48th Edition - 11/13/06

• Bear with me: It's a play on words

Bears 38, Giants 20
I was convinced Rex Grossman was one interception away from being benched last night for Brian Griese. But thanks to a draw play with 2:00 left on 3rd and VERY long, the Bears went from looking horrendous, to dominating the Giants. At the 2:00 mark it was 3-13, with the Bears only having 50 yards of offense.
Also - Devin Hester returned a FG 108 yards. He even played it up like he was going to down the missed FG in the end zone. Hester is a train wreck, you have to watch, and it will be ugly. We just never know if it will be ugly for the Bears or their opponents.

• NFL

Chargers 49, Bengals 41
Steelers 38, Saints 31
There was scoring in the NFL, let's see how that affected the best.

The Best
QB
Carson Palmer: 440 yards, 3TD
Drew Brees: 398 yards, 1TD
Steve McNair: 373 yards, 3TD, 2INT
RB
Willie Parker: 213 yards, 2TD
Frank Gore: 159 yards, 1TD
Tiki Barber: 141 yards
WR
Chad Johnson: 260 yards, 2TD
Donald Driver: 191 yards, 1TD
Marques Colston: 169 yards

• Hawkeyes: don't look, I'm hideous

The Hawks lost to Wisconsin. They are 2-5 in the Big Ten, 6-5 overall. I might be wrong, please correct me if I am, but the Hawks must beat Minnesota to be bowl eligible. You need six wins and the Hawks only have five since one was against Northern Illinois, not a Division I school.

• NCAA Football: Real Quick

Here are the latest BCS rankings. Doesn't matter much right now, since USC still has three games to play. I find it very annoying that Big Ten teams have one game left and others still have three to play. Can't a schedule be made that has everyone wrap up at the same time? Also, it would help if AP and Coaches polls didn't start until week 5. That way people wouldn't have to explain the reason Rutgers isn't No. 3 right now--because no one thought they would be good.

• The Picks: revisited

j NCAA: 2-1 (19-9-1)
billy z NCAA: 3-0 (19-8-2)
It's insane how good billy and I are.
j NFL: 1-2 (12-17-3)
mike d NFL: 1-1 (13-16-2) he has the Bucs +9.5 tonight
It's insane how bad mike and I are.

• SNL: We have a winner

Funniest Saturday Night Live in years.
The show had Christina Aquilera, Martin Short, Steve Martin, Tony Bennent and Paul McCartney ... not to mention Alec Baldwin hosted.
The funniest sketch was Baldwin and Kristen Wiig as new carpool partners.

So, for the season -- SNL: 3-2
Funny: Alec Baldwin, John C. Reily, Hugh Laurie
Not Funny: Dane Cook, Kate Hudson

*I'll talk about the Cubs (Ramirez and Woods signing) tomorrow.