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Brad Childress gets Brett Favre and quickly ends up with a hefty contract extension. Lovie Smith gets Jay Cutler and finds people wondering if he'll soon be unemployed. Some guys have all the luck. Nevertheless, the Bears enter Sunday's showdown against the Eagles just one game off the wild-card pace, despite losing their past two. And Cutler's old team in Denver has lost three in a row and may be without Kyle Orton against the Chargers this week. One SportsNation blogger thinks Cutler is still the right guy for the Bears, but does his new team or his old team need a win more this week?

• "Cutler has the ability to win games for his team; an ability that was overly praised when Brett Favre was in Green Bay but is now largely overlooked in evaluating today's quarterbacks (for some reason, people have fallen in love with "guys who just know how to win," forgetting that those guys have either rock solid defenses or unstoppable running games). But don't ask me, ask any of the many quarterback-starved teams in the league if they would give up exactly what the Bears gave up to get Cutler to begin with right now." Read afjumpfan23's full post.

So we're agreed there are coaching blunders worse than going for it on fourth-and-2 on your own 28 with a little more than two minutes remaining on the road against the Colts (that doesn't sound any better no matter how many times we say it). That's why it's always nice to have Marty Mornhinweg around. He's the Great Depression of coaching.

But was Bill Belichick's decision even the worst coaching sin of the weekend?

You know the details of Sunday night's miscue, but let us refresh your memory of that long ago time that was Saturday. After scoring a touchdown, Stanford leads USC 48-21 with just under seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. So what does Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh do? Go for two, of course. The try failed, but Stanford still tacked on another touchdown to make it a 55-21 final.

So is it worse to make a colossal strategic blunder or show a colossal lack of class?

• Your Rankings: Do you still have USC in your college football top 25?
• Belichick Reaction: Was it the right call? | What is Belichick's approval rating?
• Chat: College football with Mark Schlabach, 2 ET | NFL with Jeremy Green, 1 ET

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• Weekly chatters: Chris Mortensen | Matt Williamson | KC Joyner
• Special guests: Irv Cross | Drew Bennett | Lomas Brown
• Local team chats: ESPN Boston | ESPN Chicago | ESPN Dallas

SportsNation would rather have Peyton Manning than Tom Brady dating their sister, but the roles are reversed if a wingman is called for. Maybe it's time to have the quarterback beauty contest settled on the field.

In the other big rivalry game of the week (no, not Chiefs-Raiders), Chad Ochocinco is winning the PR war (and food fight) for the Bengals, but fans favor the Steelers.

• Midseason Votes: Power Rankings | MVP Watch | More awards | Division picks
• More Votes: Colts or Saints? | Brady or Manning? | Patriots at Colts | All Week 10 games

The NFL regular season is already at the halfway point, but if you expected the first half to offer enough clues to give away the ending, you've been spending too much time reading Dan Brown novels. Even when it comes to the Saints, undefeated and scoring at will, SportsNation can't decide if their late bursts are evidence of a great closer or a vulnerable starter. A pair of bloggers took opposite sides in discussing their Power Rankings.

• "Survived yet another scare on Sunday against Carolina. I told you that game would be close. Three straight games now they have trailed and had some amazing [resurgence] in the 4th quarter. The amount they outscore teams in the 4th is huge. This team didn't trail at all prior to three weeks ago. The team is changing, and if victories are pulled off like this, your team is going to start believing they are unbeatable." -- Read Feldman9000's full post.
• "In terms of their chances to go 16-0, I rank the Saints 2nd because eventually they are going to spot a 17-0 lead that they can't recover from. And well, I guess I'm not as much a believer in this team over the long haul, though they will be a tough out if/when they get home field throughout the NFC Playoffs." Read JoeRevs300's full post.

And you can see how SportsNation's Power Rankings have shifted from the start of the season through the quarter mark and now the halfway mark.

It's been nearly two months, and if you listen closely, you can still hear Gus Johnson's call lingering in the air. Brandon Stokley's miracle catch and touchdown run handed the Broncos a Week 1 win against the Bengals. At the time, it seemed like it might be the last we heard from either team. Instead, it's the play that continues shaping the AFC race behind the unbeaten Colts.

But after the Broncos tumbled to a second consecutive defeat against one of the Bengals' AFC North rivals, this time the Steelers on Monday Night Football, there are four conference teams at 6-2. Are the recipients of that opening week miracle the weakest of the bunch?

Here's how SportsNation has called the AFC West race at various points this season.

• Your Power Rankings: Where do you rank the Bengals, Broncos, Patriots and Steelers?
• Chat: AFC North blogger James Walker, 4 ET | NFC chats: NFC East | NFC North

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• NFC blogger chats: NFC East | NFC North | NFC South | NFC West
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• Weekly chatters: Chris Mortensen | Matt Williamson | Jeremy Green | KC Joyner
• Special guests: Jets LB Bart Scott | "First Take" analyst Drew Bennett | Len Pasquarelli
• Local team chats: ESPN Boston | ESPN Chicago | ESPN Dallas

What does Tony Romo have to do to catch a break? Wait, poor choice of words. Romo should be breathing easy these days. Criticized heavily during the Cowboys' slow start -- he had slipped all the way to No. 17 in SportsNation's quarterback rankings as recently as Oct. 12 -- Romo bounced back with three great games in a row. By Monday, he was back up to the cusp of the top 10 at the position in SportsNation's eyes. Enter Roy Williams, who managed the seemingly impossible feat of handing a popularity contest to Terrell Owens.

SportsNation says Romo isn't a leader, but one blogger is ready to follow him to a win against the Eagles.

