For those that were waiting for the Chiefs to collapse and for the Chargers to pull the AFC West crown out of their rear ends, your wait is over.

It ain’t happening.

The Chargers choked in Cincinnati on Sunday, losing to the Bengals, 34-20. And actually, choked isn’t the right word. Choked means that they had an opportunity to win and blew it in the end. But seeing as how the Bengals led the entire game and generally pounded San Diego for four quarters, “choked” doesn’t describe the Chargers.

San Diego fans probably knew that their team’s demise was forthcoming. The Chargers got off to another slow start and even though they started smacking teams in November, their loss to the Raiders a couple of weeks ago and their defeat on Sunday inevitably did them in. Their win over the Brodie Croyle-led Chiefs must seem like years ago.

Maybe if Vincent Jackson had played the entire season, things would have been different. Maybe if Antonio Gates had been healthy, things would have been different. Maybe…

It doesn’t matter. The Chargers are done and the Chiefs are your 2010 AFC West division champions. Who saw that coming in preseason?

Now, I feel like I knew what I was talking about by moving Tom Brady up to #1. The man is simply a man possessed this year to win a title. I mean, it’s been, what? Five years since his Pats did win. Yep. Those guys are in a zone. Here are the weekly power rankings…..

1. Tom Brady, New England Patriots—In a blizzard, Brady completed 27 of 40 passes (67.5%) for 369 yards, 2 TDs and zero picks. Against the Bears’ defense. Someone needs to check to see if Brady actually IS human.

2. Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles—He’s only played 10 full games, but his overall numbers are sick—averaging 251 yards per game passing, and another 48 yards per game rushing, with 17 passing TDs and 7 more rushing, with only 4 interceptions.

3. Matt Cassel, Kansas City Chiefs—The fact that the Chiefs didn’t have Cassel available last Sunday and got blown out in San Diego is the pure definition of MVP.

4. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—At what point do we start paying attention to Brees and his Saints?

5. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers—Here come the Chargers. Sorry, Todd Haley, they are gonna find a way to spoil your postseason aspirations.

6. Matt Ryan/Roddy White/Michael Turner, Atlanta Falcons—Sure, they have the best record in the NFC, but Ryan’s numbers aren’t quite backing up MVP vote consideration, so I thought it made sense to group these three together for now.

7. Arian Foster, Houston Texans—Leads in rushing yards (1330), rushing scores (13), and is right behind LeSean McCoy in receiving yards for running backs (504) with 2 more TDs. Just sick, and it’s only too bad the Texans can’t play defense.

8. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers—He leaves the game, the Packers lose to the Lions. See # 3—Cassel, Matt. Same situation.

9. Trent Cole, Philadelphia Eagles—Leads all DE’s in solo tackles (46) and has 9 sacks, but for some reason he doesn’t get much love.

10. Justin Tuck/Osi Umenyiora, New York Giants—Tuck leads all DE’s with 46 total tackles and has 9 sacks; Osi has 40 tackles and 10 sacks. No wonder these guys have been knocking quarterbacks silly.

There was a bit of a Peyton Manning sighting last night, as well as a Chris Johnson sighting. But not enough to jump on board here.

1. Tom Brady, New England Patriots—With all due respect to Michael Vick, the dude with the long hair made a mockery out of one of the league’s top defenses on Monday night and has a 109.5 QB rating through 12 games.

2. Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles—With two games against an improved Dallas team, one against the Giants and one against Minnesota, it will determine both Philly’s season and Vick’s MVP status.

3. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons—His numbers don’t rank him near Brady, Rivers or Manning, but he is Matty Ice for a reason, and his team is 10-2 for a reason.

4. Roddy White, Atlanta Falcons—A mini scoring drought has dropped Mr. White a few spots

5. Arian Foster, Houston Texans—He’s got MJD, CJ2K, JMC and AP chasing him. What is this, Star Wars? No worries, AF1 will hang on for the rushing title these next few weeks.

6. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—Lately, you get the feeling the Saints can just score at will when they need to. They did it late against the Cowboys and the Bengals, led by this guy.

7. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers—Something’s afoot in San Diego, dude.

8. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers—3243 yards, 23 TDs, 9 picks. If the Pack was better than 8-4, Rodgers would be up higher on this list.

9. Matt Cassel, Kansas City Chiefs—The “other” Matty Ice

10. Trent Cole, Philadelphia Eagles—Leads all DE’s in solo tackles (46) and has 9 sacks, but for some reason he doesn’t get much love.

Now we’re into December, the month that separates the contenders from the also-rans—for both the playoff hunt and the race for NFL MVP.

1. Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles—Where do you think the Eagles would be if Kevin Kolb had been the starter all year? Not 8-4 and on top of the NFC East. Hence we give to you your projected MVP.

2. Tom Brady, New England Patriots—Of course, you can surely make a fine argument for this guy too.

3. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers—Sometimes you have to know when to just hand the ball off and manage the game, and Rivers proved last Sunday he can do that, too, and win. His team is just slightly on fire.

