Saints march to Chicago doom again?

In a Thursday-night game that at last is worth watching, the Bears try to end New Orleans' hopes for the third straight year.

Published December 11, 2008 6:45PM (EST)

It looks like you might have to figure out if you get the NFL Network, and then find it. It's actually spitting up a halfway decent Thursday night game. The Saints have paper-thin playoff hopes that will disintegrate with their next loss, while the Bears trail Minnesota by one game in the NFC North with three to play, none of them against the Vikings, which means it would behoove them to win all three.

Plus, the Saints are just fun. They have Drew Brees and the offense hitting on all cylinders, and the defense ... not. The average score of the last six Saints games was 31-27 Saints. Whee!

New Orleans (7-6) at CHICAGO (7-6)
Chicago has not been kind to the Saints lately. They lost to the Bears in the NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field in 2006 and were knocked out of the playoffs with a Week 17 loss there last year. A cold, windy, rainy day by the lake figures to ground Brees and make it three bad trips to Chicago in a row for the Saints.

Chicago's a great town, Saints, but you might want to consider other Midwestern destinations. Detroit's nice this time of year ...
Buster: New Orleans
Daisy: Chicago


By King Kaufman

King Kaufman is a senior writer for Salon. You can e-mail him at king at salon dot com. Facebook / Twitter / Tumblr

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Chicago Football New Orleans Saints Peyton Manning