Bears the best in the NFL? Torre toast in NY?

1. The Bears, one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the NFL, are the best team in… 1. The Bears, one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the NFL, are the best team in football.

Andrew Chikes: Fact. The Bears are the most complete team in football right now. For the past several years, Chicago has maintained their stingy defense, but finally the offense has come around too. Rex Grossman has stayed healthy (knock on wood) long enough to become one of the league leaders in passing, while the two-headed monster of Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson gives opposing defenses nightmares. Grossman will continue to go through occasional growing pains as he plays his first full season as starter, but his surrounding cast is good enough to make up for an off day from him. On the other side of the ball, Brian Urlacher has officially taken Ray Lewis’ spot as the top middle linebacker in the league, Tommie Harris is a beast who has been disrupting offenses all season, and the secondary has been solid if not spectacular. It may be early, but if I were a betting man, I would look for the Bears to be playing in Miami come January.

Dave Thomas: Fact. We all knew how great their defense was last season, but what kept them out of the Super Bowl was their lack of offense. Well, now with a healthy Rex Grossman, there are no longer any questions on that side of the ball. The Bears have won all five of their games by punishing their opponents on both sides of the ball. They have outscored their opponents by a remarkable 156-36. If they can keep that up, there is no question that they will be representing the NFC in Miami for the Super Bowl.

2. The Yankees should fire manager Joe Torre.

AC: Fiction. I understand that this team underachieved, but the blame should in no way be directed at the skipper. With more than 1,500 career managerial wins, six American League pennants and four World Series rings, Torre has solidified his place as a hall-of-fame manager. He’s also incredible at keeping a cool demeanor in a town where baseball is everything and the owner is always one bad game away from calling out his personnel. It would be extremely difficult to replace that. Besides, the Yanks’ sluggers just didn’t get it done in crunch time. The manager can only set the lineups, not take the field for them. I hate to jump on the bandwagon, but perhaps New York should consider shipping off a certain $252-million third baseman rather than their skipper.

DT: Fiction. And now it’s coming out that George Steinbrenner will likely hang onto Torre for the final year of his contract, and that’s the right move. Torre has set nearly impossible expectations for himself and the Yankees by winning World Championships in four of his first five years on the Yankees’ bench, and that, believe it or not, has been the problem. All that winning sparked Steinbrenner to go after all these high-priced players so they would never lose again. Now nothing else but a championship is good enough. Those goals are pretty unreasonable no matter how much your payroll is, and it’s not Torre’s fault that they haven’t been able to do that. Steinbrenner needs to reassess how this team is assembled, but he shouldn’t fire Torre.

3. After preseason rumors that this would be his last year, and now a 1-3 start, this will be Bill Cowher’s last season as the head coach of the Steelers.

AC: Fact. What does he have left to prove? He finally reached the pinnacle of his sport by winning the Super Bowl last year. Obviously this year has been less than stellar, but similar to Torre’s situation, the blame rests on lack of production from the players and not the play-calling. Should he stay, it appears Cowher would have a lot of work ahead of him. It’s time for him to get out and let someone else start fresh.

DT: Fiction. While it seems that this could happen, I think that Cowher will be back on the sidelines next year. If the Steelers do miss the playoffs and never get rolling this year, I don’t think Cowher could walk away like that. He’s too fiery of a competitor to not go out with a better season. He’ll be back for 2007, the team will make the playoffs and he looks like a genius again. He’ll make himself marketable for a TV gig or another coaching job somewhere else. Cowher will be back, but right now I’m sure he’s missing last February.

4. Donovan McNabb, who has put up some of the best numbers for a five game stretch in history, is the best quarterback in the game right now.

AC: Fiction. Best quarterback is a toss up right now between Peyton Manning and Carson Palmer. McNabb has been spectacular thus far, but he’s proven to be inconsistent over his career, and he should slow down soon enough. I’ve watched him throw too many balls into the ground and miss too many open receivers to argue that he is the best signal-caller in the league. Donnie is a terrific game manager and does very well with what he’s given, but as long as Manning and Palmer are healthy and active, it would be difficult to place anyone in their caliber.

DT: Fiction. While you can’t argue that McNabb is at the top of his game now and seems to have put all the T.O. stuff behind him, I can’t say that he is better than Peyton Manning. I guess you could say that he is the best QB in the NFC right now, but I think what Grossman has done in Chicago might be more impressive than McNabb because it’s coming from nowhere. We’ll know what McNabb can do, he did lead his team to four straight conference championships games and I feel like we almost expect him to perform like this. And to be honest, if the Eagles want to make a run deep into the playoffs, it seems like he will have to stay just as hot for that to happen.

5. After receiving six votes in the AP Poll and 21 votes in the USA Today poll this week, Pitt football will crack the top 25 if they win at Central Florida this Friday.

AC: Fact