4. Roddy White, Atlanta Falcons—On pace for 122 catches, 1550 yards and 10 scores. The receptions alone would put White in the company of folks like Marvin Harrison, Herman Moore, Cris Carter and Jerry Rice.

5. Arian Foster, Houston Texans—Just continues to flat out dominate the ground—including this past Thursday’s game—on pace for 2278 total yards and 20 total TDs. That’s LT in his prime-esque.

6. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons—Falcons are on fire and Matty Ice hasn’t thrown a pick since Week 7.

7. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—He’s right up there in yards (3321), TDs (23) and team wins (8).

8. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers—Cooled off just a bit since the start of the season, but defense has made that possible for this total pro.

9. Matt Cassel, Kansas City Chiefs—2307 yards, 22 TDs, 4 picks…..and his team is in first place in the AFC West.

10. Clay Matthews, Green Bay Packers—Still averaging better than a sack a game.

In terms of reading defenses, making adjustments at the line of scrimmage and putting the ball in a spot that only his receiver can make a play, Peyton Manning is the best. But if his performance Sunday night against the Chargers is any indication, then he’s at the point in his career where he needs more help around him.

Indy deactivated six starters for their Sunday night matchup with the Chargers, who promptly crushed the Colts 36-14. Manning completed 31-of-48 passes for 285 yards and two touchdowns, but he was intercepted four times, two of which were returned for touchdowns by San Diego.

Among the key players that were out for the Colts were Dallas Clark, Joseph Addai and Austin Collie. And outside of Jacob Tamme, there hasn’t been any backup that has stepped up in the trio’s absence. (Donald Brown has been unimpressive and inconsistency continues to plague Pierre Garcon.)

Try as he did, Manning was overmatched on Sunday night. Eric Weddle should have been called for pass interference on his interception-turned-touchdown, but take that play out of the equation and Peyton still struggled. He never seemed to get settled because he was taking hits inside the pocket and a lot of his throws sailed on him because he rarely had time to set his feet. Granted, he should have been better. He missed open receivers, he forced passes into coverage and even when he did make a competition, he wasn’t always on target.

He was bad. But if the Colts were completely healthy I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that he wouldn’t have played as poorly as he did last night.

The Colts have now lost three of their last four games but the good news is that they should start to get some players back next week. Addai seems to be getting closer to returning and Collie (concussion) should be medically cleared to play soon as well.

For Manning’s sake, let’s hope that reinforcements are on the way. The AFC South is still the Colts’ division to lose but the Jaguars hung with the Giants on Sunday in the Meadowlands so they’re not likely to go away soon. Indy has a fight on its hands.

Let’s face it, it’s hard not to include Thanksgiving Day games in this, so we will. And again, things change from week to week; and some things do not. Eli Manning fumbled himself off this list, and Philip Rivers continues to amaze on a consistent basis.

1. Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles—Not as dominating against tough Giants’ D (though two of his receivers dropped passes in the end zone), but led his team to what counts—a W.

2. Tom Brady, New England Patriots—His team is 9-2, and to show he’s made it all the way back from 2008 knee surgery, Brady needs a big game against the Jets a week from Monday.

3. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers—On pace for 5083 yards, 37 TDs and 14 picks, without Vincent Jackson (who comes back today) and with a gimpy Gates.

4. Roddy White, Atlanta Falcons—Not reaching 100 yards against the Rams will ding you a couple spots here.

5. Arian Foster, Houston Texans—Regardless of what his team does, Foster keeps putting up numbers.

6. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons—253 and 2 TDs against Rams, which isn’t huge, but the fact that Falcons only have two losses so far is.

7. Clay Matthews, Green Bay Packers—On pace for 21 sacks, but he’ll have to get to the guy right above him on this list today if he wants to remain here.

8. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—Don’t look now, here come the defending champs led by #9.

9. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers—Putting up 301/4/0 in Minnesota against his former mentor Brett Favre was a thing of beauty. And in case anyone hasn’t noticed, the Packers have three losses, all by 3 points and two in OT. Look out.

10. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—Put up almost 400 yards against New England last week with 4 TDs, but the three picks, including one at the end of the game, are hard to ignore.

Well, this sure got interesting, didn’t it? Michael Vick had an MVP type game, maybe the greatest game statistically for a quarterback in NFL history on Monday night against Washington. There is no argument here — Michael Vick is the MVP, and he’s going to have to have a total collapse in the next few games for anyone to claim that perch. Injury? Even if he’s injured Sunday and misses the rest of the season, Vick is still the MVP, because of this past game and because of his entire body of work this year, which is absolutely sick.

1. Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles—In just six games, Vick has thrown for 1350 yards with 11 TDs, 0 interceptions; and 44 carries for 341 yards rushing with 4 more rushing scores. Most of all, he makes the Eagles a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

2. Roddy White, Atlanta Falcons—He hasn’t played a game since we last did this, so why penalize him except to let Vick take the top spot?

