LOTS OF BIG GAMES — & BEARS
It’s moving week in football, pro and college. Move on. Move in. Move whatever your mamas gave you to make it happen. While many of us sit and stew over Sunday’s Texans- Bears happenings at Soldier Field — hey, isn’t that Deshaun Watson? — another local station will be offering Vikings at Buccaneers. To the rest of the country, the Bears and Texans are falling in a forest with no one around to hear them. The Vikings and Bucs, on the other hand, are knees- deep in wild- card relevance.
Also Sunday: Packers at Lions and Steelers at Bills. Our friends in Green Bay still have a shot — and a good one — at home- field advantage in the NFC. So do the one- loss Steelers in the AFC. The Bills, no slouches, are 9- 3 division leaders.
Monday brings Ravens at Browns — the first team desperate for a win at 7- 5, the latter one maneuvering at 9- 3 for a playoff game at home. The 7- 5 Raiders, not dead yet, host the Chargers on Thursday. Saturday brings another Packers game, and don’t we just love to watch them bask in Super Bowl possibility?
The stakes are even higher at the college level. Next up: conference title games, with the order of the four- team playoff in the balance. In the Big Ten, Ohio State needs a win — a convincing one — against Northwestern. In the ACC, Notre Dame will try to beat Clemson for a second time — what a feat that would be — with both teams still very much alive for the final four. Same goes for Alabama, of course, in the SEC.
Grab your popcorn, people. Here’s what’s happening: