(Image via mocksession.com)

Ouch. Bears WR Johnny Knox will undergo surgery today to stabilize a vertebra in his back after this scary hit on Sunday versus the Seahawks.

Knox caught a pass from Caleb Hanie in the first quarter, then fumbled the ball backward into his own territory. The Bears’ receiver made a diving attempt to recover the fumble, when he was hit by Seattle DE Anthony Hargrove and bent over backward in half [VIDEO HERE]. Knox was down for a significant amount of time before being placed on a spinal board and carted off the field.

Thankfully, the initial prognosis for Knox is positive, and he should eventually be able to resume his football career … which is the only reason we’re cool posting the gruesome GIF of the injury above.

“He has total movement throughout his body, has total use of all his extremities, which is good,” coach Lovie Smith said. “We’re doing tests right now. He has total movement. He’s not paralyzed or anything.”

So yeah … that’s good news. Here’s wishing Knox a speedy recovery.

(Photo: WashingtonPost.com)

As the Tim Tebow phenomenon continues to grow to the point of nearly taking over all league-wide discussion, it should come as no surprise that the NFL Films crew had the Broncos QB mic’d up for his Week 14 match-up against the Chicago Bears, as part of their Sound FX series. In it, we get a little more insight into the way Denver’s savior plays the game, what he says to his teammates to motivate them on the field, as well as Tebow’s most personal conversations with the man upstairs.

Particularly interesting is hearing Tebow try to keep WR Demaryius Thomas’s head in the game after dropping a sure third quarter touchdown, presciently telling him, “You’re good. Hey, no big deal, it just makes it closer for a little bit longer. You’re about to catch the game-winner, and then you’ll be the hero of the game.” (well, technically it wasn’t the game-winner, but still).

Then, following his own 4th quarter fumble (which seemingly sealed their fate with just 5:41 remaining), Tebow comforts Broncos’ QB coach Andrew Case, who asks, “Why do we always gotta do this?”. Cool as a cucumber, Tebow just smiles, put his hand around Gase’s shoulder and says: “It’s all right. We’ll figure it out, man.” 

And figure it out he did, rallying to tie the game and take it to overtime, with a little help from Marion Barber along the way. But to no surprise, Tebow appears to be most relaxed when the game around him is at its most tense. Following Barber’s OT fumble, Tebow silently rises off the bench, points toward the sky as he takes the field, and launches into song with a quiet hymnal before calmly leading Denver to the game-winning score.

Regardless of your feelings about his faith or throwing abilities, you can’t deny that we are witnessing something special in Tebow right now. And as long as he keeps winning, he’s going to continue to make believers out of his teammates, opponents and even his harshest critics.

VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP

UPDATE: According to PFT, one of the moments left on the cutting room floor of this Sound FX episode may have been the most interesting of the game. While they show Tebow being overly-friendly to his Bears opponents like Julius Peppers, Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher in this clip, apparently he wasn’t as congenial with CB Charles Tillman after his acrobatic interception:

… the audio from Tebow that aired this week included Tebow approaching Tillman and telling him, “You’re lucky. You’re lucky to get one.”

Tillman turned toward Tebow and asked, “What did you say?”

“I said you’re lucky, man,” Tebow said. “Lucky, lucky. You know that, too, man.”

This is certainly a far cry from Tebow’s post-game comments, where he praised Tillman for making a great play. and would be wildly out of character coming from someone whose worst trash talk has consisted of saying, “Bless you” to his opponents. But if Tebow did get caught up in the heat of the moment after throwing a pick, at least it would show a slightly more human side to the guy.

(Image via mocksession.com)

Yep, it happened again. After 3-3/4 quarter of some of the worst football you’ll ever see, Tim Tebow and his Broncos somehow pulled out another improbable victory with their 13-10 OT win over the Bears.  

And now, after leading the Denver Broncos to their their sixth straight victory (seventh in eight starts), Tebow has officially made believers out of me, his teammates, the city of Denver, John Fox, John Elway, Marion Barber and Bears fans everywhere. While some credit certainly needs to be given to the Broncos defense and Matt Prater for the win, all anyone can talk about today is Tebow.

