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Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

The 2008 season was an unmitigated disaster for the Rams. They had their star running back hold out, only to be re-signed and get injured -- an injury which lingered far too long. They fired their coach after four embarrassing games, won two straight under his replacement, but then dropped their final 10.

It was hard to find a strength on this team. The offense ranked 27th in the league, while the defense was 28th. Then again, Donnie Jones was one of the best punters in the league. So there's that.

Even though one went to Miami and the other to Florida State, Devin Hester and Deion Sanders have forged a friendship based on the bond only elite kick returners can understand. So that's why you've got to take what Sanders said on the NFL Network Tuesday with a slightly smaller grain of salt than many of his rantings and ravings.

Discussing the Bears, Sanders mocked their quarterbacks and receivers and said that they could have a problem brewing with their most exciting player.

"They're looking for tremendous things from this guy, Devin Hester, but Devin Hester isn't happy with his contract and he deserves to be paid amongst the league's best."

There's no player in the NFL with a murkier financial value than Hester. He's the league's best kick returner, by miles, but he hasn't proven to be an every-down, or even every other down, player on offense and that makes it hard to figure out exactly how much he should get paid.

This season will be quite telling. Is he a Sanders-type who contributes on more than just special teams or is he a Dante Hall, whose returns diminish outside of returns? The Bears need to know that before they sink a lot of money into Hester because one is worth a helluva lot more than the other. With two years left on his original deal, the team has time to figure out which and should use it.

Chicago Bears return man Devin Hester has played 32 weeks in the NFL. Seven of those weeks, he's won the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week award.

The seventh was announced Wednesday, honoring Hester for his 64-yard punt return touchdown on Sunday against the Saints. That gave Hester the NFL record for combined kick return touchdowns in a season, with six. The old record was five, set by Hester last year. No one else has ever had more than four kick return touchdowns in a season.

And no one else has ever had more than seven Special Teams Player of the Week awards. Dante Hall also has had seven in his career, and the two of them are tied for the most ever. It really is amazing how Hester, in just two NFL seasons, is doing things that no other return man has ever done. If the 25-year-old Hester plays at even close to this level until he's 30, he'll completely re-write the kick return section of the NFL record book.

Every week, NFL FanHouse hits the lowlights from Sunday's action, looking at those players who did the most to move their head coaches that much closer to returning to the Bed and Breakfast business.

James Butler, Giants
You know, I was a little hard on Manning the Younger last night. I accused him of playing great football for 30 minutes, and then turning into an interception-throwing pumpkin, while the Patriots did what they do: mount a second-half comeback and win in handsome Tom Brady fashion.

But after some soul-searching, I've come to the realization that the Patriots-Giants game didn't turn on Manning's fourth-quarter pick, but on what transpired three plays prior. You can see the birds-eye view here, but all you need to know is this: safety James Butler must've blacked out because when the cameras finally caught up with him, he was about 15 yards behind Randy Moss. Moss was making his way to the end zone after hauling in a 65-yard bomb from Brady.

That was the game-changer. To that point, the Giants' offense was moving the ball without much trouble, and the defense was like Plexiglas Burress: bend but don't break.

On the bright side, Manning played probably his best game as a professional, and the timing couldn't be better.
Sorry, No Photos

Rams return man Dante Hall is out for the season with an ankle injury, and it feels like a long, long time ago that Hall was the best return man in football. In fact, seeing as he'll be 30 in September, you'd have to think maybe his career is just about over.

But that's not how Hall sees it. In fact, Hall has his eyes on a big target: He wants to be better than Bears return man Devin Hester.

"I've got very high standards for myself," Hall said. "I'm not the best in the league right now. That's Mr. Hester. Until I'm better than him, it's not good enough."

Hall has 12 career touchdown returns, six on punts and six on kickoffs. That's the second-most in NFL history, but it's only two ahead of Hester, who's played six fewer seasons than Hall. Considering that Hester is younger and healthier than Hall, I don't think Hall is ever going to be better than Hester.

Here's something I'm getting tired of saying: injuries are killing the Rams. The cliche term "injury bug" actually seems to apply -- it began on the offensive line, then the backfield, then the secondary, and now the receivers.

With Isaac Bruce, Dante Hall, and Dane Looker ruled out for this week's game, Torry Holt and Drew Bennett will start. Problem is, Holt's missed practice with a swollen knee and Bennett is dealing with a nagging quad injury. So that might mean more work for Marques Hagans.

Hagans, a college quarterback converted to receiver, will take over as the team's third receiver, inherit Hall's job as return man, and, because the Rams carry only two quarterbacks, serve as the emergency quarterback in case Gus Frerotte goes down and Marc Bulger's ribs cannot stand up to backup duty. Forget Danny DeVito, Hagans is the real renaissance man.

It's possible, and likely, that Hagans sees a lot of passes his way. Besides the lingering injuries to the two starters, Frerotte and Hagans spent a lot of time together on the second team in the preseason, and the duo had exceptional chemistry. If Frerotte feels comfortable with Hagans, he'll be looking his way often this Sunday.

