Bring the pain

CALL IT THE CURSE OF THE SMOOT.

The Minnesota Vikings brought in cornerback Fred Smoot as a ballyhooed free agent in the offseason. After arriving in Minnesota, all Smoot did was notch one interception, get beaten for touchdowns numerous times, and pay for the infamous sex cruise. So it was clearly quite a loss when Smoot went down three weeks ago with a broken collarbone.

Yet somehow, the once-laughable Vikings have gone undefeated since Smoot went out, winning their third straight game with a victory over Green Bay at Lambeau on Monday night. Just when you thought the Vikings were counting only on defensive and special teams touchdowns for the remainder of the season, Brad Johnson marched them down the field in the fourth quarter for the tying score, and a Paul Edinger field goal won it as time expired. The Packers looked so bad that Michaels and Madden actually toned down their usual three hours of Brett Favre hagiography.

After beating the Packers, the Vikings are now officially the worst 5-5 team in NFL history. But I think I speak for Vikings fans everywhere when I plead, "Don't win too many more games." We can't have another year of Tice.

GIANT STEPS

The Giants rebounded from their embarrassing loss to the Vikings to get past Philly on Sunday. The Jints are now 2-0 in home games the Sunday after one of their owners dies-- did you notice, though, that compared to Wellington Mara, the late Robert Tisch got next to no respect from the league or national media?

Things just keep getting uglier for the 4-6 Eagles, who have now lost four in a row. (It would be six had they not lucked into that blocked-field-goal-for-a-touchdown against San Diego in Week 7.) And now they've lost Donovan McNabb for the season in addition to the suspended Terrell Owens, with Andy Reid sacrificing four hours of practice time Friday testifying in T.O.'s grievance hearing.

Even worse is that seemingly half the team is lobbying publicly for T.O. to be reinstated, and the frustrated fan base has all but turned against both McNabb and Reid, the twosome most responsible for the team reaching the last four NFC title games. Just imagine the discord in Philly if Mike McMahon managesÊto win a few games.

CARSON PRE-EMPTED

The Colts' victory over Cincinnati didn't surprise many people, but the insane amount of offense on both sides was still jarring-the score was 35-27 at halftime. The game seemed to reinforce what everyone already knows about both teams- that the Colts are dominant offensively, and that the Bengals are strong too, but can't win the big one. It wouldn't surprise me, though, if Palmer and Bengals reach the current level of Manning and Colts in, oh, five years or so.

FUTBOL

Notwithstanding that awesome, if accidental, soccer-kick/interception to Terrell Suggs, the Steelers/Ravens game was an ugly, ugly scene. ESPN's odious Sean Salisbury went out on a limb Monday night and said the Steelers can't win a Super Bowl with former XFL stalwart Tommy Maddox at quarterback. I'm not certain they could beat Middle Tennessee State with Maddox at quarterback.

NEXT WEEK

Denver and Dallas collide on Thanksgiving; the Steelers become the latest team to try derailing the Peyton express; and the Packers try to become the second straight team to beat the Eagles the week after losing to the Vikings.