• "I will believe, for now, that 8 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in the last 3 games is not coincidence or a streak. I will believe that the stench of the T.O. signing and leaving has finally left us. Romo is reaching more receivers -- to include the backs. Romo is tucking and running more than I've probably ever seen him do, and I'll take that & Just don't get hurt & Because our back-up QB is [Jon] Kitna. Why is all of this happening? Because T.O. is not crying for the ball. Because the show that is T.O. is not the looming and ominous cloud hanging over Romo anymore." Read MoAz2213's full post.

• Vote: Pick winners | Against spread | Vikings-Packers | Broncos-Ravens | Vince Young
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• Special guests: Former Packers FB William Henderson | ESPN Boston's Tedy Bruschi
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Hidden beneath the layers of Shakespearean drama involved in Brett Favre's return to Lambeau Field to face the boos and settle scores with Ted Thompson, there's a reasonably important division game on tap Sunday in Green Bay. With the Bears skidding and the Lions, well, still the Lions, the Vikings could put the kind of distance normally reserved for month-old Limburger between themselves and the Cheeseheads. SportsNation is picking the visitors to get it done, and one blogger thinks this could be the beginning of the end.

• "The Packers are above average on both sides of the ball. They are a solid team. The defense is giving up only 16 PPG, and only 96 total this season. They're in the top ten in most offensive and defensive categories. Their only losses? Cincinnati and Minnesota. Sounds legit right? Unfortunately not. 3 of 4 wins have come against bottom tier opponents and based on the look of the rest of the schedule, which consists of Minnesota again this week, Dallas, San Francisco, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, another trip to Chicago, and Arizona, doesn't look good. Final Prediction: 7-9 Verdict: Pretender " Read Feldman9000's full post.

Michelle Beadle and Colin Cowherd will throw seven TD passes during the first 15 minutes of "SportsNation" TV.

Argue the hot topics of the day and vote on the biggest stories from the world of sports. The show airs on ESPN2 at 5 p.m. and midnight ET.

Note: Broadcast voting results as of this afternoon (ET).

What was the bigger story in the Titans-Patriots game?
Were you more surprised by New England's 59-point explosion or by Tennessee not even showing up to play the game in the snow?

Are the Jets a bunch of frauds?
After a 3-0 start, the New York Jets were talking like champions. Three losses later, the D doesn't look as good and Mark Sanchez is playing like a rookie.

Should Dante Wesley be suspended?
Wesley was ejected after he launched himself at Tampa Bay punt returner Clifton Smith, who had signaled for a fair catch.

Who is more to blame for the Redskins' woes?
Have the players in Washington underperformed? Or is management, which stripped Jim Zorn of play calling responsibility, at fault?

What is "SportsNation" TV, and how do you make your voice heard? Read about the new ESPN show that features fan opinions with calls, tweets, polls, rankers and more.

• Vote: Whose performance meant more: Brady's, Brees', or Sanchez's?
• Chat: Gary Horton recaps Sunday and previews Monday Night Football, 4 ET.

Bear with us for just one minute, but we've always wanted to use this phrase:

Out on the frozen tundra of Gillette Stadium, the Patriots brought a blizzard to bear against the hapless Titans.

OK, we're good. Maybe the field in Foxboro was more slushy than frozen, but the part about the Titans being hapless? Totally true. How else would you describe a team that let up five passing touchdowns in one quarter and couldn't manage even a field goal on offense? It's not a good week in Tennessee, but the fans in New England are having flashbacks to 2007. It's a long way from Brady's jitters against the Jets, which had so many in the Bay State concerned (although the Jets suddenly have problems of their own).

Of course, Drew Brees may have had an even better day. Though he didn't set any records, Brees threw for four touchdowns against a team that's nearly the polar opposite of the Titans. For one, until the Giants met up with the Saints on Sunday, they had won all their games. Might Brees' performance be more impressive than Brady's, given that the Titans have practically given up? All we know is that for all Brady and Brees' heroics, Matt Schaub leads the league in touchdowns. Weird game, football.

It only took a couple of wins for fans like MSJC36 to accept Josh McDaniels. The other fan bloggers (if you ignore the Broncos' true rivals) are grudgingly coming around, too.

On the spectrum opposite the undefeated, 0-5 despair translated to draft dreams.

Rush Limbaugh's role in a bid for the Rams drew spirited response (click through below if you think there's still something to add to this debate), Terrell Owens trade rumors involved multiple teams and the UFL even got a cursory look from fans.

These are the best NFL fan blogs posted on ESPN.com this week. Click through to respond to win-starved fans or a post about your favorite team.

Week 6 predictions: Jbreaux2 | Feldman9000

Team Blogs Bengals: sharar09 | Browns: Carmentrout56 | Enochdawg | Chiefs: WarrioroftheChiefsGridiron | Sports Page Network | Cowboys: MoAz2213 | Dolphins: I am Ron Burgandy | Giants: Aquaman8888 | Jets: Goldbrick4 | Patriots: llittlewoz81 | Raiders: JaRader Hater2 | Redskins: Aquaman8888 | Steelers: JoeRevs300 | Titans: ChrisLo26

More Apology to Brett Favre: 6burghsteelers1 | Fantasy: Dargo7777 | Hall of Fame: partofwhatswrong | October the best month: owenjs33 | Rush Limbaugh: adam_keefe_fan | jschreier18 | benrey23 | Eyvonne1953 | Terrell Owens trade rumors: mikeywhtsox1 | JCorreia08 | Trash talk: Goldbrick4 | Twitter: gweitz11 | UFL: mikeywhtsox1 | Willie Parker: JoeRevs300

Week 5 reaction Tomahawk27488 | orionben666 | cjmeares