Whether Marc Bulger is still too hurt to play, or Scott Linehan prefers the way Gus Frerotte moved the ball last Sunday (which he did surprisingly well, despite three interceptions), doesn't matter. Frerotte will get the start again Sunday when the Rams play the Ravens.

It's probably a little bit of both. Frerotte threw more touchdowns last week than Bulger has had all year as the Rams nearly matched their season-long scoring total (39) in last week's game alone (31). For whatever reason, Frerotte flat-out led almost the same injury-riddled team Bulger dealt with better.

On the other hand, when Bulger is fully healthy, he's still the Rams' quarterback, but bringing him back this week is risky. The Ravens' defense, though not as intimidating as they used to be, can still get at the passer. And last week, they roughed up a similarly awful 49ers offensive line. If Bulger were to return, his health would be further in danger.

Meanwhile, more terrible injury news. Dante Hall, who has given a tremendous lift to the Rams' special teams and one of the few bright spots of the season, is out for "several weeks" with a "significant ankle injury." I'm no doctor, but this seems like a high ankle sprain, the worst sprain of its kind. But that's just a guess. Either way, just another in a long line of devastating Rams injuries.

It's taken Herm Edwards a few games to figure things out, but maybe just playing the cellar-dwelling Chargers has that effect on every team, and we shouldn't make too much of Kansas City's win last Sunday.

Or maybe not. Despite all the head-scratching decisions (or non-decisions, as it were), the Chiefs are in a three-way tie for first place in the division, and Edwards thinks he knows why:

In all four games they've played this year, his Kansas City Chiefs have fallen immediately behind. The last two -- against Minnesota and San Diego -- they faced double-digit deficits at halftime only to rally in the third and fourth quarters and pull out a win.

"We're minus-27 in points scored in the first half," Edwards said Tuesday. "And in the second half we're plus-27. So obviously, my pregame speech going out is not very good. My halftime speech is probably a little bit better."

The solution: quit giving pregame speeches. Or, maybe improve the special teams, which has been abysmal during the first month of the season.

Kansas City traded Dante Hall to the Rams, and hoped Eddie Drummond could pick up the slack. So far, no go, but Edwards isn't going to make a change. The problem is the 10 guys in front of Drummond -- they're not really blocking anybody. "Every time I turned around, it seemed like San Diego was hitting us on the 15-yard line. You've got to get more than that," Edwards told the AP.

I've given Edwards the business for some of his questionable coaching decisions, but you have to give the guy credit: Kansas City is 2-2 and has yet to really get things going on offense and special teams. Just imagine how good this team would be if they were average in two of the three phases of the game.

For the second straight week, the 49ers are undeserved victors. When you outgain someone 392 yards to 186 and 20 first downs to eight, as St. Louis did today, you'd expect to emerge victorious. But a couple of big plays did the Rams in and it was Alex Smith's squad with the 17-16 victory.

Dante Hall fumbled a punt that led to San Francisco's winning field goal and Torry Holt fumbled a would-be touchdown out of the 49er endzone thanks to a heads-up play by Nate Clements, two plays which produced 10 49er points. The Rams also left three valuable points on the board, as Jeff Wilkins (as you can see to the right) missed a late 56-yard field goal that would have given the Rams the lead. Otherwise, it was a back-to-form game for the Rams offense, who posted gaudy numbers after their anemic performance last week against Carolina.

To get you ready for the season, FanHouse is previewing all 32 NFL teams. Here's the outlook for the Chiefs.

2006 record: 9-7

2006 Offense: The Chiefs lost quarterback Trent Green for the first half of the season, but were 5-3 behind Damon Huard. Running back Larry Johnson was the bigger story, rushing for 1,789 yards on 416 carries. Everybody -- including head coach Herm Edwards -- seems a little worried about the long-term effects of such a heavy workload, and the prospects aren't good. Tight end Tony Gonzalez turned in another Pro Bowl effort -- he had 73 receptions for 900 yards and five touchdowns -- but the club lacked another legit pass-catching threat after him.

2006 Defense: The Chiefs' defense was decidedly mediocre, ranking 20th against the pass and 18th against the run, according to Football Outsiders. Interestingly, Kansas City was 4th in the league against opposing teams' No. 1 wide receiver, but 25th against Nos. 2, and dead last against all other wideouts. The defensive line was solid in short-yardage situations, but the unit ranked 28th in Adjusted Sack Rate, just behind the Browns.

2006 Special teams: Dante Hall is now in St. Louis and the Kansas City spent much of the preseason trying to find his replacement. Rookie free agent Ean Randolph didn't do enough to win the job, so the club signed Eddie Drummond. Dustin Colquitt averaged 44 yards a pop and is a good directional punter, but kicker Lawrence Tynes did just enough to get sent packing in the off-season.