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The Beginning of the End
The NFL season is barely halfway over if you're measuring by the 17 weeks of scheduled games. But for some players, and even coaches, the end is nigh.

Chargers quarterback Drew Brees was benched early in the fourth quarter after throwing for just 49 yards against the 22nd ranked Bears defense. In his seven drives, Brees got into Bears territory twice. The first drive ended in a missed field goal attempt. The second started at midfield after a nice kickoff return, and went just three yards. In the locker room afterwards, some players were finally opening their mouths over Brees poor season so far and publicly clamoring for Doug Flutie to take over as the starting quarterback. Marty Schottenheimer responded that his first inclination would be to give the job back to Brees and that he would be the only person making the decision. But Schottenheimer, who was hired to turn around the franchise and is going through the worst season, by far, in his entire career, needs to make some drastic changes.

The Falcons players finally showed up to play a game this week but still came out on the losing end. After weeks of waiting for Michael Vick to return and lead them to the promised land, they finally realized that they were at least a competitive team pre-Vick. But the bottom line for the Falcons is the win-loss column, and most Falcons fans are now counting down the days until Dan Reeves is let go as the team's head coach.

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