$.01-- Perhaps the most significant NFL-related development of the week came from the college ranks. Ohio State junior defensive end Nick Bosa opted to shut down his Buckeyes career. Bosa is a surefire top-5 overall pick and perhaps the No. 1 overall prospect. And now his college football career is over by choice.

It’s hard to blame Bosa for opting to rehabilitate himself not for Ohio State, where he is (probably) not paid (millions) and instead focus on his post-college life in the NFL. Bosa has been sidelined for a few weeks after surgery on a core muscle, likely a sports hernia though that’s never been explicitly stated. Given the Buckeyes punchless loss at Purdue on Saturday night, it sure appears Bosa made the right decision.

Could this be the growing traction of a trend of top prospects sitting out or shutting it down early? It should be. For a player with Bosa’s status, there is no point in him playing and risking further injury or another injury. Michigan’s talented Rashan Gary might follow suit, choosing to rehab his injured shoulder not for the Wolverines but for the NFL Combine in February.

Others will follow, deciding the prospect of playing for “amateur” glory for the school isn’t nearly as rewarding as playing for the name on the back of the jersey. There is simply too much to lose and not enough to gain and the players know it now more than ever. The longer the NCAA continues their exploitative charade, the more players and families will find ways to avoid feeding the bastard beast.

$.02-- When Sunday’s action kicked off, the Chicago Bears were in first place in the NFC North at 3-2. They ended the day in last place in the NFL’s most bunched division.

Chicago came up about a half-yard short of shocking New England. Wideout Kevin White hauled in Mitchell Trubisky's hail mary but wound up being tackled just shy of the end zone with the potential tying TD as time expired. The Patriots survived, hanging 38 points on one of the NFL’s best defenses despite not having Rob Gronkowski active. 

New England manufactured the win with two special teams touchdowns, a Cordarrelle Patterson kick return where he appeared to be shot out of a rocket launcher and a blocked FG return by Kyle Van Noy. The Bears offense lit up the Patriots for over 450 yards but could not overcome the special teams mistakes. Chicago is now 3-0 against the NFC West but 0-3 against everyone else.

That dropped the Bears below the Detroit Lions, who have the same 3-3 record but a divisional win to their credit. The Lions impressively ruined Brocktober by snuffing out the Dolphins, 32-21, in Miami. Matthew Stafford notched his fifth game in a row with a QB Rating over 101 since his horrible opener and beat a team with a winning record for the third time in four games. He got ample help from Kerryon Johnson and the reborn Lions run game. The second-round rookie blasted the Dolphins for 158 yards on 19 carries, leading Detroit to 248 rushing yards on 35 carries. Stafford doesn’t have to win games in spite of the rest of his offense anymore and the Lions wear it well. Matt Patricia’s defense is coming together better than the sum of its parts, too.

Green Bay was idle, sticking at 3-2-1. That was where Minnesota began the day. Now the Vikings stand atop the division after a commanding victory over the New York Jets, 37-17. Adam Thielen extended his record, topping 100 receiving yards for a 7th straight game to start the season. Minnesota’s defense gave rookie QB Sam Darnold little quarter. The Jets had a string of 10 possessions where they managed just two first downs.

The division could remain topsy-turvy. Green Bay comes out of its bye to face the undefeated and dominant-looking Rams. The Vikings host the high-flying Saints, who have a strong argument as the second-best NFC team behind LA. Chicago gets the 3-4 Jets at home, while Detroit hosts the inconsistent 3-3 Seahawks.

$.03--Just when I have finally adapted to calling the Chargers as being from Los Angeles and not San Diego, the franchise’s future in its new southern California home appears to be in real peril.

Reports came out this week indicating the Chargers grossly overestimated their financial boon gained from moving up the coast. The ownership has revised its revenue goals to just $150 million, down from $400 million. This comes on the week when former owner Alex Spanos passed away. The team is now run by his son, Dean, who is often portrayed as persona non grata in both NFL ownership circles and in southern California. There is talk of the team bolting the hastily cobbled new arrangement in Los Angeles and moving once again. 

The Chargers themselves were as far away from southern California as you can get in the NFL: London. Traveling 5,500 miles for a home game is what happens when a greedy bluff gets called. At least the “home” crowd was ebullient and packed Wembley Stadium, something that seems unlikely to ever happen while playing at the soccer stadium they call home now, the StubHub Center.

Those English fans got to see quite a finish. The Chargers raced out to an early lead over the Tennessee Titans and then clung on for dear life. The Titans rallied for a late score to pull within 1. Rookie head coach Mike Vrabel then made the fateful decision to go for 2 and the win instead of kicking the extra point and sending the game to overtime.

