Every Tuesday I’ll take a look at the five biggest questions surrounding NFL teams for that week. In Week 14 I tackle the decimated Bears and their quarterback situation, the race in the NFC East and of course, the Tim Tebow-led Broncos.g

1. Which team will step up in the NFC East?
Last week I wrote that it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Cowboys choke with a golden opportunity to take a two-game lead over the Giants in the NFC East. They were on their way to Arizona to play a very beatable Cardinals team while New York hosted the undefeated Packers, so naturally the Cowboys lost (when Jason Garrett essentially froze his own kicker) and didn’t create more separation between them and the Giants. That’s okay though, because the Sunday Night Football tilt this week becomes an even bigger affair because if the Giants win, then things will be tied again in the division. It’s tough to know what to make of either team. The Cowboys are healthier and have a slew of explosive weapons on offense to exploit a banged up New York defense. But Dallas always seems to kill itself with dumb mistakes and penalties. For all intents and purposes, they should beat the Giants at home this weekend and build a two-game cushion with just three games left to play. But it’s always a crapshoot when it comes to the ‘Boys.

2. What will the Bears do at quarterback?
Following Caleb Hanie’s brutal performance against the Chiefs on Sunday and the injury that will sideline Matt Forte for the next 2-3 weeks (if not the rest of the regular season), the Bears are now entertaining the idea of signing a free agent quarterback. Donovan McNabb is available and Brett Favre seems ready to whore himself out again, but will Chicago actually pull the trigger? The terminology in Mike Martz’s system is supposedly hard to grasp in a short amount of time so it would appear as though Hanie is still the Bears’ best option under center. But Chicago can’t keep rolling him out there every Sunday only to watch him produce a field goal worth of offense. It would, at the very least, make sense to sign McNabb and see how much he can learn in a week. Maybe he can produce just enough points to win while the defense and Devin Hester does the rest. Nobody is saying McNabb is a shoe-in to save Chicago’s season but if the playoffs started today the Bears would own the fifth seed in the NFC. GM Jerry Angelo owes it to his team to at least see if he can catch lightning in a bottle.

3. Will the Broncos take control of their own destiny?
As noted in question No. 2, the Bears are in serious trouble. Not only is Jay Cutler out for the rest of the year, but Matt Forte won’t play this Sunday and might miss the remainder of the season as well. Caleb Hanie couldn’t generate more than a field goal last week against Kansas City, which has an underrated defense but zero offense. Denver has an even better defensive unit and an offense that has made clutch plays with the game on the line for the past four weeks. Thus, the Broncos should win this week at home against Chicago. But there are many people that are still waiting for the wheels to fall off the Tim Tebow joy ride. It doesn’t seem that long ago that Detroit traveled to Denver and absolutely harassed Tebow into huge mistakes in a blowout victory. The Bears still own a relenting defensive unit that’s capable of putting its beleaguered offense in good field position, or scoring themselves with opportunistic plays. Thus, it’s important for Denver to continue to take things one game at a time. With Oakland in Green Bay this Sunday taking on the undefeated Packers, the Broncos have a massive opportunity to control their own destiny from here on out with a victory over the Bears.

4. Which Wild Card hopefuls will start to emerge from the pack?
Outside of the Steelers who seemingly have the fifth seed in the AFC sewn up, there are a lot of flaws when you look at the Wild Card contenders in each conference. In the AFC, the Bengals were just trounced by the Steelers and still have to play the Ravens one more time. Although the Titans have won two in a row, they nearly lost to the hapless Bucs two weeks ago and host powerhouse New Orleans this Sunday. Miami proved last week that Oakland has a couple of underlying issues, namely its run defense and lack of explosives offensively. The Jets have experience making late-season runs but it’s hard to trust Mark Sanchez not to muck things up over these next four weeks. In the NFC, the Bears’ issues are well documented and the Lions look like a team ready to implode thanks to a lack of composure and injuries. The Falcons have more than enough talent on both sides of the ball to secure a postseason berth but their offense has been stuck in mud all season and if the Giants can’t beat the Cowboys this Sunday, then it’s hard envisioning them playing past Week 17. Will somebody please step up?

