Colts-Texans & Bears-Vikings: Week 12 in Pictures, Part 1

This is NOT the suit Peyton Manning opened week 12 in, but it does begin this article the way the telecast did— by showing the devastation the Colts QB had planned for his opposition, much like the devastation he always does. Peyton would face the Houston Texans, who have played foil for the Colts for the majority of their existence at Reliant Stadium, which in a few years will be a house of horrors for visiting teams. Would it be for Peyton Manning? We would find out when Peyton got out of his cream suit and into uniform.

Peyton-Cushing

The day began badly for Peyton when he was introduced to potential Defensive Rookie of the Year Brian Cushing. They didn't exactly shake hands.

And Then Blackness

Peyton is introduced to Cushing in a very intimate way. Reminiscent of last call at the saloon.

Inaccurate Reception

This is not a happy man.

Hey, Matt Schaub is Outplaying Peyton Manning!

The game looks good, with the Texans up 20-7 at halftime. By the way, this guy's not wearing deodorant. Must be a great seat sitting next to him, huh?

And Then Peyton Turned into Blue Hulk

You won't like Peyton when he's angry.

And Some Randomness

Here's a picture of Austin Collie, Peyton Manning's newest target on offense. Wait, it's not? Well, it should be.

Abandon Hope All Ye Offensive Linemen

If this doesn't scare you, you don't have to play them.

Those Guys Beat up This Guy, What Jerks

Ladies and gentlemen, it's rant time.

Despite liking the Vikings because I actually live in Minneapolis and find them fun, yet, being from Chicago and growing up a Bears fan, I had to be completely neutral.

In my neutrality, though, this was the poorest performance I've seen the Bears put up in about seven years, There will be Bears fans who blame Cutler for the loss yesterday, not remembering that the line gave him NO protection.

Matt Forte, as I predicted, was eaten by Pat Williams and Brett Favre blew his nose with the Bears defense. This team has given up the ghost, and the worst part is CUTLER will be blamed because HE got brutalized.

Matt Forte, Orlando Pace and the rest of the "offensive" line got thoroughly owned, yet will escape blame. While I didn't expect the Bears to win, they didn't even show up for this game. They quit. And that's the fault of one man...

Lovie's Got to Go, And the End of Part 1

See, I've given in. After last season's performance by the offense, led by Kyle Orton, who is who we thought he was, I really thought things would get better when Orlando Pace was signed to protect Jay Cutler. The guy protected Marc Bulger, for crying out loud, who said he couldn't protect this guy?

So he gets here and basically it's a four on four matchup. Which is bad, because as you all know, an offensive line is made up of five guys, as REQUIRED BY NFL RULES.

The Bears really should be ashamed, not just of the overall performance of the team, but particularly of the performance of the offensive line and it's coaches.

The defense lost Brian Urlacher and Nathan Vasher. They can be excused. The offense can't. This season has been a disgusting exercise in how to be worse than mediocre, and that's because of one man—John Sullivan, the center of the Vikings.

No, it's really because of Lovie Smith. In my mind, Smith is becoming a reverse Dennis Green because the Bears have been the Vikings negative for about 13 years. The Vikings were all-offense, no defense for that time period.

That changed with, for starters, the signing of Antoine Winfield. They have since developed into a fearsome defense that frightens offensive linemen and forces running backs to contemplate harakiri before game time.

The Bears, on the other hand, stressed defense, defense, defense, defense, while shortchanging the offense. And then they get a real QB. They separate from Jim Miller and Rex Grossman, and the team gets WORSE! How does this make sense?

And that is on this man's shoulders. He is the culprit, and he and Ron Turner, and to a much lesser extent Jerry Angelo. They are the only ones who can take the blame for this, because it is THEIR fault. Not Jay Cutler, not Charles Tillman, and not the injured Urlacher, who would be out there if he could be. Having a real QB is not the problem. Not having real WRs and a real offense is. And any Bears fan who doesn't know that is a fool.