FanHouse Philadelphia Eagles

A week after tossing five interceptions in a 10-6 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears return home to take on Donovan McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night. As always, the FanHouse live chat will be rolling along, so please stop in and join us as we discuss all of the action.

Party begins at 8:15 PM ET.

The best NFL news on Wednesday was that Brian Westbrook will not play this week. He may be your starting running back in your fantasy league, but the Philadelphia Eagles' all-time leader from scrimmage with 9,711 yards also is a man who is recuperating from two concussions in 20 days.

Right now, Westbrook is not just an NFL star. He is a medical patient.

Thankfully, everyone realizes it's time to focus on Westbrook's health and future well-being, and not how he can help move the chains for the Eagles' offense.

What Bill Belichick did Sunday night has happened before. It justifiably earned Barry Switzer the nickname "Bozo The Coach'' for failing TWICE on fourth down in the late stages of a tie game. And the Eagles' Andy Reid did the opposite of the New England coach on Sunday, eschewing fourth-and-short twice to kick field goals in what turned out to be an eight-point loss.

Switzer's mistake didn't prevent Dallas from winning its third Super Bowl in four seasons in the early '90s, but it left Switzer at the top of the oft-debated list of worst coaches to win a title.

On Nov. 15, 1995, the Cowboys were playing in Philadelphia and faced a fourth down and 1 on their own 29 with the game tied 17-17 and just over two minutes left. Switzer decided to go for it and sent Emmitt Smith left over the massive Nate Newton.

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SAN DIEGO -- Brian Westbrook's Oct. 26 concussion was so troubling for the Philadelphia Eagles running back, he openly discussed the touchy subject of NFL head trauma and how concerned he was for his long-term health because of it.

Three weeks later, Westbrook sustained another concussion, one that took him out of the Eagles' 31-23 loss to the San Diego Chargers on Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium. And now it's almost a certainty that the running back's season will be cut short.

SAN DIEGO -- LaDainian Tomlinson's blessings simply flowed on Sunday. Two hours before his San Diego Chargers claimed a share of first place in the AFC West with a 31-23 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, the NFL's No. 3 all-time touchdown king received a gift from his wife, LaTorsha.

Tomlinson found it in front of his locker at Qualcomm Stadium, a decorative purple bag -- "TCU colors," he explained later -- tied with a bow. The attached note implored "Please Open Immediately - LaTorsha." Inside was a box, and what it contained was a pregnancy test. A positive test.

"My wife is pregnant," an emotional Tomlinson announced on a day when one of the NFL's greatest running backs reached two significant milestones: His season-high 96 yards on 24 carries pushed him past Thurman Thomas and Franco Harris for 12th place on the NFL's all-time rushing list with 12,145 yards.

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When Eagles tight end Brent Celek scored a touchdown on Sunday night, he celebrated his touchdown by putting his hands on his hips and raising his right leg off the ground. You may not have thought anything of it at the time, but now you'll understand why you spent the rest of the night craving a glass of spiced rum.

Celek's celebration was actually a pretty nifty bit of guerilla marketing by Captain Morgan, which offered to donate money to charity anytime a NFL player celebrated a score by striking the pose made familiar in commercials and on liqour bottles. The NFL didn't find it quite so nifty, however, and reached out to the charity and the company to tell them to put the kibosh on the stunt.

PHILADELPHIA -- Brian Westbrook did not practice with the Eagles on Wednesday, nor did he talk about why. His coach, Andy Reid, said Westbrook would practice Thursday and that the reason he was held out Wednesday was his ankle, and not the concussion he suffered in the team's Oct. 26 victory over the Redskins. But if you buy that, I've got a South Philly bridge to sell you, too.

The ankle is a red herring. Westbrook's ankle is a chronic problem, for which he's had surgery, and his ankle probably hurts every day. They can put him on the injury report with an ankle problem anytime they want, and nobody's going to bat an eye. This thing with Westbrook is a case of a player, concerned about his own personal future, taking it slow amid a culture that's only starting to embrace the danger and seriousness of concussions.

Philadelphia cornerback Joselio Hanson -- who was unexpectedly absent from practice Wednesday -- has been suspended four games for violating the NFL's steroid policy.

ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported the suspension.

Lawyer David Cornwell said in a statement that Hanson took "a pill that turned out to be a diuretic" prior to the NFC title game last January.

PHILADELPHIA -- Michael Vick has all but disappeared, since the season began, into the Eagles' multifaceted offense and Andy Reid's secret future plans for it. But he is still MIchael Vick, convicted dogfighter and NFL lightning rod. So when he said in an interview with NBC's Bob Costas on Sunday that he'd have a hard time returning to the Eagles in his current role next year, he wasn't surprised that it became big news.

But on Wednesday, before the Eagles took the field for practice, Vick spoke briefly to reporters in the locker room and wanted to make it very clear that, while he'd obviously like to be playing more than he is, he's still enjoying the Eagles' bench much more than he was enjoying federal prison.

The Eagles held Brian Westbrook out of their lineup Sunday, two weeks after he suffered a Grade 3 concussion against Washington. But Westbrook's post-concussion symptoms aren't the only issue he's dealing with -- Eagles coach Andy Reid said that his running back's surgically repaired right ankle is bothering him again.

"Brian had some work done on his ankle, so if he doesn't go on Wednesday [at practice], that would be the cause unless something crazy [happens] with his concussion," Reid said Monday, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. "He had a little bit of swelling, so he had some work done."