5. Can the Chargers get back into the AFC West race?
The focus in the AFC West has largely been on the Broncos and Raiders, which makes sense given how their odds of winning the division are the best among the four teams. But while everyone continues to analyze, dissect, and agonize how Tim Tebow continues to win despite usually only playing one quarter of good football, I have a sinking suspicion that the Chargers aren’t finished quite yet. Maybe that’s because we’ve seen Norv Turner’s teams underachieve before, only to swoop in during the final weeks and pull a postseason berth right out from under someone. Granted, it came against a decimated Jacksonville secondary but Turner’s offense was firing on all cylinders Monday night. For the first time in over a month Philip Rivers played with confidence and was making throws that he used to make on a weekly basis in 2010. Winning breads confidence and when a team plays with confidence it becomes dangerous. Given how the Chargers still have to play Baltimore, Detroit, and Oakland to finish out the season, it’s probably too little too late for Rivers and Co. But if their defense overachieves and the offense finally starts playing with some consistency, you never know how things will play out down the stretch.

Brett Favre is returning to football. Sort of. He has agreed to provide color commentary for the Southern Miss/Rice game on October 1st.

“I’m excited to be back at Southern Miss with the Golden Eagles,” Favre said in a press release. “I’m not committing to a new career in broadcasting, but just wanted to support Southern Miss and check out the view from the press box. It should be fun and I hope the fans enjoy it.”

Favre, who started at quarterback for Southern Miss from 1987-1990, set several passing records at the school despite being recruited as a defensive back out of high school.

Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. If anything, this would indicate that Favre isn’t planning a comeback for at least a few weeks.

I think we can all rest easy and assume that Favre is done playing football. It would be interesting to hear him call a game, however. I wonder if they’ll get Jenn Sterger as the sideline reporter…

When he was an assistant coach with the Cincinnati Bengals in the late 60s and early 70s, Bill Walsh knew he had to find the right quarterback to fit his system.

Back then, the “right quarterback” had the same attributes as the “right quarterback” does today: Tall, strong-armed, intelligent, etc. But Walsh knew that in order for his offense to work, he needed a signal caller who was accurate first and foremost, and who possessed the ability to make quick decisions in order to get the ball out of his hands in a timely manner.

In Sam Wyche, the Bengals had what some deemed a prototypical quarterback already on the roster. But Walsh clearly didn’t think Wyche was the exact fit to run what is now called the West Coast Offense, so the Bengals acquired former sixth round pick Virgil Carter from the Bears.

Unlike Wyche, Carter wasn’t your prototypical quarterback in that he only stood 6’1” and 192 pounds and didn’t posses a strong arm. But he was smart and accurate, which is exactly what Walsh envisioned for his offense. Carter went on to lead the NFL in completion percentage in 1971 and was third in overall passing. He was the first player to successfully implement Walsh’s system.

Fast-forward to present day where Browns’ team president Mike Holmgren hopes he has found a quarterback to implement his system. Like Carter, the biggest knock on Colt McCoy is arm strength (or lack thereof). He lasted into the third round of the 2010 draft because teams were worried about whether or not he could make all the throws required of a pro quarterback. But Holmgren snatched him with the 85th pick because he too runs a version of Walsh’s West Coast system and sees a signal caller born to run his offense.

In theory, the West Coast predicates itself on using short, horizontal passes to stretch a defense sideline-to-sideline, as opposed to more traditional offenses that want to stretch a defense out vertically. In essence, the WCO uses those short passes to help open up longer running plays and create opportunities for deeper passes to be completed at a higher percentage.

But in order for the offense to work, it needs a quarterback that can read a defense quickly, get the ball out of his hands in a timely manner and most importantly, be accurate with his throws. If his passes are off the mark or delivered too fast or too slowly, the receiver’s timing is off as well and the entire play breaks down. Thus, there’s no need to have a quarterback with Aaron Rodgers’ arm strength running the show. (Although it certainly doesn’t hurt, as the Mike Holmgren-led Packers can attest to with Brett Favre.)

In the Browns’ first preseason game, you can see why fans are starting to get excited about McCoy’s potential. He completed 9-of-10 passes for 135 yards and a touchdown while running Pat Shurmur’s offense to near perfection. He looked comfortable, poised and spread the ball around with little to no hesitation. If he can carry that performance into the regular season, there’s no reason the Browns can’t at least be competitive.

