It's a little cold in here...

Tonight, it finally begins. The 2009-10 hockey season is upon us. Nothing better than sticks, pucks, and a massive amount of hitting (with a less than massive amount of teeth).

But the thing I really love about hockey is that hockey players never make excuses. Like the other big three leagues in America, players performing poorly come out and give excuse after excuse of why they suck. Unlike hockey players who have no problem saying, "We didn't do our job tonight." It's not very flattering, but it's honest.

So in this week's list in honor of hockey season commencing, I'm calling our teams, players, and coaches who have been horrible and are on thin ice. I will make one thing clear though, this list of 5 will not include my Redskins or any one in the organization because they've already fallen through the ice.

1. Steelers - Over the off-season, the biggest question the Steelers face this season is how do they avoid the Super Bowl hangover like they experienced in 2006. Everyone thought it was just a question the media had to ask because people wanted to know. Who knew it would be true? To be honest, Pittsburgh hasn't played that bad, but they just can't finish their games with their two losses coming in the last minute of play. If they can get they're running game back on track, they'll be fine, but fans are starting to get impatient. And it's not going to get any better if they go 1-3 this weekend, then see Ben Roethlisberger hosting Monday Night Raw. Go watch some film and win.

2. Matt Forte - C'mon, guy. You're considered a top four fantasy back, and what have you done so far? 150 rush yards, 73 receiving yards through 3 games. Are you serious? Not to mention, his biggest value last year came from his receiving out of the backfield with Kyle Orton. Now he can only manage 24.3 yards per game with Jay Cutler at the helm?! The saving grace for Forte is he gets the Lions this week, and the schedule opens up after that. But for the sake of fantasy owners and Bears fans everywhere, do something!

3. Dolphins - All this talk during the off season that New England was going to comeback to dominate the division, or that the Jets and Rex Ryan's defense were the team to beat. Miami comes out and says, "We won it. We're the team to beat." What happened? This team goes from 1-15, to winning the division, to 0-3. Now granted, the Fish have played one of the toughest if not the toughest schedule so far this season (Atlanta, Indianapolis, San Diego). But if this team is really here to stay, you have to win those games. They start division play this week against a Buffalo team in turmoil, the perfect opportunity for Chad Henne to get comfortable. But a 0-4 start will make the seat get hotter, and the ice will melt.

4. Al Davis - More like his skeleton I should say. I know this is always said, but it doesn't excuse what's going on in Oakland. You got coaches punching coaches. Picking Darius Heyward-Bey who couldn't run a route if the diagram was drawn on the field for him. JaMarcus Russell has only completed 41.3 percent of his passes. Plus with zero passing game, Darren McFadden, the only one with talent on that offense is facing 8, 9, even 10 in the box. When Al Davis finally gets hands off, the team might start winning again, but until they turn off the life support, here we go again.

5. Redskins - I don't care what I said in the beginning. This is a long time coming. I've only got one thing to say - C'mon guys. You're getting paid millions of dollars, and you lose to the Lions! The Lions! Even their victory against the Rams only yielded three field goals. Can't run, can't pass, can't keep the most expensive defensive tackle in NFL history on the field. They can't even call plays without Sonny Jurgensen criticizing them, and for good reason. I guess Clinton Portis was on the right track last year. To be real though, as a fan I want them to succeed, it's not like I'm rooting for the demise of Jim Zorn, but I don't think he's the answer. As the season continues, the ice will break under this team, leading to a new head coach (Mike Shanahan), and a new quarterback (Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy, Hell I'll take Tebow at this point, even with a concussion).

Game of the Week - Green Bay at Minnesota
And no it's not because Brett Favre plays his old team. I mean, who are we kidding, that's a big reason, but even more than that, this is the first big divisional game of the season. Yes, the Jets-Saints game is a matchup of 3-0 teams, but this game could directly determine the division race. Green Bay is 2-1 with the only loss coming to the Cincinnati Bengals, which is no longer an insult (like losing to the freakin-Lions). Aaron Rodgers is continually showing he was the right choice for the Pack. The Vikes are 3-0 (inches away from 2-1) with full steam ahead. This game comes down to, can the Pack stop Adrian Peterson? If they can, they win because Favre will not beat them on his own. If Peterson goes off, Green Bay's in trouble. Regardless, I don't care what the Packers say they want revenge. And they're going to get it. Green Bay 21-13.