It did not go well for Vrabel and Tennessee…

 The 20-19 win sends the road warrior Chargers back home for the bye at 5-2 and winners of 4 in a row. They haven’t been in Los Angeles in well over a week, having stayed in Cleveland following their Week 6 trouncing of the Browns before heading across the Atlantic. 

$.04-- Vontaze Burfict and the Bengals traveled to Kansas City to play the Chiefs. The home team annihilated visiting Cincinnati, 45-10, in a game that was over by the middle of the second quarter. That was somewhat expected and besides the point. 

That Burfict was even allowed to play Sunday night is laughable. On Saturday the cheap shot artist extraordinaire was fined $112,000 for illegal hits (plural) in the Week 6 loss to the Steelers. It’s almost inconceivable he was not suspended for the three hits in question, one of which unfortunately inflicted a concussion on his own teammate. There is no place in today’s NFL for a player who deliberately and unapologetically attempts to injure his peers on a routine, weekly basis. 

Remember, Burfict missed the first four games serving a suspension, this one for PEDs. He’s been suspended twice for his illegally violent hits, once each in the past two seasons. Burfict has given back over $4 million (including salary lost to suspension) since 2013 for his illicit behavior. Yet the Bengals stand by their cheap-shot artist. He’s a decidedly average NFL linebacker, certainly not worth keeping over the frequent bouts of public embarrassment and the black eye he leaves on the organization. 

It’s time to say “when”, Paul Brown. The laws of karma will not change until you do. 

$.05-- A month ago the Jacksonville Jaguars appeared well on their way to repeating as AFC South champs. The Houston Texans were 0-3 and hoping to stay within striking distance of the leaders.

Struck they have. After Sunday’s 20-7 win in Jacksonville, the Texans sit alone atop the AFC South with their fourth win in a row. Houston’s offense wasn't dynamic, though seeing Lamar Miller hit 100 yards on the ground is a positive. The combination of a dominant defensive front and the continued implosion of the Jaguars offense was more than enough to carry a banged-up Deshaun Watson and the Texans into first place. 

Jacksonville benched starting QB Blake Bortles midway through this one after his fumble set up the Texans in the red zone for a one-play TD drive. Cody Kessler, last seen losing yards on 8 of his final 14 plays for the winless Browns a year ago, took over. That Kessler looked demonstrably better than Bortles says a lot more about the deposed starter than the relative competence of the young backup. That the move was widely praised by even the most sycophantic Jaguars fans and typical Bortles advocates says even more.

To be fair to Bortles, he got little help. Jacksonville’s offensive line is playing a third-string left tackle and missing injured RB Leonard Fournette. Their receiving corps might be the weakest in the NFL. Bortles played one drive into the third quarter and led the Jaguars in rushing. But two weeks in a row of producing just 7 points, and not hitting double digits in three of the last five games, is damning on everyone involved.

$.06-- The Arizona Cardinals are screaming towards the No. 1 overall pick, perhaps to land Bosa. If they do earn it, the Cards can point to the Thursday Night Football debacle as the moment where they realized their potential to be the NFL’s worst team in 2018. Denver led 28-3 after 16 minutes of play, which included two pick-sixes, and the game resembled when Alabama plays an FCS school to get rested and ready for Auburn and LSU.

It was so fundamentally inept that the performance cost offensive coordinator Mike McCoy his job. The final straw was likely getting first-round pick Josh Rosen injured (a sprained toe that doesn’t appear serious) in garbage time, though the definition of garbage time extends into the middle of the second quarter in this abomination.

Rosen did not play well. He also had no chance given the supporting cast, which was woefully overmatched by Denver’s defense. Receivers could not get open, David Johnson could not find room inside or outside, the line couldn’t sustain protection or open holes. This has gone on all season, hence McCoy’s axing. Arizona is last or next-to-last in just about every offensive metric, from scoring to yards per game to yards per rush to QB Rating. 

This needs to be McCoy’s last gig for a while. He was fired by the Chargers in January of 2017 after being their head coach. He lasted less than a year as Denver’s offensive coordinator in the ‘17 season and couldn’t make it to Halloween in Arizona. Take a break, Mike... 

$.07-- The Oakland Raiders somehow managed to lose despite being on a bye week. Such is the case with their increasingly regrettable decision to turn the keys over to Jon Gruden.

Gruden had to come out and declare in a surly press conference that his team is not tanking the season. It’s hard to know otherwise after dealing away All-Pro Khalil Mack and threatening to either bench or trade starting WR Amari Cooper and S Karl Joseph, two recent high draft picks who represent the small sampling of talented young players on the roster.

Things got worse when the team announced RB Marshawn Lynch will be out for several weeks with a groin injury. Lynch has been the Raiders lifeblood on offense and kept some semblance of pride in the silver and black in Oakland. The 1-5 team has not been remotely competitive in consecutive losses to the Chargers and Seahawks. Their one victory, over Cleveland in overtime, comes with a giant officiating asterisk. 