Now, nobody is suggesting that the Browns are playoff bound or that McCoy is heading to the Pro Bowl anytime soon. One preseason game does not a player or team make. But for a franchise that has desperately searched for direction for nearly a decade, this is a positive start for Cleveland. And it’s not like McCoy didn’t posses these same attributes in college: His completion percentage never dipped below 65.1 in any of his four seasons at Texas, and he finished his junior season with a comp percentage of 76.7 and his senior season with a mark of 70.6. He also posses the intangibles that every team wants to see out of their quarterback, including strong leadership skills and the willingness to work on his craft (which was on display this summer when he sought out Favre’s help in Mississippi).

In McCoy, the Browns seemingly have the perfect fit at quarterback for Holmgren and Shurmur’s offense. They seemingly have found their Virgil Carter.

Brad Childress has admitted in the past that acquiring Randy Moss from the Patriots last year was a mistake. But he took the Moss situation a step further this week when he criticized the receiver for “vomiting on” his locker room.

“We had good guys, by and large, [but Moss] walked in the locker room and vomited on it.”

Regular readers know that I’m not a huge Moss fan. I think he was blessed with elite talent and if he had Jerry Rice’s work ethic, he could have been the best receiver to play the game. Instead, Moss picked his spots to be great. He was motivated when he first came into the league because so many teams passed on him in the 1998 draft, so he worked his ass off in Minnesota. Then he was traded to Oakland and completely shut it down. When he was sent to New England in 2007, he was hungry again to prove his worth and wound up being an MVP candidate for the Patriots. When he wanted a new contract at the start of last season and didn’t receive one from the Pats, he shut it down again and became a distraction in Minnesota and Tennessee.

But despite my feelings about Moss, I find it interesting that in the same breath Childress didn’t mention how big of a distraction Brett Favre’s situation was last year. Now, don’t make this a race thing – it’s not about race. My point is that there were tons of things that went wrong in Minnesota last year, most of which happened before Moss even arrived. So why didn’t Childress speak out about that while he was busy pointing the finger at Moss?

It’s not hard to believe that Randy Moss was a distraction and now that he’s not associated with the organization any more, Childress has the right to speak his mind. But if he’s looking to point the finger, he might as well point it at more than just Moss. Favre was a distraction from Day 1; first, nobody knew whether or not he was going to return to Minnesota because he did his annual song and dance routine for months, then he became a distraction again when the Jenn Sterger story broke. Funny how Childress says he has no regrets getting on his knees and begging Favre to come back, yet Moss “vomited” on his good-guy locker room.

Please. Childress was the root of the issue in Minnesota. The players didn’t respect him, he never had a handle on how to manage the different personalities in the locker room and he allowed guys like Favre to do whatever he wanted. The head coach sets the tone for the rest of the team and very few players in that Vikings locker room were ready to march to the beat of Brad Childress.

The Vikings may not make the playoffs this year under Leslie Frazier but I can almost guarantee you that it won’t be because the players don’t respect the head coach. And for that, the franchise is in much better shape now than it was at this point last year.

Jeff Darlington of the Miami Herald was apparently so sick of the recent rumors that Brett Favre is coming back this season to quarterback the Dolphins that he actually traveled to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to ask Favre himself whether or not he’s returning.

And Darlington got the word straight from the horse’s mouth: Brett isn’t coming back.

Below are a series of tweets from Darlington that he posted after speaking with Favre:

After a 10-hour stakeout, I finally tracked down Favre. He was headed to take a team photo with players at Oak Grove High near his ranch.

In Hattiesburg, I just asked Brett Favre if he’s interested in joining Dolphins: “I haven’t heard anything & I don’t have any interest. No.”

If you don’t believe his words, you can believe my eyes: Brett Favre walks slowly and gingerly, every step taking considerable effort.

Favre apparently asked Darlington, “You’re from Miami? Don’t you have anything better to do?”

No, you attention-loving hooker, he doesn’t. It’s because of you that media members like Darlington will go to great lengths to try to uncover the truth about whether or not you’re playing. You’ve pulled this dog and pony show so many times that perfectly sane men feel the need to travel four states in order to track you down and cut through the B.S.

