On the first drive of Green Bay’s Monday Night matchup against their divisional rivals the Chicago Bears, the Packers season was rocked by an injury to Aaron Rodgers, who was sacked on third down and left the game due to a fractured collarbone on his non-throwing arm.  As a result of his absence, Green Bay – who have already lost Jermichael Finley for the year, as well as major players like Clay Matthews, James Jones and Randall Cobb missing time – lost to Chicago and their backup quarterback, Josh McCown, who performed well in the place of Jay Cutler, who has been out with a groin strain.  The 27-20 loss the Packers means that there is now a three-way tie in the NFC North between themselves, Chicago and Detroit – who were on their bye week – with all of them currently on 5-3, but Rodgers being out for at least three weeks could see Green Bay drop out of postseason contention all together.  With Seneca Wallace – who has not won an NFL game since 2010 – as the only other quarterback on their books, the Wisconsin team need to find another option under center.  I hear that Brett Favre is not doing much nowadays, maybe it is time to bring back the gunslinger – just kidding, he can go and be Minnesota’s fifth starting QB of the year, as the Vikings have now dropped to 1-7 following their 27-23 loss in Dallas last Sunday.

The biggest news of the week in the NFL was the loss of two offensive linesmen for the Miami Dolphins – rookie Jonathan Martin, who opted to leave the team; and veteran Richie Incognito, who stands accused of bullying Martin and has been suspended while the claim is investigated.  The culture of hazing young athletes is hardly anything new, but if reports are true then Incognito not only crossed several lines, but obliterated them like he was a hateful version of Jackie Robinson, knocking down barriers of good taste.  Before all of this was revealed, the Dolphins finally won for the first time since week 3, as they beat the Bengals 22-20 thanks to a safety in overtime, the first win for the state of Florida in the NFL in their last 14 attempts.  The Buccaneers failed to make it two in a week for the Sunshine state however, as they allowed a 21-0 lead to slip away against the Seahawks, who improved to 8-1 with a 27-24 victory, also in overtime.

Kansas City moved to 9-0 for the first time since 2003, as they won in Buffalo 23-13 against the Bills, though they also had to come from behind and the game turned on a 100 yard interception return for the Chiefs by Sean Smith four minutes into the third quarter.  Perhaps the biggest upset of the week came in New Jersey, where the Jets beat the Saints 26-20, mainly thanks to Chris Ivory who rushed for 139 yards and a touchdown to inflict just the second defeat of the season on New Orelans.  Elsewhere, the Chargers lost in Washington in overtime, after a late touchdown was overturned and they failed to get the ball in from only a few inches out and had to settle for a field goal, giving Robert Griffin III the chance to win it for the home team in the first possession of the extra period; Tennessee prevailed 28-21 in St. Louis; Nick Foles became only the seventh man in NFL history to throw for seven touchdowns, achieving the feat in the Eagles 49-20 victory in Oakland;  the Browns beat the Ravens 24-18 in a matchup of current and former Cleveland franchises; the Patriots posted 55 points in their win over the Steelers, who managed 31 themselves; Carolina heaped the misery onto Atlanta with a 34-10 defeat of the Falcons; and Andrew Luck led Indianapolis to another comeback, as they overturned a 24-6 third quarter deficit to beat the Texans.  There was more worrying news for Houston however, as their head coach Gary Kubiak was hospitalized at half-time during the game after collapsing on the field; an incident that came just a day after John Fox – who holds the same position with the Broncos – was treated for a heart attack and it was announced he would be missing significant time away from the team.

Power Poll

Because my workings for this are purely mathematical – the workings for which can be found in this post – the latest poll sees Green Bay only drop one place from their previous week’s position, as their loss to the Bears affects their position, but not as badly as the loss of Aaron Rodgers does to the perception of how well they might do in the coming weeks.  Elsewhere, there is a new team at the top, as Kansas City moving to 9-0 finally saw them usurp Seattle; Miami and the Jets both jumped up the poll thanks to impressive victories over teams in the upper echelons of the standings; while the Buccaneers, Vikings and Jaguars are all fighting to be the most mediocre team in football, with Tampa Bay currently prevailing.

(Last week’s position in brackets)

1. (2) Kansas City Chiefs

2. (1) Seattle Seahawks

3. (4) San Francisco 49ers

4. (3) Indianapolis Colts

5. (7) Denver Broncos

6. (6) New England Patriots

= (8) Cincinnati Bengals

8. (5) New Orleans Saints

9. (10) Detroit Lions

10. (9) Green Bay Packers

11. (12) Chicago Bears

12. (17) New York Jets

13. (22) Miami Dolphins

14. (11) Arizona Cardinals

15. (=14) Tennessee Titans

16. (=14) Dallas Cowboys

17. (16) Carolina Panthers

18. (19) Cleveland Browns

19. (24) Washington

20. (21) Buffalo Bills

21. (13) San Diego Chargers

22. (26) Philadelphia Eagles

23. (20) Houston Texans

24. (23) Baltimore Ravens

25. (18) Oakland Raiders

26. (25) St. Louis Rams

27. (28) New York Giants

28. (27) Atlanta Falcons

29. (29) Pittsburgh Steelers

30. (30) Jacksonville Jaguars

31. (31) Minnesota Vikings

32. (32) Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 10 Predictions

Last week, 3-10; Season, 70-62

Home teams in bold

Washington -2.5 over Vikings

Seahawks -6.5 over Falcons

Bills +3.5 over Steelers

Lions +2.5 over Bears

Bengals -1.5 over Ravens

Eagles +0.5 over Packers

Titans -13.5 over Jaguars

Colts -10.5 over Rams

Raiders +7.5 over Giants

49ers -6.5 over Panthers

Chargers +7.5 over Broncos

Texans +2.5 over Cardinals

Saints -6.5 over Cowboys

Buccaneers +2.5 over Dolphins