They May Say Bye to Old Ways

Forget all the number crunching, finger crossing and out-of-town scoreboard watching. With a victory today, one NFL franchise can get into the playoffs for the first time since 1990, and another can secure its first first-round bye.

No ifs, ands or head butts.

If Cincinnati wins at Detroit, the Bengals (10-3) will clinch their first division title in 15 years, when they last made the playoffs. They could already have a postseason spot by their late-afternoon kickoff, though, if Pittsburgh loses an early game at Minnesota.

And if Seattle wins at Tennessee, the Seahawks (11-2) will get to rest during wild-card weekend before playing host to a divisional playoff game. That’s a luxury they’ve never known.

“All that’s good stuff, but the ultimate goal is to win the Super Bowl,” Seattle Coach Mike Holmgren told reporters. “The only coaching staff that feels real great at the end of the year is the team that won the Super Bowl.”

In Indianapolis, meanwhile, the undefeated Colts are weighing the merits of winning by losing.

Should they keep their starters in and go for a perfect 16-0 season, even though they’ve already locked up home-field advantage throughout the playoffs?

Or should they play their backups, and not only give up on the idea of making history but risk losing their edge heading into the playoffs?

“Coach [Tony] Dungy has those decisions to make,” said quarterback Peyton Manning, who will face San Diego today. “And it’s nice to put that on him.”

In recent weeks, Dungy has indicated that his team was going to call off the dogs, and Colt President Bill Polian said in a radio interview that he didn’t expect his team to win every game. That should sound like sweet music to the Chargers, who need to win today to keep their flickering postseason hopes alive.

But it doesn’t sound as if Dungy is ready to throw it into neutral and coast quite yet.

“I have thought about it,” he told writers in San Diego on a conference call. “Obviously, Bill Polian, [owner] Jim Irsay and I discussed it after the game Sunday.... But our first playoff game isn’t for another month, so it’s definitely too early to start to pull back.

“There will probably come a time when we do, but this being an AFC game against San Diego, a team that came in here and really gave us all we could handle last year, this is a game we have to come out and play strong and have to play to win. Then we’ll see what happens down the road.”

If the Colts win, they will tie the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only teams to go 14-0, although the Dolphins’ 14th victory marked the end of their regular season.

Maybe the most interesting matchup of the day will be in the Metrodome, where the Vikings and Steelers both will be fighting to keep their playoff hopes alive. Minnesota has won six in a row after a 2-5 start and is a game behind Chicago in the NFC North. Pittsburgh, which had won a team-record 11 consecutive road games, has now lost consecutive games away from home.

The big story in Pittsburgh all week concerned quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the condition of the thumb on his throwing hand. For the third consecutive week, Roethlisberger was listed as questionable because of his thumb, which was injured in a Nov. 28 loss at Indianapolis.

Steeler Coach Bill Cowher erupted in apparent frustration when pressed at a news conference about the injury.

“You’ve got to let that go, man,” Cowher said. “You’ve got to let it go, honestly. I’m not going to answer any more about that, really. Let it go. I mean, c’mon. Talk to [Roethlisberger]. I’m not going to talk about it, so don’t ask me questions. You can talk to him. You don’t have to ... “

The reporter followed up with: “When your quarterback says he can’t throw past 40 yards, doesn’t that affect the game plan?”

Cowher glared, then snapped: “I answered you.”

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Stop signs

After finishing in the bottom third in the league in points given up last season, Seattle has given up the fourth-fewest this season. The biggest difference in points given up (by rankings) from 2004 to 2005:

*--* Team 2004 2005 Diff. Dallas 27 8 19 Seattle 22 4 18 Indianapolis 19 2 17 Cleveland 24 10 14 Chicago 13 1 12

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Source: STATS LLC