Anyone who watched Favre’s remaining games last year saw a man who was done. Let’s not entertain the idea that he’s coming back – stick a fork in him, it’s over.

Or is it…

The NFL Netwrok reports that the new CBA will allow teams to sign rookies on Tuesday and free agency will officially open on Friday at 6:00PM ET.

This news is slightly different from what Mike Freeman reported on Sunday, in that the NFL league will not start until five days after the new CBA is ratified. Per Freeman’s report, the CBA will be signed today and free agency will officially begin on Saturday. But I’m just splitting hairs; the good news is that the lockout is essentially over and free agency will begin this week.

Per the NFL Network, the players can apparently report to their facilities for voluntary conditioning on Tuesday and beginning at 10AM tomorrow, all rookie draft picks and unsigned rookie free agents can begin signing with teams as well. On Thursday, teams can begin releasing players (hello Vince Young) and then signing unrestricted free agents on Friday evening. Needless to say, this will be a busy week in the NFL.

And speaking of free agency, here are a couple of rumors to help wet your appetite for this week:

Seahawks in on Kolb?
Adam Caplan of FOX Sports tweets that the Seahawks have interest in quarterback Kevin Kolb and are expected to pursue him once free agency begins. The Cardinals are still the frontrunners to land Kolb, but it’ll be interesting to see how the Eagles handle things if more teams get involved.

Asomugha to land back in Oakland?
While he may just be getting Raider fans’ hopes up, the Contra Costa Times’ Steve Corkran believes there’s still a chance that Nnamdi Asomugha could wind up back in Oakland this season. Personally, I see Asomugha donning green and white this year, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he chose to stay in Oakland.

Redskins to target Santonio Holmes?
The New York Daily News reports that signing Santonio Holmes will be the Redskins’ top priority heading into free agency. Considering Washington’s utter lack of explosive offensive playmakers, this news is hardly surprising. Dan Snyder won’t be able to whip out his checkbook fast enough on this one.

Favre comeback talk just speculation
Brett Favre’s agent tells ESPN that the recent rumors about his client returning for another season are just speculation. Of course, this is Lord Favre were talking about. I’ll believe he isn’t coming back the moment I don’t see that goofy grin of his being shown on television while he’s standing on the sidelines.

Pryor won’t be eligible for supplemental draft?
Alex Marvez of FOX Sports reports that the NFL could end up ruling that former Ohio State quarterback Trerrelle Pryor is ineligible for this year’s supplemental draft. Says NFL spokesman Greg Aiello: “(The supplemental draft) is for players whose circumstances have changed in an unforeseen way after the regular (college) draft. It is not a mechanism for simply bypassing the regular (draft).” So uh, Canadian League anyone?

Even if you’re a Green Bay Packer fan, it’s hard not to love Jared Allen.

That’s because the Minnesota Vikings defensive end plays with a fierce relentlessness, isn’t afraid to speak his mind, and is a guy that if you spent an hour with him you wouldn’t have the slightest idea he was a million dollar athlete.

Jared will be hosting his 2nd annual charity golf tournament called “Night-Ops II” on Saturday, June 18, which is an event that benefits his foundation “Homes 4 Wounded Warriors.” As Jared explains in the interview, the root of the foundation is that you “should feel your most comfortable at your most vulnerable state.” Thus, “Homes 4 Wounded Warriors” is about helping wounded soldiers by remolding their homes so that they’re handicap accessible. For someone who also has family members and friends that have served in the military, it’s a truly touching cause.

Jared also shared his thoughts on the lockout saga, whether or not Brett Favre’s situation was a major distraction for the 6-10 Vikings last year, and what quarterback he loves drilling the most. It would be an understatement to say that his answers weren’t entertaining.

For more on Jared Allen, including details and information on his “Homes 4 Wounded Warriors” foundation, check out his official website.

Jared Allen: Hey Anthony!

The Scores Report: Hey Jared! How are you?

JA: I’m doing well.

TSR: Is your schedule busy today?

JA: Not really – I’m actually just being lazy. I was supposed to play some golf and go for a mountain bike ride, but I’ve got the wrong size tube on my tires so…you know. (Laughs)

TSR: So here you are stuck talking to me. (Laughs)

JA: (Laughs) Yeah!

