There are three games Sunday among first-place teams in six divisions: New England at Indianapolis, Philadelphia at Carolina and Minnesota at St. Louis.
So why is everybody talking about the Cincinnati Bengals?
Because they are in first place, too, and they play the last-place Pittsburgh Steelers in the strangest matchup of all.
“It’s crazy,” Steelers running back Jerome Bettis said. “I mean, you think something weird is going on, with some things freezing over. But that’s not the case.”
It’s just the NFL, which means Not For Long, as ex-coach, ex-TV commentator, ex-celebrity Jerry Glanville once noted.
The Bengals were in last place a year ago in the AFC North, which the Steelers won. They are attempting to become the first NFL team to make the playoffs the season after going 2-14.
They also are succeeding in making franchises in other cities, like Chicago, feel both inadequate and hopeful. Thinking, for example, if their team could only acquire Jon Kitna to play quarterback.
The Bengals are 6-2 in their last eight games, during which Kitna has thrown 16 touchdown passes and four interceptions. The Bears might be happy they’re facing Brett Favre instead of Kitna next week. Probably not, but more on that later.
The better Kitna plays the longer No. 1 draft choice Carson Palmer sits on the bench. If Kitna keeps it up, will Palmer languish another season?
“We’ll worry about that later,” coach Marvin Lewis said.
Make Favre beat you: The Bears have a 4-19 record against Favre’s Green Bay Packers. Yet the Detroit Lions beat the Packers on Thanksgiving by shutting down the running of Ahman Green and daring Favre to beat them. He couldn’t. Whether it’s his broken thumb, inadequate receivers or an old habit of throwing interceptions, Favre is getting less respect from defensive coordinators these days.
Teams are challenging Favre the way they might, well, Kitna. The Dallas Cowboys’ No. 1 defense beat the Carolina Panthers last week by shutting down running back Stephen Davis and daring quarterback Jake Delhomme to beat them. He couldn’t. They tried the same thing against the Miami Dolphins, but both running back Ricky Williams and quarterback Jay Fiedler prevailed.
Defenses always base game plans on stopping the run first, but that used to be a much more dangerous proposition against the likes of Favre. For whatever reason, Favre has been lumped into that group of quarterbacks who don’t scare defenses as much as the running game does.
Of course, a disrespected Favre is exactly what the Bears don’t need. The idea of ending their Favre jinx by practically taunting him into performing against them is as preposterous as the Bengals leading the AFC North.
No respect: Here is how much respect the Bengals had: They are the only team the NFL scheduled this season to play three games on the road in three weeks. The San Diego Chargers also had a three-game trip, but it was interrupted with an off week. Because of the California wildfires, the Chargers ended up playing five games in a row on the road, but that was because their home game against Miami was moved to Arizona.
Home-field advantage is one of the few things that remains somewhat predictable. AFC teams are 52-35 at home, NFC teams 55-35 at home.
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Bear fallout: The Bears not only defeated the Denver Broncos last weekend, they appear to have blown the lid off coach Mike Shanahan’s entire operation.
Defensive tackle Daryl Gardener, suspended last week, blasted Shanahan on radio and earned two more games of suspension without pay. Then former Denver defensive tackle Lional Dalton, now with Washington, went after Shanahan:
“It’s hard to play for that guy,” Dalton said. “He has that Napoleon thing going on. It makes it difficult for you to like the game. Everything is everybody’s fault but his. You don’t go into the game thinking about making plays, having fun, winning the game. You go in thinking about, `I don’t want to get in Shanahan’s doghouse.’ That’s not the way you play the game. You’re supposed to go out there and have fun and take care of your business.
“He doesn’t like anybody with too strong of a personality. You have to be more of a shut-up-when-he-walks-in-the-room type of guy. That’s just not me.”
Shanahan admitted signing Gardener from Washington as a free agent and paying him $5 million as part of a seven-year, $34.5 million contract was a mistake.
Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe elaborated: “Here’s the thing. It’s hard to say somebody doesn’t like you when they give you $5 million. I wish a lot of people didn’t like me. If you’re going to give me $5 million, you can hate me.”
Patriots game: The Patriots have won seven games in a row and have given up only six touchdown passes, a league low. An improved secondary is the result of long hours and years of future planning. Here’s how: They traded safety Tebucky Jones to New Orleans in the off-season. Then they released cornerback Otis Smith during training camp. Five days before the start of the regular season, they shocked their own players when they dumped popular safety Lawyer Milloy and replaced him with 5-foot-9-inch, 180-pound Antwan Harris.
They got beat 31-0 in the season opener by Milloy’s new team, Buffalo, so coach Bill Belichick switched Illinois rookie cornerback Eugene Wilson to free safety. Wilson, who had never played the position before, made a quick adjustment. He and Rodney Harrison, a free-agent signee from San Diego, have given the Patriots their best safety play in years. And free-agent signee Tyrone Poole from Denver has taken over for Smith at the starting corner spot.
“We’re faster in the secondary than we were last year,” Belichick said. “But that wouldn’t take much. We had to be one of the slowest teams in the league in terms of our secondary last year.”
Eagle watch: The Eagles are on a roll. Their offense hasn’t committed a turnover in the last four games. Since 2000, the Eagles are an NFL-best 24-5 in November and December. They are 15-2 in November.
In his last five games, quarterback Donovan McNabb has completed 65.5 percent of his passes and is averaging 8.62 yards per attempt. In his first six games, he completed just 47.9 percent and averaged 4.49 yards per attempt. He hasn’t thrown an interception in the last four games.
Theory of relativity: Former Packers running back Paul Hornung, 67, was asked about the differences in the game and said: “My biggest salary was $80,000. They say everything is relative. There’s nothing relative about making $80,000 as opposed to $4 million.”
The truth: Ravens backup quarterback Anthony Wright enjoyed the game of his life with four touchdown passes against Seattle last week, but wife Nicole earned the game ball from coach Brian Billick.
Nicole delivered the couple’s second child, a girl named Trinity, at 9 p.m. Monday. Labor was induced at 11 p.m. Sunday.
“I told the players, `I don’t want to hear about pain or hurt because you have no concept of it,'” Billick said.