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Patriots 17-Bears 13

One useful rule of thumb for evaluating a late season interconference games between teams destined for the playoffs is to ask oneself "what if that had been the Super Bowl?"

The Super Bowl is the one game where the majority of fans think like sportswriters, that is, they're more interested in the contest's entertainment value than its outcome. If we apply that standard to yesterday's encounter at Gillette Stadium, a rematch looks to be a championship game well worth watching until the final gun.

Any game with nine turnovers would provide more than enough water-cooler conversation and second-guessing opportunities to last fans right up until the draft in April. It would also be refreshing to have a Super Bowl decided by football's primal skill-creative violence. Or, in Tom Brady's case, the ability to avoid same.

The only drawback one could see if yesterday's game had been for all the marbles in Miami next February is the unfortunate termination it would've brought to Rex Grossman's career.

posted by Michael Gee @ 10:14 AM