TSR: Your annual charity golf tournament goes to a fantastic cause. Can you fill readers in on how your foundation “Homes 4 Wounded Warriors” got started and what it’s all about?

JA: Absolutely. First of all, my family is all military. My grandfather spent 26 years in the Marine Corps, is a retired Marine Corps Captain, and my little brother is in the Marines. I think two of my uncles were Marines in ‘Nam and another one was in the Air Force for 30-some-odd-years. So I have a family lineage of military members, but I got to go on the USO tour and while it wasn’t exactly what my grandfather or uncles went through, I got a look into what our military services go through during the time of war. To be able to see first hand the sacrifices that they make on a daily basis was so humbling. It makes you realize how much we take for granted. After hearing about the multiple trips that these guys have made overseas, when I got back from the USO tour I realized I wanted to do more. I wanted to help and give back to our men and women that serve in the military. So I talked with an Army buddy of mine that’s been over to Iraq three times and we came up with the Jared Allen’s “Homes 4 Wounded Warriors” foundation. We based it on the idea that when you’re at home, you should feel your most comfortable at your most vulnerable state. I know that when I come home from a bad day, a tough practice or whatever it may be, I can breathe a sigh of relief. I know that I’m home and for that time, I’m relaxed and everything like that. So the one thing that we thought of was that the last thing that these soldiers should have to worry about is not being able to get around their house because they’re missing an arm, or a leg, or are blind, or whatever it may be. So that’s where we come in. We remodel an existing home or, if necessary, we completely build a new home so that it’s handicap accessible and fits the specific needs of our wounded vets. So that’s how we started and we just finished our first house in Minnesota for a staff sergeant up there. Now we’re focusing on building a couple of homes for some people down here in Arizona. We work directly with the V.A. so everyone is 100-percent medically discharged and I’ll tell you what, it’s been a cool thing.

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I just watched both segments of the first part of the “Good Morning America” interview with George Stephanopoulos and a few of Sterger’s statements deserve comment. If you’re wondering about my original take on the story, be sure to read “In defense of Jenn Sterger…”

“I didn’t want anything to do with it in 2008. I don’t want anything to do with it in 2010.”

If she didn’t want anything to do with it in 2010, why did she mention Favre’s advances to the editor of a sports gossip blog? As I outlined in the link above, when she spoke with Deadspin, she hadn’t yet landed her job on the now defunct “The Daily Line” and was probably uncertain where her media career was headed. If she had truly decided that she didn’t want the story to ever come out, she never would have brought it up to the editor of a sports blog.

“Whenever I would reply it was more so trying to figure out who I was interacting with. There was no actual, ‘Hey Jenn, it’s Brett.”

Is she serious? She’s expecting us to believe that she didn’t recognize Favre’s voice on her voicemails? Either it was Favre or someone doing a fantastic impression. Has anyone asked Frank Caliendo about his involvement? Or how about this guy?

This is the thing that has always struck me as odd about her story. She acts as if Favre’s advances were unwelcome, yet she admits that she sent multiple texts to him. She said his advances were “intimidating,” so why is she responding at all? Just block his number and move on.

Stephanopoulos must have had the same thought because in the key sequence of the interview, he eventually asked her, “Why answer?”

JS: Why answer? When all of this happened, I consulted several people and I said, ‘Hey this is the situation that is going on right now.’ And I said, ‘I really don’t know what to do.’ Every single one of them gave me the exact same answer. They said, ‘Jenn, do you like your job? Well if you like your job and want to keep it, I suggest that you just be quiet. Do your job.’”

GS: Leave it alone.

JS: Yeah, don’t complain.

Did you see what she did there? That’s a classic deflection. Stephanopoulos asked her about her reasoning for answering Favre’s texts in the first place, and she responded with a soliloquy about how she was asking her friends for advice and that they told her to “be quiet.”

Huh?

What does her advice-seeking have to do with her responding to Favre in the first place? ANSWER THE QUESTION!

Stephanopoulos must have some inside info, because he later asked her about a specific text that she sent Favre:

GS: Did you send him a text that said, “If this is you, smile at me.”

