Divisions clinched, asses clenched

This has been a very interesting year for pro football.

+ The biggest beneficiary of East Coast bias, the Giants, look like a shadow of their former self.

+ Denver, who fires every quarterback lacking Elwayishness, had a bizarre QB swab with Chicago, and it worked well for all parties concerned, until everything fell apart and there are hurt feelings everywhere. Denver's child coach went from hero to zero faster than Pittsburgh went from good to great awful.

+ Old Man Favre donned the purple and tried to wrest the empire from Childress. What a massive distraction, on and off the field, considering Adrian Peterson deserves 90% of the focus in Minnesota. Like the 1998 Vikings, the team is great, but it will fall long before The Big Game.

+ Arizona is again an underdog, underestimated, underperforming, underwater, under. They won it all with a similar critique last year.

+ Indy.

+ The Patriots are strong, but only their hearts can see them through now. See Arizona.

+ The Bengals are strong, too, but not strong enough. They lack whatever allows Arizona to perform well when not performing well.

+ The Chargers have become predictable. 1) a bad beginning, 2) find out how to play with starters in traction, 3) destroy nearly every team in the league for the last 2/3 of the season and make the playoffs with verve, 4) get knocked out well before The Big Game.

+ New Orleans are the feel good hit of the season, but are they good enough? Dallas didn't think so. People love Brees and the post-Katrina Saints so much, they'll probably be given honorary Super Bowl rings after they lose spectacularly.

+ Dallas doesn't have Aikman or Dorsett or Smith or ______ or ______ .

+ Raiders and 49ers -- Bay Area football sucks, and it has for a long time. The Raiders need to understand that one or two good players surrounded by unmotivated sloths cannot succeed. Raiders fans still support their team, when they're not busy knifing people.

+ The Seattle Seahawks should probably disband, or at least change their name. In a league filled with giants and titans and panthers and jaguars, how can "seahawks" hope to compete?