Gruden has a chance to prove it quickly. Three of their next four games pit the Raiders against bottom-feeders Indianapolis, San Francisco and Arizona. If they lose even two of those three and aren’t deliberately trying to tank, Gruden should be fired for sheer incompetence. 

$.08-- NFL quickies

--The Houston Texans activated safety Andre Hal this week from the non-football injury/illness list. Hal was diagnosed earlier this year with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He successfully fought off the vile disease and made it back within 6 months. Hal then started for the Texans in their important AFC South victory over Jacksonville. Not enough positive adjectives in the thesaurus for this story!

--Justin Tucker picked an awful time to miss the first extra point of his illustrious career. Arguably the best kicker in NFL history, the Ravens old reliable yakked the game-tying conversion as time expired in Baltimore’s one-point loss to the New Orleans Saints.

--In that stirring Saints win, Drew Brees notched his first career victory over the Ravens. He’s now beaten all 32 teams at least once.

--I purposely avoided any mention of the NFC East other than this…

--Bad officiating and the Browns go together like lemmings and cliffs. This is not acceptable. “Therefore allowed to be hit in the head,” is something a referee should never say when picking up a flag, not in today’s NFL. 

--RIP Rich Tandler, an excellent writer and fellow PFWA member who passed away this week. He was 63. Tandler covered Washington for many years and was always a true gentleman, working with a smile on his face.

$.09-- College/Draft quickies

--Michigan dominated defensively along the way to a 21-7 win over rival Michigan State in East Lansing. The game was delayed by a hailstorm and featured blowing rain and wind all afternoon. That may or may not have played a role in some truly awful offensive football, especially in the first half. Michigan figured it out a bit after intermission. Michigan State got more yards from Michigan’s penalties than its own offense. This was the huge win Jim Harbaugh needed for the Wolverines.

--Before the season I considered Michigan State QB Brian Lewerke one of the top draft-eligible quarterback prospects. Those halcyon days seem hallucinogenic now after two months of erratic passing, poor pocket composure, rushed decisions and general inadequate play. Summer scouting is about identifying prospects to watch and evaluating what I want to see improve or validated. I’ve seen zero reason to do any more scouting on Lewerke, who probably shouldn't be starting at a Big Ten school based on his play this year. 

--Nebraska earned the first victory of the Scott Frost era, thumping visiting Minnesota, 53-28. Adrian Martinez and the Huskers offense met little resistance from P.J. Fleck’s Golden Gophers. 

--Big win for my alma mater Ohio, pounding Bowling Green 49-14 to spoil interim coach Carl Pelini’s debut for the Falcons. Best game of the otherwise underwhelming season for Frank Solich’s Bobcats. OU Oh yeah! 

--Alabama is fixing to make this the most anticlimactic national championship ever. No matter who they play, nine times out of 10 there’s not another team that stays within 21 points of eventual Heisman winner Tua Tagovailoa and the Crimson Tide. Not Notre Dame, not Clemson (which impressively pounded NC State), not LSU, not the Big 12 or B1G winner, not anyone. I suspect you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who watches games every Saturday who doesn’t believe that, either. 

--Justin Herbert is QB1 if he wants to be, even though his Oregon Ducks got blasted by Washington State. Earlier this year, I had talked to a couple of sources from the NFL who indicated they expect Herbert to declare. A new report from Jason LaCanfora of CBS throws some cold water on the expectation the highly skilled Herbert leaves. If Herbert is indeed rebuffing agents, as LaCanfora declares, he’s either hired one in secret or truly isn’t considering a leap to the NFL. The latter is a lot more likely given how much the prominent agents like to boast, even well off the record. Stay tuned... 

$.10-- Paul Allen passed away this week. Sports fans knew him as the owner of the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers. The financial and tech worlds knew Allen as the co-founder of Microsoft. The world was a better place for anyone knowing him. 

Allen lived out the fantasy life so many covet. He was ridiculously wealthy, worth an estimated $20 billion. He was able to buy sports teams and become a passionate and involved -- but not in a negative manner -- owner who was liked by players, fans and fellow owners. Allen gave away more than $2 billion to charities, including a foundation of his own devoted to studying the brain and improving neurological diagnoses and diseases. He played guitar with rock stars and held private parties where famous bands played at his whim. He owned a yacht that had its own accompanying submarine and also purchased a private island.

Isn’t that why we buy lottery tickets? With the Powerball jackpot now in record territory, everyone who buys a ticket dreams of doing with the winnings pretty much what Allen did with his post-Microsoft life. Bountiful benevolence, civic admiration, the ability to pursue passion projects, being an involved superfan of the teams you love. That’s pretty much my plan for when I win the Powerball jackpot.

Thanks for the blueprint, Paul Allen. May you rest in peace.