JS: No, I don’t really recall all of the texts. I don’t remember what was in them. I’m sorry.

Ah, well, that’s convenient. She remembers all sorts of details about how this whole thing started and how she deftly put together that her “secret” admirer was in fact Brett Favre, but she can’t remember if she sent him a text that asked him to smile at her. Her answer was evasive as well. First she says “no” but then she says she doesn’t recall.

The interview turned to Deadspin and how they got the texts and photos, and she still claims that she didn’t sell them. When Stephanopoulos asked if she had ever given the texts/photos to anyone, she responded, “I shared them with individuals when I was asking for advice, but that’s it.”

When “asking for advice,” is it really necessary to provide proof of Favre’s texts/photos? If that’s the case, she should seriously rethink who she goes to for advice. A friend would believe her story and not require that she send over all of her evidence in order to help.

When George Stephanopoulos asked if she owed anyone an apology, she replied, “I don’t think so. I didn’t really do anything wrong.”

She doesn’t think that actively texting a married man who is obviously interested her is wrong? She would have come off a lot better here if she had apologized to Favre’s wife, Deanna, for sending her husbands any texts at all.

I’ve decided that this is what really happened: Favre started texting Sterger and the two engaged in a flirtatious, if-this-is-you-smile-at-me-type relationship through text. After some time passed, Sterger decided that she didn’t want it to go any further and pulled away. Favre upped the ante with some pics of his junk, and she shared them with some friends for a laugh. That’s it, the texts eventually stopped. Two years later she stupidly mentions the interaction to Deadspin and the blog somehow acquires all the texts and photos (and voicemails!) from one of Sterger’s so-called “friends,” who totally threw Sterger under the bus for $12,000.

End of story. I hope.

See both segments of the first part of the Jenn Sterger interview after the jump.

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Jenn Sterger is breaking her silence on “Good Morning America” in an interview that will run on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Here’s an excerpt:

“I was approached one day at the beginning of the preseason games, by a man wearing a Jets badge, employee badge, who asked me, ‘How would you feel if Brett Favre asked for your phone number? What would you say?’ … And I said, ‘I’d say I like my job an awful lot. And I’ve been told I look remarkably like his wife.’”

Sterger said she walked away without giving the man her number and thought “that was the end of it.” But it wasn’t. Somehow Favre got her number, Sterger says in the interview. The rest was history. But Sterger wants to make it clear that she’s not a “gold-digger” and only wanted to do her job.

Sterger acts as if she’s just a victim, but I doubt Favre would have randomly sent her pictures of his junk if she hadn’t built some sort of rapport (even through text) beforehand. She had the chance to shut him down from the start and it obviously didn’t happen.

To her credit, she hasn’t sued, so her claims that she’s not a gold-digger may be true.

Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press wrote a couple interesting blurbs about Donovan McNabb and Brett Favre in his recent column:

Possible scenario: The Vikings trade their No. 12 overall pick in the draft with their 2012 first-round pick to move high enough to get Missouri QB Blaine Gabbert.

It still looks, though, like Donovan McNabb from the Washington Redskins will end up as the Vikings’ starting QB for next season.

Don’t discount the possibility of Brett Favre, who turns 42 in October, returning next season, but not with the Vikings. Maybe Carolina.

It’s important to take this with a massive grain of salt considering Walters buried these comments at the end of an article that focused on Minnesota Gophers AD Joel Maturi and under the heading “DON’T PRINT THAT.” Clearly Walters is just throwing crap against a wall to see if it sticks.

That said, the McNabb scenario makes sense. Take it for what it’s worth, but I’ve held the belief that the Vikings would go with a veteran quarterback this offseason and then draft a signal caller in the middle rounds for new OC Bill Musgrave to groom. But recent comments made by head coach Leslie Frazier indicate that the Vikings might want to draft a QB in the first round and start him.

Either way, McNabb would be a fit if the Vikes were interested.

As for Favre landing in Carolina, eh, I doubt it. General manager Marty Hurney invested a second round pick in Jimmy Clausen last season and I’m sure new coach Ron Rivera wants to draft a QB like Cam Newton or Blaine Gabbert with the first pick. When it comes to Lord Favre, nothing can be ruled out. But him landing in Carolina doesn’t make much sense.