Basisphilosophie » hopes a boost when they visit Chicago

LAKE FOREST, Ill. - If the New Orleans Saints are looking for comfort, they can take some in this: Their week was almost smooth compared to their opponents. And unlike the Bears, theyre still in the playoff hunt. The Saints will try to shake off their most lopsided loss of the season and give their post-season hopes a boost when they visit Chicago on Monday night. Its a matchup between two of the leagues most disappointing teams. You can watch the game live on TSN1, TSN3 and TSN4 at 8:30pm et/5:30pm pt. They come in with identical records (5-8) and are trying to put a difficult week behind them. The Saints got blasted 41-10 at home last week by Carolina. The Bears got hit with another round of turmoil, with offensive co-ordinator Aaron Kromer acknowledging he was a source behind a critical report by the NFL Network about quarterback Jay Cutler. Man, this is a humbling league, New Orleans coach Sean Payton said. The Saints began the week tied for the NFC South lead with Atlanta — their next opponent — despite dropping four of five. They allowed 497 yards and got pounded by a Carolina team that came in with six straight losses. Payton said during the week he would not rule out lineup changes, and safety Kenny Vaccaro said Thursday his role is changing. He would not say exactly how, and his coach offered few details. Payton also made some roster changes this week, cutting receiver Joe Morgan on Tuesday and promoting receiver Seantavius Jones from the practice squad. A lot of it is the expectation that showing up and playing is enough, right tackle Zach Strief said. Its not: OK, I put my uniform on, I look good, I walk out on the field and now that were here and were the Saints and we have this history where well win games, now were just going to win this game. ... Thats not the reality of this league. For the Bears, this season has been one harsh reality check. They came in with visions of a playoff run, only to fall out of contention for the seventh time in eight years. The situation with Kromer was just another in a line of distractions. He owned up in public to what he did on Friday after asking players and coaches for forgiveness on Monday. That happened after he complained to the NFL Networks about Cutlers ability to audible out of run plays that might not work. The story also suggested the Bears had buyers remorse for signing their quarterback to a contract extension after last season. But according to the Chicago Tribune, Kromer insisted in his apology to the team that he never mentioned that. Kromer said he never considered quitting over this and coach Marc Trestman insisted he did not think about firing him. But the episode raised more questions about the leadership and the direction of the franchise in a season when there were already more than a few. The Kromer situation was just another log in a fire that includes linebacker Lance Briggs missing practice to open a restaurant near Sacramento in the week leading up to the opener; defensive end Lamarr Houston suffering a season-ending injury celebrating a meaningless late sack at New England; and some eyebrow-raising incidents involving Brandon Marshall. Among them was a long, rambling news conference over past allegations of domestic abuse; flying to New York weekly to record Showtimes Inside The NFL program; and challenging a Detroit fan on Twitter to a boxing match for charity. Kromers leak cuts to one of Trestmans pillars, and that is building relationships based on trust. There appeared to be a breach even if Cutler insisted the offence came away from Mondays meeting in a better position. He owned up to it, Cutler said. He let everyone know, Hey, I made a mistake. This is where we stand. And this is where we need to move on to. I wish more guys were like that. He said the Bears have to continue on and that the offence will come together. But they have looked more like a broken bunch. The Bears have been hit hard by injuries, with Briggs, Charles Tillman and Marshall among the key players on injured reserve. Chicago joined the 1923 Rochester Jeffersons as the only teams to give up 50 or more points in consecutive games when it got pounded by New England and Green Bay. The struggles on defence and regression on offence have added up to the most disappointing season in recent memory. We know the (offensive) system works, Kromer said. It worked last year. And its worked in the past in places both myself and Marc have been. Question is: Who will be around to fix the Bears after this season? ___ AP NFL