FanHouse Mike McKenzie

We haven't even gotten to training camp, but teams are already losing players for the 2009 season. Veteran 49ers cornerback Walt Harris tore his right ACL during practice on Tuesday and will likely miss the entire season, according to Matt Maiocco of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

The injury occurred when Harris got tangled up with the wide receiver Dominique Ziegler during a drill. The Niners aren't ready to rule him out for the entire campaign, but the odds are against seeing Harris on the field again this season. Or any season.

When NFL free agency starts, the free agents are typically not the only ones who are looking for a new contract. A handful of players who have years left on their current deals are bound to decide that they've "out-performed the contract." Some of these players will decide to politely request a new deal or a raise, with no intention of doing anything in retaliation should they not get what they want.

What many fans don't necessarily know is that a lot of the rumblings start at the Pro Bowl.

To get you ready for week 17, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is the New Orleans Saints/Chicago Bears preview.

2007 Records:

New Orleans Saints: 7-8 (2nd in NFC South)
Chicago Bears: 6-9 (4th in NFC North)

Last Week:

Eagles 38, Saints 23
Bears 35, Packers 7

When the Saints have the ball: If the Saints want to keep their slim playoff hopes alive they'll need to win Sunday and then get help from the Broncos and Cowboys. If they want to win, they'll need to throw the ball early and often. While Aaron Stecker has done a fair job of filling in for Deuce McCallister and a better job than Reggie Bush, the Bears are most vulnerable through the air. Mark Anderson and Nathan Vasher are both on IR, limiting Chicago's pass rush and their coverage, and the Saints have shown that they can spread the ball around when Sean Payton looks beyond his predilection for screen passes. The weather looks like it will cooperate this week, Mother Nature was the 12th man in Chicago's performance last weekend, which will make it that much tougher for them to hang with the Saints offense. New Orleans will need to account for Brian Urlacher, however. After a middling season, Urlacher's played his best two games in the last two weeks and would love to spoil New Orleans' season.

To get you ready for week 11, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is the Houston Texans/New Orleans Saints preview.

2007 Records:
Houston Texans 4-5 (4th, AFC South)
New Orleans Saints 4-5 (T2,NFC South)

Last Game:
Texans Bye Week (Previously Texans 24, Raiders 17)
Rams 37, Saints 29

If you want to read or participate in some Reggie Bush-Mario Williams talk, check out this. Otherwise this is going to be a straight up preview of the game.

It's interesting that both of these teams have the same record, but that the Saints are only one game out of first place in the division and are very much talked about in the playoff hunt, but that the Texans are three games out and not much in the playoff discussion. Certainly both teams want to leave this game with a .500 record.

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.

Chargers Defense
Heading into this game, San Diego's defense ranked 17th against the run, and Minnesota's offense was 8th. That'll likely change. The 2008 Rookie of the Year (they might as well hand out the award), Adrian Peterson, rushed for 296 yards on 30 carries. Two. Nine. Six. He also scored three touchdowns, and nine of his carries went for more than 10 yards. I believe that's called dominating an opponent.

Before Purple Jesus happened, the Chargers had only allowed one rusher to break the century mark -- the Chiefs' Larry Johnson went for 123 in Week 4. And the best back in the league? He gained just 40 yards on 16 carries. One Chargers defender did have a good day, though. Too bad it happened on special teams.

Sorry, No Photos