NFL Week Ten: My Three Wishes

From the sublime to the ridiculous. Having written last week's piece whilst the games were in progress, this week I'm writing on a Thursday because the season of midweek games starts here.

1. More Strong Coaches

Does anyone not love what Mike Singletary and Jack Del Rio have done these past two weeks? Whether it is ejecting your own player from the game, as Singletary did to Vernon Davis, or singlehandedly shaking up the locker room and booting out a team captain (as Del Rio has done this week) it is high time that someone in the NFL got tough with overpaid, underperforming stars. It doesn't matter how much discipline Roger Goodell tries to bring to the league, all the while coaches and - worse still - owners put up with players who give a franchise less than their all, there will always be an unequal balance between individuals and the team. The last time I looked, this game was bigger than any one person. It is nice to see some people taking steps to bring that home to their employees.

2. That every team had fans like the Chicago Bears

Everyone who writes does so out of pure ego. We all want to see our thoughts, words and deeds in print. And we all want them to be read by other people, who will be in some way inspired or entertained by what we have written. But nothing prepared me for the reaction I got from Bears fans on Sunday - and pretty much every day since - after I suggested that they were not playing well enough to be 5-3. These guys really care. No fan of another side has reacted as they did. In some cases that's understandable - would you want to out yourself as a Raiders fan this week? - but I thought I might be contradicted by more people out there before now.

3. A win for the Lions

It's not easy being the last team without a win. I'm not convinced that they are as bad as the 1-15 Dolphins of last year and the crippling lack of confidence within the camp is only going to get worse. Their best chance of victory probably comes when Oakland visit in a couple of weeks, but what a boost it would be to beat the Jaguars this weekend.