websites: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL Jim Plunkett Jersey . -- For one night, Nick Calathes provided a big reason to believe the Memphis Grizzlies might be able to withstand the loss of Mike Conley on a short-term basis. Custom Oakland Raiders Jerseys . -- Chad Labelle scored the winner 17:36 into the third period to give Medicine Hat a 2-1 victory over the Swift Current Broncos on Sunday and lift the Tigers into the second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs. http://www.authenticraiderspro.com/John-matuszak-raiders-jersey/ . Levante, which had lost five straight including a Copa del Rey game last weekend, fell behind at its Ciutat de Valencia stadium when Ionut Sapanura opened the scoring for Elche in the 26th minute. Otis Sistrunk Jersey . The punch happened in the fourth quarter of Milwaukees 116-102 loss to the Kings on Wednesday when the two players became entangled while battling for rebounding position. Jerry Rice Jersey . - Jayden Hart scored once and set up two more as the Prince Albert Raiders downed the host Red Deer Rebels 5-3 on Tuesday to clinch the final Western Hockey League playoff berth.LONDON - After one of the most startling days in the FA Cups 144-year history, three Premier League clubs restored order Sunday with fourth-round victories to stem the flow of upsets.Arsenal, West Ham and Aston Villa beat lower-league opponents a day after Chelsea and Manchester City were among five of the Premier Leagues top nine clubs to be ousted.Juventus and Lyon, meanwhile, tightened their grips on first place in the Italian and French leagues.A look at the best of the action in Europes top leagues:___ENGLANDArsenal beat second-tier Brighton 3-2 after being set on its way by early goals from Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil. Tomas Rosicky was the other scorer for Arsenal, which is looking to retain the trophy and as the fifth-place team in the top tier is the highest-ranked club guaranteed a spot in the last 16.Senegal striker Diafra Sakho came off the bench and scored an 81st-minute header to send West Ham to a 1-0 victory at Bristol City, which is second in English soccers third tier.Villa won at home 2-1 against second-tier leader Bournemouth. Carles Gil, with his first goal since moving from Valencia, and Andreas Weimann scored for the Premier League team.The draw for the fifth round is Monday.___ITALYPaul Pogba scored in the 60th minute and later set up a goal by Stephan Lichtsteiner to send Juventus to a 2-0 victory over Chievo Verona.Roma, seven points back in second place, drew for the third straight game as it was held 1-1 at Fiorentina.Palermo had a goal ruled out in a 1-1 draw at Sampdoria, with the home teams new signing Samuel Etoo in attendance.A stoppage-time goal gave Torino a 1-0 win at Inter Milan, its first since 1988. A latte goal also saw Cesena beat Parma 2-1 in the relegation race.dddddddddddd Hellas Verona downed Atalanta 1-0, with Javier Saviola scoring his first Serie A goal.___SPAINMalaga rallied for a 1-1 draw at Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish league, four days before the two meet for a spot in the Copa del Rey semifinals.Abel Resino debuted as Granadas manager in a 2-2 draw at Deportivo La Coruna. The leagues last-place club went a 16th round without a victory.Bilbaos Mikel San Jose headed in Markel Susaetas corner kick at the near post in the 70th minute. Eight minutes later, Javi Guerra tapped home Miguel Torres low cross.Bilbao stayed in 13th place, its winless run in the league reaching seven rounds. Malaga remained in seventh after four rounds without a victory.___FRANCEZlatan Ibrahimovic scored for the first time in five league games, blasting home a penalty in Paris Saint-Germains scrappy 1-0 win at Saint-Etienne.The win kept PSG four points behind leader Lyon, which beat 10-man Metz 2-0 with top striker Alexandre Lacazette scoring and getting injured.PSG moved up to second place, level on points and on goal difference with bitter rival Marseille.Ibrahimovics 60th-minute spot-kick was awarded after midfielder Jeremy Clement was adjudged to have handled the ball.Earlier, Lacazette scored his league-leading 21st goal — and his 13th goal in the past nine games — to fire Lyon ahead in the 31st.Two minutes later, he hurt his right hamstring stretching for a high ball, and is expected to miss next Sundays trip to fifth-place Monaco — with Lyon hosting PSG the weekend after.Midfielder Corentin Tolisso added Lyons other goal in the 84th. 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