A San Francisco treat
The 49ers are now 6-1 in their last seven games dating back to last season and they’ve allowed more than 16 points just once in those seven games. The impact of Mike Singletary is unmistakeable.

As much credit as Rex Ryan’s going to be given for helping infuse the Jets with a new personality, the 49ers have gotten an IV of Singletary’s passion. And he has nowhere near the talent to work with that Ryan does in New York.

Cutler gets it done
Pretty good bounceback from Jay Cutler on Sunday against Pittsburgh. After throwing four picks in his Bears debut last week, he comes back against the No. 1 defense in football from last season and has a nice, crisp 27 for 38, 236 yard, two-touchdown day.

And the Bears needed that as they were unable to get jack done on the ground, managing just 43 yards on the day against the Steelers.

What the?
Norv Turner’s going to have some ‘splainin to do. And he should. A fourth-and-2 handoff to waterbug Darren Sproles at the Baltimore 15 with 37 seconds left. Sproles, somewhat predictably, got dumped for a 5-yard loss and the Chargers lose 31-26. At home. On a day that Philip Rivers threw for 436 yards, you gotta believe Turner outsmarted himself a little bit.

Texans potent, but can't stop anyone
All the morons that lined up to say the Houston Texans were going to break through in 2009 (I was third in line) weren’t feeling real positive when Houston fell behind Tennessee 21-7 in the first half. But the reason we bought into Houston — offensive talent — finally showed up.

Slideshow   Week 17 action Take a look at shots from the NFL's 17th week of play in 2009. NBCSports.com

Quarterback Matt Schaub got rid of the ball on time. Andre Johnson made an absurd juggling touchdown catch and finished with 10 receptions for 149 yards and 2 scores. Tight end Owen Daniels and wideout Jacoby Jones combined for 8-145-2. And even though Steve Slaton found nowhere to run against the Titans defense, there will be better days.

Bad news for those of us who think Houston’s good. They still can’t stop anybody on defense, witness Chris Johnson’s 16-carry, 197-yard, two touchdown performance.

Can Favre even throw downfield?
Captain Checkdown was at it again in Minnesota. Brett Favre’s longest completion of the day went for 16 yards and he completed 23 of 27 for a modest 155 yards and two touchdowns. Again, we cannot criticize Favre for doing what everyone says he has to — take what’s given him and not make stupid forced throws. Still, is it wisdom or concern with protecting that torn rotator cuff that’s keeping Favre from going downfield with regularity? If it’s the former, someone he should have frayed that thing years ago.

Raiders' Russell is regressing
How do you figure Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell? On Sunday, he went 7 for 24 for 109 yards against the Chiefs. Through two games, he’s 19 for 54 for 317 yards with two picks and a touchdown. He's completing 35 percent of his passes.

On Sunday, 67 of those passing yards and four of those completion came in a 45-second span of game time during the Raiders game-winning drive. That Raiders won despite being outgained 409 yards to 166 will no doubt muddy the waters and lead people to believe that Russell had a heroic day. No. He’s not close to where he should be in season three. He’s not even in the same time zone.

Chiefs can't catch a break
The Chiefs got their hearts broken Sunday by Oakland. And the loss hurts doubly bad because they hung in so well on the road against Baltimore last Sunday before losing. They’re trying to rebuild from past scratch. They needed a frickin’ bone. Didn’t get it.