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Call it a blessing or a curse, but my Stillers are not in the postseason. I am, therefore, a neutral.

I think both games are fairly evenly matched but will have to resort to handicapping the teams based on the media coverage they receive.

CHICAGO BEARS - the '85 team will never be forgotten for its players, personalities, coaches and absolute superiority to its competition. Unlike most big-city teams, people outside Chicagoland find it easy to root for the Bears with their classic uniforms and status as charter members of the NFL. They play outdoors...seemingly unfazed by the brutal winters of the upper Midwest...may it ever be so.

Rex Grossman-as-Jekyll-and-Hyde has been done to death, but the unease that fans and neutrals alike feel when watching him play is still there.

Should the Bears advance to the Super Bowl, the Monsters of the Midway, Butkus, Sayers, Piccolo and of course da Coach will be front and center for a fortnight. Hopefully Ditka will see the error of his bitter, fence-sitting ways and admit that he will always be a Bear.

I think a home game, winter weather and great defense will carry the Bears through.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS - I won't say it....you know...the "K" word. I'm sorry, but I can't handle more soul-butter (thank you Mark Twain for that excellent phrase) about New Orleans and renewal, rejuvenation, unification, etc. etc. The city has bigger problems. A Saints trip to the SB would be a great story but I fear two weeks' worth of whitewash about the hurricane debacle and a reprise of the blame-GWB chorus.

In football terms, I always question the efficacy of a pass-heavy offense in the cold/snow, especially when the team is from the Deep South and/or a dome.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS - have you heard? Peyton Manning is a great guy...a normal Joe. He's the best-player-never-to-have-won-a-championship since Dan Marino. He's got bad luck, bugaboos, skeletons, pick your cliche. Tony Dungy, unfortunately, has more than a few losses in football to contend with on a personal level, but don't worry...the media will keep the tinkly-winkly sad piano music going for two weeks solid. This is not to make light of the Dungy family tragedy, only to ridicule the media's blueprinted "sad story" production techniques (shot of practice silhouetted against a sunset, still camera shot of newspaper headline clippings, etc. etc.).

The Colts are at home and hopefully got the bad games out of their system during the regular season. The NFL tried desperately to hand them a win with ludicrous officiating last year against the Steelers but Vanderjagt forgot to read the get-Peyton-to-the-SB memo.

I'm sure they would prefer any random opponent and coach other than the Patriots & Belichick but perhaps the Colts defense really is as improved as advertised.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS - are they now in a class with the Yankees and Manchester United as teams who, if not winning it all, are going to threaten for the title every year? Anyone remember the Bledsoe/Brady controversy? Does it all seem a bit silly now? Any Cleveland fans willing to admit that the assassin of Bernie Kosar has become a decent head coach?

I hate to sound like anyone on a pregame show but you simply can't rule this team out of any game. I think they may be whistling past the graveyard with regard to defensive age and depth but they only need the glue to hold for 2 more games.