down but still dangerous

Have been watching the Bears lay a beatdown on the Saints, currently 31-17 in the 3rd quarter. It has occurred to me today how incredible Devin Hester is. I mean, I've seen him before and he's good, but even being the Bears fan I am, I thought the hype was a little overblown. Heck, teams go out of their way and sacrifice some field position to not punt to him and avoid kicking to him.

On a day like today it's not hard to see why. The guy has caught a long TD pass already, and should have caught another one were it not for some blatant double-team pass interference at the goal line that went uncalled. (Digression: If you're a defender, and you're between the receiver and the ball, and the receiver is trying to slow down and reach around you for the ball but can't because you're not slowing down, and you make so little effort to pay attention to the ball that it hits you in the back, then you just committed pass interference, right? Is this not obvious? It's not like the guy was playing the ball -- it bounced off his freakin' back! Geez, does he have to rip a limb off to get interference called? Anyway...) And get this: the Saints, like most other Bears opponents this year, purposely punt the ball out of bounds every time just so Hester can't touch it. Well, on their first punt after halftime, the punter doesn't angle it enough and keeps the ball in bounds a little...and whaddayaknow, Hester runs it back for a TD. Amazing. It's as if you aren't just worried about stopping the guy but know he'll hurt you bad if allowed to get his hands on the ball.

Also, the Saints are supposedly still alive in the playoff hunt, but they have to win today and would still need help. Well, I got news for ya, 'Aints: if you have to win out to make the postseason, and you last game is against the Chicago Bears, then you just ain't gonna make the postseason. That's that.

Another thing worth pointing out...consider mighty Green Bay's record:

vs. all teams except Chicago: 14-0
vs. Chicago: 0-2 (including last week-s 35-7 rout)

Doesn't matter who you are, you just don't mess wi' DA BEARS!!!

UPDATE: Bears 33, Saints 25. Slam! And speaking of playoffs, Dallas and Washington are playing, with Washington controlling its own postseason destiny. I really don't want the Deadskins to win because I'll hear about them that much more if they're in the playoffs, and I'd much rather see Minnesota in there because I like them more and they're a much more exciting team this year. But I sure as hell can't root for the Cowgirls. Never in my life -- EVER -- will I root for Dallas. Not even against New England did I root for Dallas. So I guess, in light of such a dilemma, I have to hang the Vikes out and pull for Washington. Been a while since I faced a sports dilemma that harsh though.