NFL MONDAY REPORT : The League May Luck Out in the Long Run

To put the NFL’s Black Sunday in perspective:

* Would it have been a surprise if someone predicted at the start of the season that the Giants would lose in Philadelphia, the Bears would lose in Minnesota and the Rams would beat the 49ers at Candlestick, where they had won three of the last five?

* If the Giants and 49ers had lost in Week 3, next Monday night’s meeting between two 10-1 teams would have been almost as big as if the teams were both 11-0.

* How much do those losses really matter to the Bears, Giants and 49ers when they all need little more than one more victory in five weeks to clinch their divisions?

“They’re still chasing us,” the Giants’ Bill Parcells said after his 10-0 team crashed and burned, 31-13, at the hands of the Eagles, who have now won five of their last six over New York.

“Once the truck hit me I just stood there and watched,” Mike Ditka said after his Bears were crushed 41-13 in Minnesota. “I wasn’t worried about getting up. That’s part of life.”

The day gave credence to the theory of that it’s not being hot that puts you in the playoffs, it’s being hot at the right time. The Eagles now have won five straight and the Vikings four straight after awful starts. Philadelphia should be the first NFC wild-card and Minnesota now has a good shot.

What all this means in the long run is that the NFL may luck out, getting teams into its expanded playoffs that deserve to be there.

In the NFC, you can pencil in the 49ers, Bears, Giants and Eagles (No. 1 wild card), then select from the Redskins, Packers, Vikings and perhaps the Saints for the other spot.

In the AFC, mark in Buffalo, Miami, Kansas City and the Raiders plus the winner of the Central Division where Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are tied at 6-5 with Houston half a game behind going into tonight’s game with Buffalo. The last wild-card team most likely will also come from the Central.

The Chiefs’ victory over the Raiders on Sunday gives them the ultimate tie-breaker (two wins in head-to-head meetings) should they tie for the division title. The AFC East should come down to the Dec. 23 Miami-Buffalo game in Buffalo (the Dolphins won the first meeting).