There are only five teams with winning records in the NFC, so it’s no wonder the 3-5 Bears are thinking playoffs and the 4-4 Green Bay Packers are thinking Super Bowl.
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It’s good to be in the NFC these days. Six teams must represent the NFC in the playoffs regardless of record. It’s a league rule. There are eight winning teams in the AFC, but two of them won’t make it to the postseason.
It’s good to be in the NFC North too. There have been only four intradivisional games, and the Bears have played in three of them. There are eight more to play, starting Sunday with Minnesota at Green Bay.
It’s also good to be the Packers. Their three-game winning streak makes them the hottest team in the NFC now that the Philadelphia Eagles have been knocked off. In the NFL, only the Pittsburgh Steelers’ six-game winning streak is longer than that of the Packers, who have rebounded from a 1-4 start.
The Packers can pull even in the NFC North with the 5-3 Vikings, who are floundering without injured wide receiver Randy Moss.
“Don’t be surprised if we end up with the second-best [NFC] record,” Green Bay safety Darren Sharper said. “I know we have the team to get to the Super Bowl. We just have to win the games we’re supposed to.”
Of course, nobody knows what those “supposed to” games are anymore, but the Packers figure one of them is Sunday against the Vikings.
With all due respect to the popular Bears-Packers rivalry, Vikings-Packers is where it’s at in the NFC North. It has been that way for years. It’s a 42-42-1 standoff that not even Brett Favre has been able to sway in Green Bay’s favor.
Since Favre arrived in 1992, the Vikings actually lead the series 12-11, including a 9-3 margin at the Metrodome, which is why Sunday’s game at Lambeau Field is so important to the Pack.
Since Moss arrived in 1998, the series is 6-6, but the Vikings are 2-4 at Lambeau and won’t have him Sunday.
“We have to take it one game at a time, but you can’t help but think about the Super Bowl,” Packers defensive tackle Cletidus Hunt said.
Think again
The Vikings, meanwhile, are thinking mainly about Moss and trying not to think about last year’s collapse from a 6-0 start to a 3-7 finish.
Moss suffered a partial tear of his right hamstring Oct. 17 in New Orleans but refused to undergo an MRI for 19 days.
Coach Mike Tice let Moss limp through two token snaps against Tennessee on Oct. 24 and nine more useless plays against the Giants on Oct. 31 before convincing Moss his playing streak–he had never missed a game–was over Monday night in Indianapolis.
Can Moss return for Detroit on Nov. 21 or Jacksonville on Nov. 28 or be ready to come to Chicago on Dec. 5? Nobody knows.
“It doesn’t make sense to play him,” Tice said. “It was tough to get him to admit he couldn’t play with the injury, and when he finally did, it’s not where it should be. He should get it right. That’s important.”
The question always will be whether Moss aggravated the injury with his limited appearances. Tice insists he didn’t, but it’s hard to imagine that hobbling around hastened a cure.
On the road again
The Vikings weren’t happy with the schedule-makers who put them on the road Monday night in Indianapolis and then on the road against archrival Green Bay, which was off last week.
Then they found out in previous similar situations, the road teams are 3-1.
“It’s good that the short week comes with us playing the Packers,” Tice said. “It really is. That’s a great thing. I wouldn’t want to play any other team except the Packers on a short week. This is a good one to have right now. We won’t need any rest this week.”
Tice also sounded confident about not repeating last year’s second-half collapse, especially after his team came back from a 14-0 deficit to the Colts to make it close in a 31-28 loss.
“This team just has more character,” Tice said. “We don’t want to be 5-3. But we’re on top in the division, and I think we showed that we have enough character as a team when our backs are to the wall.”
Road trip
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer and receiver Chad Johnson rode together to the Monday night game at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis to watch Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and wide receiver Marvin Harrison work against Minnesota.
Palmer and Johnson saw Manning and Harrison become the NFL’s all-time leading completion duo with 666, surpassing Buffalo’s Jim Kelly and Andre Reed, who had 663.
“They’re the best,” Palmer said. “They’re who we want to be like. Chad and I want to get great in a hurry. We’re trying to learn. He’s going to be here a long time. I’m going to be here a long time.”
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They drove the 220-mile round trip in Palmer’s pickup.
“He was my date,” Palmer said, “because I drove.”
They bought tickets and sat in the stands. Johnson wore a Bengals jersey under his jacket and wanted to wear a Bengals cap. Palmer didn’t allow it. He wore a generic baseball cap.
“We were incognito,” Palmer said. “It was a business trip. Chad was recognized some. He had his gold teeth in.”
How things change
Why the prediction business is shaky: Not only is the 1-7 record of the Carolina Panthers the worst ever for a post-Super Bowl team, the Panthers are last in the NFL with 11 sacks.
Post-Super Bowl letdowns are common, but the front four of Julius Peppers, Kris Jenkins (now injured), Brentson Buckner and Mike Rucker was supposed to be the best in the league.
No laughing matter
Defensive end Chuck Wiley started for Minnesota in a 34-13 loss to the Giants on Oct. 31, then was told of his release Nov. 2.
“We were preparing for a Monday night game, so I thought it was just, `You’re sacked!'” Wiley said, referring to a “Monday Night Football” halftime practical-joke segment. “Then I realized they weren’t joking.”
Wiley was picked up by the Giants.
Gates on top
The NFL’s leading receiver, San Diego tight end Antonio Gates, will cause scouts to spend time at basketball games. Like Indianapolis tight end Marcus Pollard, Gates played no football in college. He led Kent State to the final eight in the NCAA tournament in 2003.
Gates signed as an undrafted free agent. Any team could have had him. He gives credit to Chargers tight ends coach Tim Brewster, a former tight end at Illinois.
“I had dealt with guys coming out of high school who weren’t honest with me, and I was looking for a genuine guy,” Gates said. “Tim worked me out, but I wasn’t promised this or that. In fact, he told me I might be on the practice team or I might get cut. He was realistic with me.”