Viva Murillo!

In fantasy football, I'm normally a "take personal responsibility" kind of guy. But I might be willing to suspend that philosophy this week.

Ordinarily, I believe that if there's a problem in your league, you should try to fix it -- even if you're not the commissioner. If you made a bad lineup choice, that's fine -- as long as you own it. If you're not prepared for bye weeks or injuries, that's on you. If it's your team, its success or failure pretty much rides with you and your decisions.

But this week could be different. You might have suffered injuries that no normal fantasy owner can overcome. Everyone should have a Plan B, but nobody should be expected to have a viable Plan D. Unfortunately, there are leagues out there with owners who need just that.

Depending on your league size and scoring system, it's entirely possible that a team could have a running back roster of

• Darren McFadden
• Beanie Wells
• Tim Hightower
• Willis McGahee
• Earnest Graham

I would expect that owner (and any owner) to be able to absorb an injury and move someone else into the starting position. But what if you lose your entire roster of backs in one week? I mean everybody. Suppose you went from a decent starting lineup and a bench of potential to absolutely nobody who can start for you? What are you supposed to do then?

Honestly, I have no idea. Injuries are a part of the game, but Sunday it seemed like injuries were part of the rules. I'm not sure how a team could prepare for losing that many players. It's nearly impossible to expect or manage those kinds of losses, especially with bye weeks providing extra obstacles.

I know few teams would actually have that many injured players on their roster, but it's not all that far-fetched. In one league I have three of those running backs. I know other owners who have it worse: They've lost both of their starters at running back and wide receiver since the season started. Plenty of drafted wideouts are on the sidelines these days as well. I don't know if we should blame the lockout and abbreviated conditioning schedules, coaching staffs or Lady Luck, but it's hard to blame just fantasy owners.

Normally, this is the part of the column where I tell you to buck up, work the waiver wire and dig deep into your bench. After all, that's why you draft depth, right? But that sounds a little flat right now. You're going to have competition on the waiver wire for even the most marginal players, plus the regular bye week traffic. getting through the next few weeks is definitely going to be a challenge.

Then again, that's part of the fun, isn't it? If every year was the same we wouldn't bother playing. Each year there's a healthy dose of luck, and sometimes you get the bad kind. Quitting isn't an option, ignoring the team isn't an option and resigning yourself to failure isn't an option, either. You can always reach out to other owners for trades, too. And maybe some of your mediocre bench players will pick up the pace. I'm not talking DeMarco Murray numbers, but you never know.

Besides, no matter how battle-scarred your team might be, it isn't alone. No league has just one team that has suffered injuries. They're struggling like you, and you might get the better of them in your weekly contests. It doesn't matter how you get to the playoffs, as long as you get there. Each week the score starts 0-0, and your opponent might be the next owner to suffer a costly injury.

I guess I am saying to buck up after all. Nobody's going to feel sorry for us and most owners have their own sob story to tell. This year can still have a great ending; it's just going to take some weird paths to get there. And week 7 was a serious diversion for many teams. Let's just hope I'm not trying to re-write this column again in a couple of weeks -- some teams might not have any players left. Good luck this weekend.

How bad have you been bitten by the injury bug? What's your Plan D and beyond? Share your thoughts below.

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