NFC wild cards are all jokers
Teams vying for 2 spots just aren't very impressive
Significant as the New Orleans-Dallas game is this week, both should make the playoffs. The elimination game might be found when the New York Giants travel to Carolina in a battle of struggling preseason favorites who might be the best of four .500 teams battling for a playoff spot. Atlanta and Philadelphia are the other two.
All of those teams have major problems. Throw in Minnesota, San Francisco and St. Louis, and you have seven teams vying for two spots. Among them, they have a combined record of 9-19 over their last four games. That's not a lot of momentum, but then there isn't much of that to be found anywhere in the NFC.
The Bears and Dallas would be the only two NFC teams that qualify as hot at this point in the season. Seattle is getting players back, and New Orleans has some big victories.
But if you look at recent form, San Diego is the hottest team in the league right now, having won six of its last seven. The Bears and Cowboys are the only NFC teams among seven others who have won five of their last seven games. Of the five AFC teams that have won five of seven, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Kansas City, New England and the New York Jets should make the playoffs. The Titans have been hot but won't be able to make up ground because of the teams in front of them. If Tennessee was in the NFC, it would be a different story.
So which teams are likely to make the playoffs as wild cards? The Giants are as talented as any in contention, but they have been terrible without defensive end Michael Strahan in the lineup, going 1-11 without him since 2004, when he missed eight games with a torn pectoral muscle suffered against the Bears. Strahan has been out four games since hurting the Lisfranc joint in his right foot.
Strahan is far from the only guy hurt, mind you, although the Giants are getting healthier. It hasn't helped that some players are openly bickering with coach Tom Coughlin. Still, if the Giants can win at Carolina, they'll climb back into it. The Panthers could be without Jake Delhomme, who missed practice all week with a thumb injury. Many have been calling for Chris Weinke anyway, but careful what you wish for with a guy who hasn't started in four-plus years.
Atlanta has been up and down, mostly down, but if the Falcons focus on running the ball and get anything from Michael Vick and his receivers, they are still a threat. The dark horse is Philadelphia with Jeff Garcia playing well now that Donovan McNabb has been lost to injury. Garcia might not be up for it for the long haul, and the minute he falters, the Eagles are done.
San Francisco might be the most intriguing of the next group of teams given its combination of schedule and general improvement.
A second-round pick by the Bears in 1998 (No. 35 overall) who joined San Francisco in 2002, Parrish, 31, was put on waivers by the 49ers this week and claimed by the Cowboys. It was an interesting move because it means Dallas will pick up the prorated portion of Parrish's 2006 salary of $2 million and pay him $500,000 for the last four games of the season. Might the Bears have shown an interest had he cleared waivers? The waiver wire is run like the draft, with the top teams picking last, so the Bears would not have put in a claim given how late they were picking. Parrish started 121 consecutive games with the Bears and 49ers before breaking a leg last year at Soldier Field. He was a healthy scratch the last three games for the 49ers, who needed a roster spot to replace injured linebacker Derek Smith (hamstring).
"My reaction is disappointment that my time in San Francisco had to come to an end like this -- it's not exactly the way I pictured it,'' Parrish told reporters in San Francisco.
"But it rarely happens that people get to leave a city exactly the way they want.''
Redskins owner Dan Snyder fired three coaches in his first 18 months but appears to be sticking with coach and team president Joe Gibbs , who announced earlier this week he'll return for the fourth year of his five-year, $25 million deal.
"Nobody expected anything different,'' a spokesman for Snyder told the Washington Times.
Well, maybe Redskins fans expected more from Gibbs, who was elected to the Hall of Fame based on his three Super Bowl victories and 10 winning seasons during his previous tenure in Washington. Gibbs, 66, won 68 percent of his games (140-65) in his first stint with the Redskins but has only one winning season in three years and a 21-25 record with four games remaining.
"Coach Gibbs isn't the reason we're losing,'' former Bears defensive end Phillip Daniels said.
Belichick pick
It seems Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher didn't make such a great impression on Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Or rather Urlacher didn't make as big an impression as Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor. Belichick says Taylor is the best defensive player in the league.
"I can't imagine him not being the Defensive Player of the Year,'' Belichick said. "There's nobody I've seen that has played anywhere near close to the level that he's at. He ruins a lot of games offensively for teams.''
Record weekend
The Falcons have a shot at history Sunday at Tampa Bay. Quarterback Michael Vick needs 71 yards to become the first player at his position to rush for 1,000. Former Bears quarterback Bobby Douglass holds the NFL record with 968 rushing yards in a 14-game season in 1972.
Vick is more concerned with hitting 1,000 because running back Warrick Dunn is only 51 yards short of that milestone, which would make them only the fourth set of teammates and the first quarterback/ running back duo to hit 1,000 rushing yards in the same season.
"It's definitely a great opportunity that we have in front of us,'' Vick said. "But it really doesn't mean as much as winning a game. Of course you would like to be able to say, and I would like to be able to say, that I rushed for 1,000 yards because it's going to mean a lot to me.''