One Out, One In

A playoff atmosphere will be enveloping stadiums in Dallas and Chicago on Sunday with both the NFC East and NFC North titles up for grabs.  Two win or go home games will take place in each city as the NFL concludes its regular season.

The Cowboys will play for the Eastern Division crown at home against the Philadelphia Eagles.  The Cowboys beat the Eagles 17 – 3 in an odd defensive struggle back in October.  In that game the Cowboy 32nd ranked defense had one of its best games of the year holding Eagle running back LaSean McCoy to just 55 yards and knocking quarterback Nick Foles from the game.  Unfortunately for the Cowboys, quarterback Tony Romo will miss this game after having back surgery yesterday for a herniated disc.  The Cowboy will rely on 9 year veteran backup Kyle Ortin to lead the offense against the Eagles 30th ranked defense.  Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is confident Ortin will do the job alluding to Sundays game as the reason he had signed Ortin to one of the league’s most lucrative backup contracts. 

The Northern Division Championship will be up for grabs in Chicago where the Bears host the Packers.  Ironically, the Packers are getting quarterback Aaron Rogers back from an injury just as the Cowboys Tony Romo is going out.  Another irony is that Rogers sustained a broken collarbone in a loss to these same Bears back in week nine.  Since then the Packers record is 2-5-1 yet somehow they have remained in the race.  Rogers now has an opportunity for revenge against the same team that sidelined him eight weeks ago.  The Bears will be starting Jay Cutler at quarterback.   Cutler may be on a short leash due to the excellent play of Josh McCown, his backup, who subbed for him while he was sidelined with a leg injury.

In each contest the winner moves on to play a wildcard game next week while the loser is done for the season.  Quarterback play may very well be the determining factor of the fortunes of each team.  It is time to play the games.  “To the victor go the spoils”…