3. Tom Brady, New England Patriots—Did you see Brady screaming at his offensive linemen in the middle of a rout of Pittsburgh on the road? Dude is not messing around.

4. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers—Quietly has his team contending again, despite guys off the street to throw to.

5. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—Like Rivers, Manning is getting it done without a strong receiving corps.

6. Eli Manning, New York Giants—Little brother deserves love too. Why? The Giants are 6-3 and he has 19 TD passes. And half of his 13 picks were not his fault.

7. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons—Yeah, we’re QB heavy, but aren’t the real voters?

8. Arian Foster, Houston Texans—On pace for 2202 all-purpose yards and 20 touchdowns.

9. Clay Matthews, Green Bay Packers—Off last week, so we’ll let Matthews and his 11 sacks hang out here some more.

10. Brandon Lloyd, Denver Broncos—Really? 48 catches for 968 yards? That’s a ridiculous 20.2 yards per catch

It’s getting more and more crowded at the top in these power rankings. It seems like each week, someone new steps up and tried to claim a nomination or spot on this list. That’s life in the 2010 NFL season. Here are the MVP rankings for this week….and since there was a game Thursday, we have to take it into account:

1. Roddy White, Atlanta Falcons—On pace for 125 catches, 1660 yards and 12 TDs

2. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—Who is he even throwing to? Yet still on pace for almost 5000 yards

3. Clay Matthews, Green Bay Packers—11 sacks at mid-point with a shot to break Michael Strahan’s single-season record

4. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons—The Falcons are the first 7-win team (thanks to a Thursday nighter) and Ryan helped lead them to victory against Baltimore

5. Arian Foster, Houston Texans—Exactly where did this dude come from? He’s carried the ball 157 times and is averaging 5.5 yards per attempt.

6. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers—He has even less warm bodies than Manning to throw to, yet keeps putting numbers up.

7. Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles—With all due respect to Kevin Kolb, the Eagles are a playoff team with Vick, spectators without him.

8. Osi Umenyiora, New York Giants—The sacks leader on a D-line that leads the league in knocking out quarterbacks

9. Hakeem Nicks, New York Giants—Leads all wide receivers in TDs

10. Tom Brady, New England Patriots—It’s not so much the numbers, it’s the way this dude leads his team week after week—and they are looking pretty good.

It’s official: Shawne Merriman is no longer a Charger after the team waived him on Tuesday.

Merriman, who passed his physical and is apparently healthy after dealing with calf and Achilles injuries for most of the year, must clear waivers before teams can bid on his services. The early indications are that the Dolphins, 49ers and Ravens could be interested in the outside ‘backer.

The Ravens would be an interesting choice because they could use another pass-rusher and Merriman could sit back and learn from guys like Ray Lewis. It’s veteran-led team that will certainly compete for a playoff spot this year (barring injuries, of course), so maybe Merriman would accept a third down role in order to be a part of a winner. Then, after the season, he and his agent could try to coax some team into giving him a multi-year deal (assuming he performs this year).

The Patriots would seemingly be a good fit for Merriman too, although that team never does what anyone thinks its going to do so who knows. They could definitely use a pass-rusher though.

It’ll be interesting to see if anyone takes a flier on the 26-year-old now that he’s supposedly healthy.

Update: The Bills acquired Merriman off waivers according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. He won’t play in Week 9, however.

Oh come on, you knew Bill Belichick would go for it.

Up 23-20 in San Diego on Sunday, the Patriots faced a 4th-and-1 at their own 49-yard-line with two minutes remaining. They didn’t have any time outs, so if they went for it and didn’t convert they would be handing the ball back to the Chargers (who had all of their timeouts) in prime scoring position.

The situation was obviously eerily similar to when Belichick decided to go for it deep in their own field position against the Colts a few years ago and the Pats failed to convert. They went on to lose that game, but history didn’t repeat itself this time (ah, sort of).

BenJarvus Green-Ellis was stuffed on fourth down but after the Chargers moved the ball to New England’s 32-yard line, Kris Brown missed a 50-yard field goal that would have tied the game. It didn’t help that the field goal was five yards longer than it should have been following a false start by one of the Bolts’ offensive lineman, but it was a heartbreaking loss after San Diego battled back from a 23-6 fourth quarter deficit.

What also hurt was the fact that the Chargers were missing regular kicker Nate Kaeding, who was out with an injury. The field goal certainly wasn’t a gimmie, but the miss hurts nonetheless, especially for a San Diego team that is now 2-5 on the year.

As for Belichick, I assume that if he’s faced with a similar decision in the future that he’ll go for it again. He’s not going to change his style of coaching and he clearly buys into the notion that teams shouldn’t always punt when faced with a fourth down – no matter where they are on the field.

That doesn’t mean that he wasn’t fortunate today though. If the Pats would have went on to lose like they did to the Colts, that would have made them 0-2 when Belichick decided to go the less-conventional rout.