Los Angeles Times NFL writer Sam Farmer examines the matchups and makes his predictions for Week 8 of the NFL season.

All lines and over/under numbers are according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

Last week, Farmer posted an 9-5 (.643) record. Through the first seven weeks of the season, he is 63-44. (.589).

Using point spreads with the scores Farmer ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — An analysis of the medical records of more than 2,000 deceased former NFL players estimates that a staggering 74.5% of them likely had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative brain disease tied to high-impact sports such as football.

Boston University has been on the forefront of diagnosing CTE for years and ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears traded for Tennessee Titans All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons on Thursday, exchanging their 2027 and 2028 first-round draft picks and a 2027 fourth-round pick for Simmons and a 2028 fifth-round pick.

Simmons, 29, is a three-time All-Pro (one first-team and two second-team nods) and four-time Pro Bowl ...Read more

MIAMI — Maybe he’s being humble, secretive or flat-out wants the world to stay out his business, but Rodney McGraw claims he can’t remember exactly who broke the news to the defensive end that he’d been signed to an NFL team’s 53-man roster.

A couple of days after the Miami Dolphins called the undrafted rookie up from the practice ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The opening scene of “Kordell Stewart: Slash & Burn,” HBO’s newest sports documentary, wastes no time getting right to the point.

Thirty seconds in, the viewer is taken to Schenley Park. Stewart, now 54 years old, is behind the wheel of a Range Rover, sunglasses over his face. His vehicle parks in a specific area, one he ...Read more

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — The Minnesota Vikings are coming, bent on bruising and blitzing. The Detroit Lions have seen this before, and it still sounds positively frightful.

“They create havoc and chaos,” Campbell said Wednesday. “And inevitably they force you to make massive errors, massive turnovers. It’s just wave after wave and these ...Read more

DENVER — The Chiefs make it easy not to like them. And just in case you wondered why, on Wednesday they signed Justin Tucker.

You know, the shamed kicker we all thought retired. The uglier a player’s behavior, the more the Chiefs seem to want the guy. Even if it is only to occupy a place on the practice squad.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid ...Read more

CHICAGO — Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams said he believes his newly adopted Caddix-branded cleats have helped him avoid injuries, and he plans to wear them even if he keeps getting fined.

“(I’m) focused on my health,” Williams said after practice Wednesday at Halas Hall. “I’m focused on being able to be out here for the ...Read more

SEATTLE — No one needed long to conclude that the Seahawks got it right in hiring Mike Macdonald.

What has also become apparent is that the Seahawks would not have gotten it wrong had they hired Ben Johnson when they went searching for a coach to succeed Pete Carroll following the 2023 season.

Macdonald and Johnson were reported to be two of...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs are bringing in competition for struggling kicker Harrison Butker — but it doesn’t come without controversy.

Justin Tucker will sign with the Chiefs’ practice squad, a source told The Kansas City Star.

Tucker, a five-time first-team All-Pro, has been unemployed since the Ravens released him following his ...Read more

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs missed practice Wednesday with a shoulder injury, according to the team's official injury report.

The Lions had several starters missing from practice as coach Dan Campbell tried to get players "off their feet" ahead of a pivotal division game against the Minnesota Vikings at Ford ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Already accused by his wife of sexually assaulting her, Marcellus Wiley is the defendant in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that he raped a 22-year-old USC student in 1999.

Wiley, a former NFL defensive end and longtime sports media personality, also has been accused by three women of sexual ...Read more

Nostalgia’s the preferred narcotic of desperate NFL front offices, but sometimes bringing back an old flame’s just smart business.

It was on Tuesday, when the San Francisco 49ers jettisoned a 2027 fourth-round pick to rescue DeForest Buckner from Indianapolis Colts purgatory.

Six-plus years ago, John Lynch shipped Buckner out of town ...Read more

CHICAGO — The failed drug test that led to a two-game suspension under the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy was “accidental,” Chicago Bears defensive end Montez Sweat said Tuesday at Halas Hall.

Sweat returned to the practice field as the team began preparations for Monday night’s matchup with the defending Super Bowl champion ...Read more

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — DeForest Buckner is circling back to the San Francisco 49ers.

Buckner, dealt in March 2020 to the Indianapolis Colts, will cost the 49ers a mere 2027 fourth-round draft pick, pending a physical, a league source confirmed Tuesday.

“Come home,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk commented on ESPN’s Instagram post of Buckner ...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — Watching the ESPN telecast of the Dallas Cowboys’ game on Monday night in Philadelphia was uncomfortable, not just because of the state of either team, but viewers are literally watching a “couple” in the midst of an ugly divorce.

Former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman’s time with ESPN as its top NFL in-game ...Read more

Four years of high school French taught me how to conjugate verbs and navigate a menu.

It did nothing to explain why I was awake at 6:30 a.m. Sunday trusting Aaron Rodgers to quarterback two of my fantasy teams in Paris.

I understand French better than I speak it, but Pittsburgh’s second-half offensive philosophy needed no translation: Risk ...Read more

SEATTLE — To prove a point, Craig Nelson once held a piece of paper in front of his sons, Connor and Quenton.

“These are all the kids playing rec and Pop Warner football,” he said.

Then Craig tore the paper in half, dropping one piece to the floor.

“These are the guys playing in high school.”

Then he tore another, significantly ...Read more