Matchup gains in significance

Check out this weirdness: while the West Coast is shrouded in a win-loss cold front, Detroit and Cleveland are toasty and Green Bay is scorching. Now that’s global warming.

Ten things to watch heading into Week 10 of the NFL season:

Rusty bolts

1 With both teams coming off defeats, the Indianapolis at San Diego game has lost some luster. Still, a victory is vitally important to the Colts and even more so to the Chargers. A determining factor will be how well San Diego’s defense rebounds from an embarrassing showing at Minnesota to cope with a beat-up Colts offense. If Marvin Harrison (bruised knee) is still unable to go, the Colts could be down to a third-string receiver because backup Anthony Gonzalez has a dislocated thumb.

Worst coast

2 What’s up with the NFC West and AFC West? Neither division has a team with a winning record, and every team is coming off at least one loss. Of those eight teams, Kansas City is in the best shape. The Chiefs are 2-0 in their division and Sunday play host to Denver, which looked horrible in its loss to Detroit and now is without quarterback Jay Cutler. The worst in the West? St. Louis, which, along with 0-8 Miami, is still in the running to become the NFL’s first 0-16 team.

31 flavors

3 Brett Favre has joined Tom Brady and Peyton Manning as the only quarterbacks to have beaten each of the other 31 teams in the league. He did so by knocking off the Chiefs. On Sunday, he and the Packers face Minnesota, an opponent they’ve beaten many times. When he last faced the Vikings, in September, Favre threw for 344 yards to eclipse Dan Marino as the NFL’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns. The Packers have won 11 of their last 12 games.

Rookie rampage

4 Brady is the leading candidate for the league’s most-valuable-player award, but Vikings running back Adrian Peterson could be the NFL’s best player at the moment. He punished the Chargers for a record 296 yards rushing, and through the first eight games of his career already has two 200-yard outings. The first time he played the Packers, he had 108 yards in 10 carries in the first half, but got only two carries for four yards in the second. Now, the Vikings have wised up and are giving him the ball throughout the game.

Not soaring, just sore

5 With his personal life in tumult, Coach Andy Reid is trying to keep the Philadelphia Eagles relevant. That’s no simple task, especially in one of the league’s toughest divisions. The Eagles are reeling from a thorough pounding by Dallas and now head to Washington, which beat them in Philadelphia earlier this season. Reid, who has two sons headed to jail on drug-related offenses, has said he’s staying on as coach but little more on that front.

Mashville, Tenn.

6 It hasn’t always played pretty, but Tennessee has quietly emerged as a tough team to beat. The Titans have won three in a row -- lately, in large part because of their defense and LenDale White’s running -- and are only a game behind Indianapolis in the AFC South. Jacksonville must prepare for a team that is coming off a seven-sack performance against Carolina, three by defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth. White has had at least 25 carries and 100 yards rushing in three consecutive games.

Motown momentum

7 Jon Kitna got a lot of eye rolls when he talked about the Lions’ potential to win at least 10 games this season. Not anymore. Detroit is 6-2 -- its best start under team President Matt Millen -- and victory No. 7 could come Sunday at Arizona. That game will feature four of the best young receivers in the league: Detroit’s Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson, and Arizona’s Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald.

Show dawgs

8 The Cleveland Browns got their first real test of the season Sunday and aced it, beating Seattle in overtime, 33-30, to extend their winning streak to three games. Heading into that game, the teams the Browns had beaten were a combined 6-24. Now comes an even stiffer challenge: Cleveland (5-3), which has already improved on last season’s 4-12 finish, plays at Pittsburgh on Sunday in a pivotal AFC North showdown.

Future is now

9 Barring an astounding turnaround, Oakland is out of the playoff picture. With Chicago and its banged-up defense coming to town, Raiders Coach Lane Kiffin has to be considering giving No. 1 pick Jamarcus Russell a try. Considering the way Josh McCown looked Sunday -- 158 yards passing with a touchdown and three interceptions -- it surely couldn’t be a step down.

A Giants challenge

10 Tony Romo is an accurate passer when forced out of the pocket. That’s a good thing for the Cowboys because that pocket will be collapsing quick in their rematch with the New York Giants, the game of the week. The Giants, who lost to the Cowboys in an opener, have a ferocious pass rush and have had two weeks to prepare for this game. Advice for Romo: Don’t forget to duck.

--

sam.farmer@latimes.com