WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Today is a day of left-overs, Black Friday specials and plenty of sports news. You can sit on your couch for hours this weekend with high school and college sports, the Bears and the Bulls.

What a dandy way for top-ranked Notre Dame to finish the regular season: playing at USC. When the college season began, the Trojans held the top spot of the polls. I guess the saying, "It's not how you start, but how you finish," is really true for the Irish. They better be careful, though. The Number 1 spot has been very wobbly —just ask Alabama and Kansas State; both posted losses as the top team. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly's team is 11-0, if they finish with a "W" Saturday in California. January 7th will be their next playing date in Miami for the NCAA crown. How many people predicted them to be there?

While Notre Dame is the king of the mountain, what can be said of University of Illinois and first-year head coach Tim Beckman? Well, let's see. They are winless in the Big Ten (0-13 going back to last year) 2 and 9 overall. Saturday, the Illini finish the schedule with bowl-bound Northwestern.

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Sports never take a holiday: People race in turkey trots, watch the NFL, and some even go bowling on Thanksgiving. When I worked at an all-sports radio station, I was sent to Detroit to cover the Bears on Thanksgiving Day. Fortunately, Detroit isn't a long flight; you fly in early, cover the game and return home after you finish up locker room interviews. The Lions provided us with a full Thanksgiving dinner in the press room that year. Glamorous, the life a traveling sports reporter.

Thankfully, by my choice, those days are behind me now. Call me a softie, but family time matters to me. Thanksgiving and other holidays also matter to athletes, even though many leagues schedule practice, travel or games that day.

I talked to some of Chicago's athletes about the upcoming holiday earlier this week. The Bulls, nearing the end of their five-game road trip, are in Houston Wednesday night and will fly back home for Thanksgiving Thursday. Players are probably hoping coach Tom Thibodeau will give them a day off before they finish the trip in Milwaukee on Saturday.

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Which was worse for the Bears, the offense or the defense? It was probably a draw, since both sides of the ball were so inept in this embarrassing 32-7 loss against the 49ers. With back-to-back losses, the Bears drop to 7-3 for the season. Now they have to figure out how to repair the damage.

Bears’ offense in shambles

Bears offense was rather non-existent. They did absolutely nothing well: They couldn't run, they couldn't pass and back-up quarterback Jason Campbell was under fire the whole game, man-handled by an outstanding defense. San Francisco's Aldon Smith had a career night, adding 5 1/2 to his league-leading sack total of 15 — the most sacks by a single player in Monday Night Football history. It seems the stage is always set for the Bears to be on the receiving end of stellar performances like Smith’s.

Matt Forte was held to just 63 yards, as a team the Bears only mustered 85 total rushing yards. Jason Campbell’s final passing numbers were 14 of 22 for 107 yards with two interceptions and one touchdown to Brandon Marshall.

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If you like defense, you'll love the game between the 7-2 Bears and the 6-2-1 Niners tonight in San Francisco — they strut their stuff on Monday Night Football. But if you love seeing points on the board, odds are you may be disappointed. These teams are stingy in that catergory. 

What's at stake?

While all the news has been swirling around the health of both teams starting quarterbacks all week, the game is now the focal point no matter who is under center. Like the Bears' Jay Cutler, San Fran quarterback Alex Smith suffered a concussion last week. The Bears said Friday that Cutler would sit out Monday night's game. Smith initially got the OK to return to the practice; however, reports Monday indicate he will not be starting tonight. Back-up Colin Kaepernick will get the start; he has been used this season in the “wild cat” offense.

This is a key NFC match up and the winner can crow that they are the best in the conference. Last year, San Francisco was a game away from the Super Bowl, and well, we know what happened with the Bears missing the playoffs.

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Updated 12:39 p.m. 

Sitting NFL players with concussions is a no brainer. So why isn’t it mandatory?

Last Sunday the league had three starting quarterbacks get "knocked out" of the game: The Bears' Jay Cutler, San Francisco's Alex Smith and Philadelphia's Michael Vick. Smith has already been cleared to go back on the field. On Friday, the Bears announced their decision to rest Cutler and start Jason Campbell in the game against San Francisco Monday. There is still no time table for when Cutler will be able to return.

I'm glad the Bears have decided to rest Cutler. When a player is concussed, the question about whether he should play the following week should be simple — no. Not maybe, not "waiting for medical evaluations" — it should be a flat no. The NFL has made a lot of noise with their concerns for concussions, but not enough. When a player has been removed from a game or is diagnosed with a concussion after a game he needs time to recover before any new physical contact. A rule should be in place that bars the player from the next game.

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Every November Chicago plays host to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and every November the circus takes over the United Center for a few weeks.

What does that have to do with sports? While the circus is here, the Bulls and the Blackhawks pack up their bags and play on the road while the elephants and clowns take over. The media has coined this long road trip the “circus trip” — not very creative, but it does conjure up some images of this stretch on the road. The Bulls begin their five-game trip in two weeks Wednesday night in Phoenix but the Blackhawks aren't concerned: The players and owners are still clowning around with their labor dispute. (Sorry, couldn’t help it!)

Three years ago at the Bulls practice facility, reporters asked players for their thoughts on the circus trip. The response we got from Joakim Noah was priceless: “Why do they always call it the circus trip?” Noah asked, clearly irked. "What's so circus about it anyway?" He thought it was a “dig” at the team. When I explained where the term came from he just said, “Oh.”

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The Bears' miserable 13-6 loss to Houston mirrored the weather conditions of the game at Soldier Field. Rain came down the whole evening and it wasn’t just the score that had the fans upset. Quarterback Jay Cutler couldn’t play the second half.

Bears offensive mistakes – two fumbles and two interceptions by Cutler overshadowed two Tim Jennings interceptions in the first half. The Bears cornerback leads the NFL with eight this season. Going into the halftime, the 10-3 lead by Houston wasn't horrible, but the news once the third quarter began gave everyone pause: Cutler suffered from concussion-like symptoms.

Even though the Bears QB had not been sacked he had taken several hits, especially when he scrambled on the run. Houston linebacker Tim Dobbins nailed Cutler late in the second quarter, at one point that seems to be the telling blow to his head. After the game, Coach Lovie Smith wasn’t certain that was the hit the forced Cutler out of the game. “He took a lot of hits, more than he needed to take.

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