If the season ended today, here’s a look at the potential playoff matchups (take these with a grain of salt since some are based on tiebreakers):

If there’s anyone out there who picked Cincinnati, Houston, and San Francisco as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th best teams in the NFL before the season, let’s talk… I’ve got a mortgage to pay!

Let’s start with what I thought was the game-of-the day: the Giants at the Patriots. Eli Manning did his best Tom Brady impression in handing the Pats their first regular season home loss in about 17 years, but here’s my two questions for you to chew on: Has Eli cemented himself as a top-5 QB in the NFL? Has Bill Belichick officially lost his touch? My personal answers are “no” and “yes, a little bit”, but I’d love to hear everyone else’s thoughts in the comments section below. I’ll be happy to elaborate on my thinking if you disagree with me.

Moving through the rest of the games… the Jets made it a three-way race in the AFC East by taking down the Bills at home, the Ravens continued their dominance over the Steelers this year, the Saints continued their Jekyll and Hyde routine in taking down the Bucs, and the Cowboys struggled more than they should have in a home win against a team that thinks Charlie Whitehurst and Tavaris Jackson are the answer at QB. Other less interesting games included the 49ers moving to 7-1 by beating the lowly Redskins on the road, the Texans dismantling the Browns at home, and the St. Louis Rams losing their momentum from their Saints upset by losing in OT to a John Skelton-led Cardinals team.  

There were a few angles I was thinking about taking with this week’s Monday Night Football Preview: Jay Cutler and Kristin Cavallari, Michael Vick and dog fighting, DeSean Jackson’s regression…but I’m going to take a different approach and focus on the running backs this week.

Defend Jay “I define the word, Hubris” Cutler all you want, Bears fans, but Matt Forte is the only reason that the Bears have a winning record of 4-3 right now. You’d think that would fantastic news as Forte looks to get a lucrative contract extension, but I’ve got two dirty words for Forte and any other running back out there looking to get paid: Chris Johnson. After Chris Johnson signed a 6-year deal for $53.5 Million (including $30 Million of guaranteed money) and proceeded to do absolutely nothing, teams have started playing hardball with guys like Forte and Peyton Hillis (more on him later). Forte has reportedly been offered $13-14 Million in guarantees (which doesn’t sound like enough for a guy who has accounted for 40 % of the Bears offense this year), but he might want to take that money and run before he ends up getting the extension Frank Gore just took ($21 Million over 3 years). I’m no fortune-teller, but my guess is that Forte ends up with something similar to Jamaal Charles’ 5 years for $32.5 Million (with $13 Million guaranteed). Enough about money, though…

The Bears went into their bye week with a two-game win streak, and are finally starting to protect the aforementioned Cutler a tad bit more (keyword: tad). Their running and passing attacks are right in the middle of the league (15th and 18th and 15th, respectively), but they’re going to need to improve that if they want to move to 5-3 this week. The main reason they’re going to have to rely on their offense is because their defense isn’t exactly reminding anyone of the “Monsters of the Midway” coming in at 28th in the league against the pass (albeit 11th against the run).

I said I wanted to talk about running backs, and since we already talked about Forte, it’s time for some ink on LeSean McCoy. Assuming he gets more than three points in standard leagues tonight, he’ll be the leading scorer for all running backs in fantasy football this year. He’s on-pace for 16+ TDs and he hasn’t dipped below double-digit points all year. Brian Westbrook hasn’t been gone all that long, but McCoy’s making him a distant memory in the minds of Eagles fans. I know I’m going to get some flak for this one, but I’ll throw it out there anyway: I’d strongly consider taking him with the #1 overall pick in drafts next year if he keeps this up.

The once self-proclaimed “Dream Team” (shhh…don’t tell Michael Vick. He doesn’t like that term) is sitting at 3-4 going into this one, despite having the league’s best running attack and 9th-best passing attack. Their defense hasn’t been too shabby either as the 9th-best against the pass and 17th-best against the run. The only thing that’s been holding the Iggles back this year has been what limits the talent-abundant Chargers every year: mental mistakes. We’ll see if they can overcome those at home tonight as they try to climb even with the Cowboys for 2nd in the NFC East.

Fantasy-wise, I’m looking for Vick, McCoy, Forte, and Maclin to have the big games this week, while I’m envisioning some struggles for the likes of Cutler, DeSean Jackson, Hester, and Knox. In terms of who will win, this should be a close one (it usually is between these two teams) and something’s gotta give this week as each team is looking for their third straight victory. The Bears are 1-2 on the road and the Eagles are 1-2 at home, so that’s not going to provide us with much to make a decision on either. I’ve been 0-2 on MNF picks the last two weeks, but I’m looking to right the ship with a prediction of Eagles 23, Bears 20 (sorry Bears fans…I just can’t pick Jay Cutler to win with a straight-face).

Lastly, what would a Monday be without taking a look at some of the top fantasy-relevant news from Sunday:

–       Miles Austin is reportedly out 2-4 weeks after reinjuring his hamstring. Laurent Robinson looks to be a must-add at this point.

–       Like I said last week…Chris Ogbonnaya isn’t worth starting (1 point in standard leagues), but with reports of Peyton Hillis potentially being IR’ed by the Browns…I think he needs to be owned. The Madden Curse strikes again!

–       The RB carousel keeps spinning round and round in DC. This week, Ryan Torain is off and Roy Helu is on (41 rushing yards, 14 catches, and 105 receiving yards). Beware though…they didn’t claim Tashard Choice off of waivers for no reason.

–       We had a bit of a Chris Johnson spotting yesterday (64 yards), and he doesn’t look to be in grave danger of losing his job to Javon Ringer (4 carries for 11 yards).

–       Antonio Brown (5 catches for 109 yards on a team-high 11 targets) is a must-own going forward.

–       Julio Jones had a beastly day (131 yards and 2 TDs), but keep in mind that he still only had 3 catches and was third on the team in targets.

–       Who cares about a broken hand?!? Certainly not Willis McGahee…who went for 163 yards and 2 TDs)

Good luck to everyone who has Bears and Eagles players deciding your match-ups tonight!