Sunday’s Best: Giants (9-1) at Cardinals (7-3), 4:00 PM ET
It might not be the sexiest game of the year, but this is one of the best matchups of the 2008 season. The Giants have been one of the best road teams over the last couple years, and the Cardinals are a completely (better) different team in the comforts of their own home than on the road. Kurt Warner is playing like a league MVP and it’ll be interesting to see how the underrated New York secondary matches up with the explosive Arizona passing game. There haven’t been a lot of opponents have been able to get pressure on Warner this season, but the G-Men have one of the best front sevens in the league. All indications are that Brandon Jacobs will play, which should help New York keep Arizona’s potent offense off the field. Both teams have a commanding lead in their respective divisions, but a win for the Giants could go a long way in eventually securing home field advantage in the postseason.

Upset Watch: Buccaneers (7-3) at Lions (0-10), 1:00 PM ET
I’m sure I’ll get crap for this one, but give me credit for taking a shot with this upset. Outside of getting their ass handed to them by Jacksonville two weeks ago, the Lions have been inching closer and closer to their first victory. Jon Gruden’s offense is effective, but the Buccaneers have had issues once they get into the red zone this year. They settled for three field goals inside the red zone last week against Minnesota, which essentially kept the Vikings in the game. Not that Detroit’s defense will provide much of a challenge, but if the Lions can keep the game close throughout, they might have a shot at a late score. Every year it seems that the Lions manage to win a game they’re not supposed to and I’m calling my shot this weekend – it’ll be Tampa. It helps that the Lions beat the Bucs last season, too, although it’s safe to say that the 2007 Detroit team was a shade better this year’s version.

Intriguing Matchup: Colts (6-4) at Chargers (4-6), 8:15 PM ET
After getting embarrassed by the Titans on Monday Night Football in Week 8, the Colts have won three straight and beaten quality AFC teams like the Patriots and Steelers. Indy has jumped right back into the playoff race and are one of the more dangerous teams in the league. But without Bob Sanders (knee injury) in the lineup, the Colts are a completely different team defensively. And although LaDainian Tomlinson has been quiet this year, he’s still one of the most explosive backs in the league and does anyone believe he can’t still take over a game? The Chargers are always dangerous on national TV because they play with a chip on their shoulder. They’ve also shown improvements defensively under Ron Rivera, who took over for Ted Cotrell at coordinator. Even though San Diego has struggled this year and has stumbled to 4-6, this is going to be a dogfight.

Other Notable Games:
Jets (7-3) at Titans (10-0), 1:00 PM ET
Along with the Giants-Cardinals game, this could easily be the best matchup of the week. Pundits keep waiting for Tennessee to fall, but something tells me it won’t be this week. Brett Favre is susceptible to throwing an interception or two, which doesn’t bode well playing against a very opportunistic Titans’ defense. Some are smelling upset – I say the Titans remain undefeated after this week.

Panthers (8-2) at Falcons (6-4), 4:15 PM ET
The Falcons’ playoff hopes took a hit last week when they lost to Denver, but the Panthers have struggled with inferior opponents as of late. Jake Delhomme has not looked very sharp and Atlanta has been solid at home. This is a huge game for the NFC South.

Eagles (5-4-1) at Ravens (6-4), 1:00 PM ET
A loss for the Eagles and they can kiss their postseason hopes goodbye. The Ravens have a great chance to prove they’re for real after they were clowned by the Giants last week.

Patriots (6-4) at Dolphins (6-4), 1:00 PM ET
This is a massive game for the AFC East, especially with the Jets playing in Tennessee. A win for either one of these teams could mean a share for the AFC East Division lead and don’t forget the Dolphins absolutely crushed the Patriots in Foxboro earlier this season. The fireworks in this game have already started this week with Joey Porter.

When the Chicago Bears went to the Super Bowl in 2006, they did so on the strength of their defense and special teams. Their defensive coordinator that season was Ron Rivera, who is now the DC for the San Diego Chargers.

The reason Rivera is out in San Diego instead of still coaching the D in Chicago is because head coach Lovie Smith promoted close friend Bob Babich to defensive coordinator, instead of keeping the guy that had just got him to the Super Bowl.

Now Smith is in a hell of his own making as the Bears currently sit at 5-5 on the year and are owners of the 19th ranked defense in the NFL. While it’s true injuries have ransacked Chicago’s defense, there’s no excuse for the poor tackling that the Bears demonstrated in Green Bay on Sunday, or the utter collapse earlier this year against the Falcons when Matt Ryan was allowed to complete a long out pattern to Michael Jenkins to set up a Jason Elam-game winning field goal.

One Chicago Sun-Times contributor writes that Smith should fire Babich and end the charade. That’s hard to argue when you witness a Bears’ defense that continuously is overmatched, under prepared and out schemed on a weekly basis. I mean, how many times will you allow teams to beat your Cover 2 defense before you make adjustments?

Somebody has to take blame for the collapse of the Chicago defense and I think it’s fair to say that Smith and Babich deserve a 50/50 split. If Smith would have allowed Rivera to make the adjustments he wanted to make following the Super Bowl in 2006, than maybe the Bears would be running away with the hapless NFC North right now. Instead, Smith is stuck with his buddy and a defense that is currently surrendering close to 25 points a game.

The San Diego Chargers have fired defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell and replaced him with former Chicago Bears’ DC Ron Rivera.

“There are a lot of things that went into the decision,” Turner said. “There are areas that we just have to play better and we have to improve. Over the next 10 days those are the areas that we are going to address. Hopefully we can not only show improvement right away but continue to improve over the next eight games.”

Through eight games this season, the Chargers rank 28th in the NFL in total defense and last against the pass. At this point last season, the Bolts had forced 21 turnovers but have only 10 takeaways this season. The Chargers have also gone the last nine quarters without recording a sack.

“It’s probably the things that we have needed to improve at are the same things that effected us in Week 2 and so on,” Turner said. “The same things have been an issue throughout the first eight games at different times.”

Rivera has enjoyed 21 seasons in the NFL as a player and a coach. He joined the Bolts in February of 2008 after spending three seasons as the defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears, the team he also played nine seasons with.

A change needed to happen; the Chargers have been absolutely brutal defensively this year, which is surprising because they played so well last season. Rivera isn’t a bad guy to fall back on considering he was the Bears’ DC when they went to the Super Bowl a couple years ago. I always wondered why he wasn’t a coordinator after he was getting looks as a head coach following the Super Bowl.