NFL Round-up: Week 3

If someone had taken me aside prior to the kick-off of NFL 2010, and proposed a betting scam that would leave just three undfeated teams in the league after as many weeks, I might have listened...

Until, of course, my said informant suggested we back the Kansas City Chiefs, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears to make it to 3-0.

"You're crazy," I would've said, "There's no way anyone will buy it: it's tosh!"

Tosh or not, that's exactly what has happened.

The Steelers aren't a huge surprise - they are, at least, an upper-echelon team who many, including this humble journalist, predicted would struggle in the absence of all-star QB, Ben Roethlisberger.

There has been no hangover from Big Ben's drunken antics with another young woman, and now Coach Tomlin faces an unbelievable decision: stick with Batch on Ben's return, or hand the reins of a winning football team back to its rightly owner? I doubt Tomlin will lose much sleep over this,but imagine if the Steelers slide when Ben gets back on the field - careers have been sent into a tailspin by less...

The Bears beat my Superbowl pick on Monday night, by edging the Packers 20-17 in an error-strewn affair.

The Pack aren't clicking as they were in preseason and now hold a slender one game lead over division rivals, the Minnesota Vikings, who bounced back against the Lions this week.

Could the bears keep this up? Yeah, why not - I think it's looking more and more certain that at least one Wild Card will come from the NFC North. At this rate, though, it might not be either team we expected.

And as for Kansas...

Well, what can I say? I still think they will finish outside of the playoffs - no doubt sliding to third when the Chargers and Broncos get in the right gear, but no one can take anything away from this god-awful team who have found a way to win.

Brad Childress and his Vikings (1-2) should look to Todd Haley for an example of how to scrape a decent meal out of scraps...


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