Hey Kevin,

I almost started this thread for you yesterday and decided not to in faith you would come through. This has become a pleasant weekly pastime.

It was a most interesting weekend in the NFL. It's the time of year when the contenders separate themselves from the pretenders. Some teams stepped forward, some fell back.

The Panthers are dead. Stick a fork in 'em. The Chiefs and Broncos still have life IMO but I doubt many teams will consider them scary playoff teams. The Broncos' defense has gone so far south they must be in Chile by now.

The Giants are still alive. They are a good team that has been afflicted Job style by injuries. In the NFC that makes you still a contender.

Not many words from you on the Saints' annihilation of the Cowboys in Dallas, which to me was the most emphatic statement of the week. That Monday Night game at the Superdome, the first game there since Katrina, was a feel-good story and I suspect many of us have been rooting for the Saints when they aren't playing our team(s). But who figured this? They were 3-13 and had a new QB coming off shoulder surgery. And now they are one of the league's best teams. Drew Brees is one of two MVP candidates, along with LT. LT is getting all the attention because of the touchdown record, and I'm sure not taking anything away from him, but I'm thinking Brees has been even more valuable to his team.

>- Rex straightened himself out last night - but I still have questions about the Bear defense. They appear much more vulnerable than earlier in the season. Not bashing them, just not sure they're any better than the Saints, Seahawks, etc. We'll find out come January.
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They are definitely better than the Seahawks. The Saints scare me. Re the Bears defense, I mention only in passing that they played without four defensive starters -- two of their core three, Tommie Harris and Mike Brown, out for the season -- and that the Rams scored 14 of their points in garbage time. They scored two touchdowns in the last 8 minutes, down by 22 points both times. Big whoop. Stat time.

My biggest smile of the weekend was when Terry Holt, wired for sound by ESPN, was sitting on the bench after catching a touchdown pass and regaling some teammates with the fact that he had caught it against "that return guy." (It tells you how banged up the Bears' secondary is that Hester was even in there). And about the time he said it Devin Hester went by them like a jet, on his way to the end zone once again. Holt's self-satisfaction lasted about 10 seconds.

My crystal ball gives no indication of an Eagles run in the playoffs, or even an appearance. But hey, I've been wrong before, that's what makes these conversations fun. Who would have picked the Steelers a year ago this date?

The Ravens are a very good team. They went into KC and stomped them and appear likely to join the Chargers as the AFC bye teams. Still, I distrust a team with Steve McNair at the helm.

I do not share your sympathy for the Titans and Dolphins. Every game matters. Every game counts. These are professionals and they know this. They took themselves out of playoff contention by the halfway point. I do think they are teams to be taken more seriously next year.

Vince Carter? The basketball player? You lost me there, KG <g>.

I still have a lot of respect for the Patriots. Yeah, they got stomped in Miami. Yeah, they aren't the same team that won all those Super Bowls. Their success has been their exact undoing: an endless outflow of free agents who sign for more money elsewhere than the Pats can afford to pay them under the cap. In a way I like the parity system, you never know what will happen from year to year, but IMO it penalizes the teams that do things right and win. They are forced to lose key players and are chucked back into the trough with the others. Here in Chicago it is a foregone conclusion that Lance Briggs, as good an OLB as there is in the league for the past two seasons, is as good as gone. The Bears are by rule not allowed to pay him his market value.

All of Wisconsin hopes Brett Favre retires, although not for your harsh reasons. More like hoping your spouse of 50 years, the love of your life, is taken by an inoperable and painful disease sooner rather than later. His Packer teammates with skills have decreased steadily. They were probably the first victims of the NFL success tax. I will tell you this. He is a godlike figure in Wisconsin, far more for the person he is than for his football stats. He has never been full of himself. He shows up at Packers office birthday parties, the only player there. Even in his worst gunslinger moments we are on his side. We are lucky to have seen him play and it will be a sad day when he rubs that last dirt off himself and moves on.

My cubiclemate has Bears season tickets and the last home game is against the Packers. He says he is already inundated with $$$ offers from people who want to be there to see his last game, if indeed it is.

I believe it will be. And I hope Bears fans show themselves to be as classy as I know they are by giving him a thunderous ovation. Bears-Packers, that's no fake rivalry, but we know a class act when we see one.


>- Sure, Brett Favre looked good on Sunday....but c'mon, it was the 49'ers. If Favre could beat a WINNING team, then maybe I'd be more convinced. I really hope he retires.
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>- The Raiders still suck....and now Randy Moss has some kind of ankle injury.
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>Kevin