By MIke Anthony of VegasTopDogs.com

The NFL regular season is already halfway through. After the halfway mark of the season, let’s take a glance at a few of the best and worst of the season.

Coach of the Year; Lovie Smith (Chicago Bears)The 9 year Head Coach with the Bears seems to have them in the drivers seat, the Bears have been a perfect example of up and down under Lovie since 2004, but he made a few adjustments and now they have things going in the right direction. He has them scoring 26 /gm (best since 2006), and playing incredible defense as well, 3/7 times keeping teams in single digits.

Biggest surprise team; Chicago Bears, the Bears who were in the average group last season at 8-8 on the year, have already won 6 games, 75% of their win total already. They had a very average season last year, what was expected this year from Cutler and company? A real load of chaos with the Forte situation, that had to be straightened out, going 4-3 at the central point of the season, they were well behind at this point of the year in 2011.

Biggest letdown team; Detroit Lions, after going 10-6 in 2011 and making it the playoffs, they were the ‘next big thing’ to be heading into the NFL future. This year they are struggling, only at 3-4 I think most expected the Lions to be challenging for the division in the NFC North. Last year at this time they were 6-2 and they were in contention as a top tier team, this year, they are woeful, struggling for wins, and scoring a touchdown less a game. Stafford needs to get back to playing top notch, he is falling back, as well as Ndamukong Suh, who was being crowned as the next beast in the middle, has slowed down considerably.

The best team in NFL; Houston Texans, this is hard to judge, with the Falcons and 49ers still top end teams as well, but they have amazing offense, with RB Arian Foster, who is pounding teams for 94/gm. They have splendid defense on a team that had theoretically lost its big defensive guy in Mario Williams. Not so much.

The worst team in the NFL; Kansas City Chiefs, the lowly Chiefs have yet to win a home game, sitting at 0-4. Even a bad team should be able to squeak one out at home. They have been outscored by 89 pts thus far, they have no clue what the QB situation really is and cannot move the ball through the air, 1 shimmering hope is Jamaal Charles, who at this point should get the ball 25-30 touches/game.

Defensive rookie of the year; Chandler Jones, (DE, New England Patriots) 6 sacks, 33 tackles, and 3 forced fumbles. The rookie from Syracuse has been a massively brilliant player for the Pats, starting at RE for the Pats.

Offensive rookie of the year; Alfred Morris (RB, Washington Redskins) Morris has blown nearly all away with his play. He has played so much better than everyone had predicted, with RGIII gaining so much attention, who was easily the #2 option here, but Morris gets it for the shocker factor. RGIII was projected to be high-quality. 717 YDs, 5 TDs, on pace for 1400+ YDs and 10+ TDs, I would say pro-bowler.

Defensive player of the year; Tim Jennings (CB, Chicago Bears), 39 tackles, 13 passes defended and 6 picks so far, 1 for a TD and we have another half to go. The 28 year old is having a dominant year covering on the outside, his best season in his career.

Most Valuable Player; Peyton Manning (QB, Denver Broncos) I could sum it up with one statement, staggering. Passing 69%, 2113 YDs, 17 TDs, only 4 INTs, and Manning has come back from his year off and a devastating injury to lead the Broncos to a 4-3 record at midpoint, and opening up all sorts of facets of the game for them. He is astoundingly only behind Drew Brees, with a 302 passing YDs/game. So glad to see Peyton back doing his thing.

Let’s get all set for the 2nd half of the season; it’s been magnificent so far. I can’t see any reason why the 2nd half can’t get even better!