NFL Week 12 Picks: Chicago Bears and Teams That Will Struggle with New QBs

Injuries have a "funny" way of disrupting playoff pushes in the NFL, especially when franchise quarterbacks get cut down. There's no easy way for a team to replace its top signal caller in the midst of the stretch run, as these three teams are sure to find out on Sunday.

Chicago Bears

The Bears had a great thing going—a 7-3 record, a five-game winning streak—before Jay Cutler went down with a busted digit against the Chargers. Now, folks in Chicago will find out if Caleb Hanie is the real deal or if his surprising performance against the Packers in last year's NFC Championship Game was just a fluke.

The Raiders' defense, ranked 20th in the NFL against the pass, shouldn't be too tough a nut for Hanie to crack, though playing on the road won't make his first career start any easier. The Bears should be okay so long as Matt Forte gets the ball 25-30 times and the defense does its job.

However, if the Silver and Black goad the Bears into a shootout, then Hanie may well find himself in over his head.

Philadelphia Eagles

So Vince Young leads the Eagles to an improbable victory over the Giants, sans Michael Vick, and now has the privilege of throwing against the Patriots' dead-last pass defense.

A recipe for success, right? Not so fast, my friends. Young is no slouch, with plenty of starting experience and a key fourth-quarter drive under his belt, but he'll find the sledding a bit tougher in a barnburner in Philadelphia.

Make no mistake about it, this one will be a barnburner. Granted, both defenses have improved significantly since the start of the season, but neither unit figures to stand much of a chance against the likes of Tom Brady and LeSean McCoy.

Playing catch-up won't be easy for Young and the Eagles, especially if the Pats' pass rush continues to perform as it has in recent weeks.

Houston Texans

The Texans shouldn't have too much trouble beating the Jaguars, even with Matt Leinart taking over for Matt Schaub.

That's not to say that achieving victory will necessarily be an easy task for Houston. After all, Jacksonville's defense is sneaky good, having shown itself capable of slowing down some quality offenses this season.

Unless Leinart has some secret chemistry with Jacoby Jones and Owen Daniels, or Andre Johnson magically reappears on the field, the Texans will likely be reduced to a one-dimensional attack behind the running of Arian Foster and Ben Tate.

Not a bad one dimension to have, but not exactly the sort that will make for a quick "W" at EverBank Field.