte Culpepper built on his near-perfect preseason performance by throwing five touchdown passes in 23 attempts against Dallas. The Cowboys had the league’s No. 1 defense last season, by the way.
Culpepper’s passer efficiency rating in the preseason was 134.5. Perfect is 158.4. The only blemish was an interception he threw deep into triple coverage in a win over Arizona.
Week 4 for the Bears is Philadelphia, where Terrell Owens scored three touchdowns in his Eagles debut. Last year Eagles wide receivers caught five touchdown passes all season.
Game 5? Washington, where Joe Gibbs demonstrated that 11 years away from football hasn’t erased his memory.
Gibbs, a certified Hall of Fame coaching “genius,” beat Jon Gruden’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Gruden won the Super Bowl two years ago with Tony Dungy’s Bucs and was considered the budding, young coaching guru.
The Bears play Gruden and his Bucs in Tampa in Game 6.
Game 7 is against San Francisco. The 49ers won all kinds of games Sunday. Jeff Garcia beat Baltimore. Owens beat the Giants. Garrison Hearst helped beat Kansas City. Tai Streets helped beat the Bears. Wait a minute. Those are last year’s 49ers.
The 49ers should be receiving shipments of game balls from all over the country after dismantling their team during the off-season.
The new 49ers? They lost to the Atlanta Falcons and their new coach, former 49ers defensive coordinator Jim Mora, and the Falcons’ new offensive coordinator, former 49ers coordinator Greg Knapp.
Best and worst
Openers don’t make or break seasons, but they mold opinions.
Best wins: 1. Cleveland. Butch Davis got off the hottest coaching seat in the league by knocking off Baltimore 20-3 and finally containing Ravens running back Jamal Lewis.
2. Detroit. The Lions didn’t want to hear about a road losing streak going to Atlanta on Oct. 10.
3. Seattle. After a 2-6 road record last year and with four of their first six games on the road, the Seahawks are savoring their win in New Orleans even though they might lose running back Shaun Alexander for a week or two with a twisted knee.
Worst losses: 1. Buffalo. After an off-season dedicated to improving their offense, the Bills stepped all over themselves at home and lost to a Jacksonville team that didn’t play much better.
2. Houston. The Texans were hoping to speed up their playoff process. Losing at home against lowly San Diego makes it look like wait until next year already.
3. New Orleans. Same old Saints. They don’t do well against a good team. Again.
Bad pattern
The Lions have blocked a field goal in three consecutive games against the Bears. Last season in the Bears’ 12-10 loss at Detroit that may have sealed coach Dick Jauron’s fate, Jared DeVries got a hand on Paul Edinger’s 48-yard attempt in the second quarter to keep the score tied at 3-3. In the game at Soldier Field in 2003, James Hall blocked a 32-yard Edinger attempt to keep Detroit within striking distance.
The more things change . . .
As good as Quentin Griffin and Denver looked in beating Kansas City Sunday night, there is the lingering image of Jake Plummer throwing a left-handed pass from his own end zone that was intercepted.
Said Broncos coach Mike Shanahan: “I talked to him on the sideline and said, `Hey, you don’t have to win the game on your own. We have a great defense out there; we just can’t turn the football over.’ But the thing I love about him, he’s going to go out there and compete.
“After he made a mistake he wasn’t afraid to come back and make a couple of nice throws and then he forgot about it. You have to have a short memory as a quarterback. You have to go out there and find a way to win and make some plays. That’s what he did. Some people can’t do that after a couple of mistakes.”
Said Plummer: “[I am] not proud. That’s just the way I’ve always played. I’ve made some stupid plays and mistakes before, but those are things I try to come back and correct. I think guys know I’ll always keep bouncing back and fighting, and that’s what this team is going to do too.”
Name recognition
Josh McCown, the Arizona Cardinals’ starting quarterback, has an older brother, Randy, who played quarterback at Texas A&M, and a younger brother, Luke, who is a rookie quarterback for the Browns. But Josh wants it known he is not related to Cade McNown.
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“Everybody who knew I had a brother who played college ball just assumed it was Cade McNown,” McCown said. “So I’m answering those questions all the time. `No, it’s a different spelling, there’s no N. It’s McCown, not McNown.’
“It’s even funny when I’m doing autographs. When people can look and read my name and they still say McNown. They still say, `Is your brother Cade?’ I’m like, `No, it’s a different spelling. It’s just like if his name was Smith. It’s a different spelling. We can’t be related.'”
Fearsome foursome
Golfers at Royal Melbourne last week had no complaint allowing this foursome to play through: Richard Dent, Dan Hampton, Steve McMichael and Mike Hartenstine.
The best front four in Bears history beat the golf balls like they used to beat offensive linemen. Now ages 44 to 51, the four reportedly were followed by a Bears scout, who figured if Deion Sanders can make a comeback at 37, why not these guys?
Answer: There aren’t three good knees among them, and the golf balls weren’t hitting back.
Roy no boy
Losing Charles Rogers for the second season in a row is a blow to the Lions because they thought he was ready to be Joey Harrington’s go-to guy.
But the presence of big rookie Roy Williams leaves a definite comfort zone.
As a player who stayed in college at Texas all four years, Williams entered the league with more experience and maturity than even some scouts believed he needed. The replay of his one-handed tipped catch to himself has been shown a thousand times. Chicago fans keep waiting to see him jump up after the juggling grab and spike the ball or toss it at a defensive back or thump his chest or point at somebody or shimmy or something. Hasn’t happened on any replay yet.