The naysayers will continue to claim that Tebow didn’t do anything particularly special himself yesterday (despite throwing for 236 yards and a TD), and Brian Urlacher went so far as to call Tebow “a good running back”.  But there is just something remarkable about the attitude that he brings to the field, where his teammates all fight until the final whistle, and never stop believing. And after witnessing it in person, I can tell you that it’s a feeling that permeates throughout the entire stadium, with fans understanding that with Tebow on their side, they’re never completely out of any game until it’s truly over.

Plus, the very idea that Marion Barber would inexplicably run out of bounds to stop the clock in the 4th quarter, and then fumble the ball in OT – allowing the Broncos a chance at the win – smacks of divine intervention. Believers will tell you that Jesus himself pushed Barber out of bounds on that play. But regardless of whether you believe God actually has a hand in wins and losses on a football field (we don’t), it’s becoming obvious that someone upstairs has Timmy’s back right now. And the faith he’s instilled in this Broncos team since taking over is nothing short of amazing to watch.

There will undoubtedly be tons of over-analysis this week as to the religious implications of Tebow’s success, and what it means for the NFL in general, but the bottom line for us is that all the guy does is win … as the following clip succinctly demonstrates:

VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP

(Photo: Yahoo.com)

The latest episode of NFL Network’s excellent series, A Football Life, focused on the Chicago Bears’ legendary larger-than-life coach and player, Mike Ditka.

As usual, the program gives an in depth look into the Hall of Famer’s life, both on and off the field. From his upbringing in western Pennsylvania to his time as an All-American two-way end at Pitt and becoming a first round draft choice by the Bears. There, Iron Mike revolutionized the Tight End position and came to define toughness and agression from an offensive player in the NFL.

Of course, Ditka went on to coach the Bears for 11 years, winning Super Bowl XX and creating a much larger legend for his his blustery and temperamental persona. His coaching career ended on a less successful note with a 3-year stint with the Saints, where Da Coach looked so constantly stressed out that you genuinely worried he might have a heart attack at any minute.

With NFL Films at the helm, the show provides a multi-dimensional look at one of the more fascinating characters in NFL history. You can watch a bunch of clips here (the “growing up Ditka“ section is particularly worthwhile), but this segment covers a lot of ground on Ditka’s coaching career, including his, shall we say … colorful relationship with both quarterbacks and the media. It also includes a look at this classic furious, pantsless television interview, and starts with Ditka’s now-ubiquitous “Kick Ass” brand, which he shamelessly slaps on everything from red wine to Italian beef :

VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP

(Photo: thepenaltyflagblog.com)

Following the big Hank Williams Jr. controversy from last week, ESPN dropped the popular singer and his long-standing theme song from Monday Night Football, leaving the nation wondering how they would get ready for some football each week moving forward.

Well for last night’s Lions-Bears game, former Lion great Barry Sanders handled the intro duties for MNF, narrating over the sights and sounds of Detroit. It’s a format that ESPN is likely to employ for the remainder of the season, and let’s just say the piece more than sufficed on such short notice. It wasn’t earth-shattering or anything, but I’m not sure anyone ever tuned in to hear Hank Williams Jr., and this puts the focus back where it belongs – on the game, and the host cities for each contest.

Here’s what Sanders’ had to say in the intro:

“Detroit’s soul isn’t in the streets of the city. It’s in the hearts of the people. I know. I played here for 10 years. 

“Right now for the Lions, life is good. But like this town, they won’t rest. They’ll work, they’ll sweat, they’ll fight.

“Detroit doesn’t pat itself on the back, it gets the job done. Especially tonight, on ‘Monday Night Football.’ “

WATCH SANDERS’ MNF INTRO AFTER THE JUMP

Meanwhile, ol’ Hank was out re-writing one of his more right-leaning songs, “Keep The Change” to call out ESPN and Fox & Friends for mistreating him so, and call for a boycott of both networks. Get your free download HERE!

(AP Photo via MLive.com)

We are witnessing something historic right now in the NFL. As the Lions soundly defeated the Bears 24-13 last night on Monday Night Football, the team that was the laughing stock of the league at 0-16 just three years ago improved to 5-0 for the first time since 1956.

It was the city’s first MNF game since 1991, and the Detroit crowd brought the noise to Ford Field, resulting in six false start penalties by the visiting Bears in the first half (9 total). Calvin Johnson scored on a 73-yard pass from Matt Stafford in the second quarter, and Jahvid Best added an 88-yard TD dash to give the Lions a double-digit lead in the third quarter.

