Made Mike Silver's mailbag...

Written before the Chicago game and published on 12/1...

"You cited the following in your article -- 'It is true that none of the Pats' seven victories has come against teams that currently have a winning record, and New England was defeated by fellow AFC contenders Denver and Indy...' an item typically cited by reporters in hindsight (I've done it myself). But that discounts what records were of opponents at the time and the consideration of the impact of a particular game on the rest of the season (a little film exposing a flaw goes a long ways, doesn't it?). To wit: The Bengals were 3-0 when they hosted the Pats. Not including the loss to the Pats they are 2-4 since (NOTE: This letter was written before last weekend's games), with one of those wins eked out over the Panthers. The Vikings: 4-2 at the time, 0-3 since the loss to NE. Discounting the loss to Denver, because the team went into a bye immediately after they faced the Patriots and discounting Green Bay (whom I would pick against this weekend based on the following alone), no team that has faced the Patriots this season and had a game to play the next weekend is better than .500 in its subsequent two games. Indy is 1-1 (getting away with a win in Buffalo they easily could have lost), the Bills are 1-1 after each of their losses to the Pats and overall, the winning percentage of these teams .357 -- 5-9 (5-10 if you include the Jets from this past weekend dropping that to a dismal .333). Just some observations that I thought bore some consideration. BTW, as a Pats fan, I am wary of how Brady has played against some of the smaller, faster defenses this year and believe that this game could be seen as a real measuring stick.
-- Kevin Smith, Brunswick, Md.

I think what you're saying is, basically, "All my ex-girlfriends got really fat after we broke up"? Got it. I'm now a lot more interested in seeing how the Bears do against the Vikings this week.

Incidently - Chicago did win with its offense managing to score only 7 of the 23 total points scored on a 24 yard romp by Cedric Benson. The only thing that kept Minnesota from winning this was the fact that Brad Johnson was more incompetent this game than was Rex Grossman.

AFC updates and my rants on sloppy football later today.