The Lions defense harassed Jay Cutler all night long with 3 sacks and countless knockdowns, and to his credit, the Bears QB hung in and did his best to avoid the rush and try to make things happen. But Chicago simply couldn’t get the offense rolling in the second half, and the defense couldn’t contain Best, so the Bears now fall to 2-3, a full three games behind the NFC North leading Lions and Packers.

Watch Jahvid Best’s 88-yard TD run after the jump:

First, after setting a new NFL record with his 11th punt return for a touchdown, Devin Hester performed THREE forward rolls through the endzone, drawing a 15-yard penalty:

(GIF via mocksession.com)

Then, as if to somehow try and out-do Hester, Marion Barber attempted a backflip in the endzone after scoring Chicago’s final touchdown of the game … unfortunately for Barber, he didn’t exactly stick the landing:

BARBER BACKFLIP GIF AFTER THE JUMP

(GIF via mocksession.com)

(photo courtesy of www.photobucket.com)

For anyone who watch football in the late 1970s and 1980s, Walter Payton was emblematic of all that was good in professional sports.  He was graceful on the field, and gracious off of it.  Soft spoken and dignified, Payton– or, perhaps more precisely, what we knew of Payton– was the kind of player– the kind of person– to emulate.  The NFL calls its man of the year award the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for that very reason.   I was never a Bears fans.  But, like many others, I was always a fan of Walter Payton.

Twelve years after his untimely death, Sports Illustrated has excerpted a book by Jeff Pearlman alleging that Payton cheated on his wife and did drugs.  Why write this book?  While I don’t condone cheating on your wife or using drugs, I fundamentally do not understand why this book needs to be written, now.  For starters, the guy’s dead: he can’t defend himself.  Moreover, people don’t still look up to Payton (see point one, he’s dead).  Instead, they admire him for what he represented and, when they see an image of him dancing between defenders, the “C” emblazoned on his helmet, they think of when they were a kid.  When Sunday was spent glued to a television, watching the voracious Bears’ defense serve as the perfect compliment to Payton’s elegance.  Am I supposed to revisit that?  Question it?  Realize that, gee, idols aren’t always what they are cracked up to be when you peal away the onion?  Wow, there’s a novel and timely lesson for the 40-plus crowd that admired him.  Pearlman: for an encore, how about a book on the real truth behind the VHS versus Betamax fight for market share?

I don't think Falcons DC Brian Van Gorder said "C'mon Man" (Image: 30fps.com)

The weekly “C’mon Man” segments on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown have become a favorite here at R&R, mainly because they allow us to catch any funny moments from each weekend’s games that we might have missed. And although it’s clear that Berman, TJ and the boys are continuing their downward slide into cartoon territory, we don’t mind pulling these lowlights from the worldwide leader for your viewing enjoyment.

This week’s edition includes a few moments from Sunday that we would be remiss not showing you, in particular the Chicago Bears pulling off the best trick punt return in NFL history (negated by a phantom holding call), Matt Cassel struggling to put his hat on, and a ref taking a tumble during the Raiders-Jets game:

VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP

The 9/11 tribute ceremonies from Chicago (Photo: NFL.com)

On the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001, the National Football League pauses to pay tribute to the memory of those lost, as well as the heroes from that fateful day.  In addition to allowing players to wear 9/11 tribute gear, a recorded introduction by Robert De Niro, followed by a trumpet performance of “Taps” ran across all networks before the national anthem was sung along with a similar flag ceremony in each stadium.

The video below includes the complete intro, along with the ceremonies from Baltimore prior to the Ravens-Steelers game, not far from where the attack on the Pentagon took place ten years ago, with the anthem being sung by Mishael Miller:

But perhaps the most emotional anthem came from Chicago before the Bears-Falcons contest, where local favorite Jim Cornelison gave another sitrring rendition (previously), with Bears fans cheering along:

VIDEO OF CORNELISON’S ANTHEM AFTER THE JUMP

The ceremonies will continue at NFL stadiums all day long, and we expect the proceedings in Washington later today – and even more so those at the Meadowlands in New Jersey tonight – to be especially moving.