YOU MEAN...THEY WON????

It was a game of two maligned quarterbacks. One who was benched for a good portion of the season and started playing better, the other was in the midst of his third season as a starter and playing worse. Both teams were vying for a Wild Card berth in the mediocre NFC, yet both have a knack for getting in their own way at the worst times. One team came off a huge comeback win in overtime the week before, the other was reeling from one of their most desultory performances in the last decade. Somebody had to win, and in this case it was the Giants by a score of 21-16.

Considering how poorly the Giants played (or perhaps existed would be a better word) last week against Minnesota, traveling to Soldier Field in early December didn’t exactly provide the best palette for painting a comeback picture. For years, the Giants have had one of the most brittle psyches in all of sports, so bouncing back after delivering a healthy dose of fodder to the New York media seemed like a daunting task. And just when the situation begged for a major purge in 2008, the Giants pull off a fourth quarter road win in Chicago. In many ways, rooting for the Giants is like a wife finally having the courage to ask for a divorce, only to then have her husband donate a kidney to save her dying father. Fewer teams make it so hateful to love them; you’d think Shakespeare could have written a play about this.

You can say that any game in the NFL is a must win, but this was one the Giants really needed. And while it would be a bit of a stretch to call them frauds, their credibility and respectability had taken a steep dive in recent weeks. The Giants have stayed atop by feeding like hyenas off such lifeless clubs as Atlanta, San Francisco and the Jets. But as soon as anyone decent, or even showing signs of ascending progress came to town, the Giants would fold like the proverbial lawn chair. Seemed that many weren’t so much looking for rays of hope when the Giants played Chicago, as they were seeking confirmation that their team was just a shell of an organization who only thrived off the league’s scrap heap. You have to love a fan base that looks for reasons as to why they shouldn’t root for you. Clearly this game was a colossal disappointment for millions of Giant fans.

Eli Manning (16/27, 195 YDS, 1TD,2INT) however, will still keep the naysayers chirping for another week. Though it would be an almost preternatural feat if he were able to out-suck his play from the week before, Manning still did enough to provide snippets of an encore performance. The two most noteworthy mistakes were interceptions thrown to Brian Urlacher and Charles Tillman. The former occurred less than two minutes into the opening sequence of the game, resulting in an efficiently run touchdown drive by Rex Grossman (25/46, 296 YDS, 1 TD, 0 INT) to put the Bears up 7-0. The latter snuffed out a 14 play drive in the end zone after chewing up nearly half of the third quarter. Both did much to curtail the Giants momentum, but the defense rarely let up.

Playing without Aaron Ross and Gibril Wilson in the secondary, the Giants defense bent but never broke against the Bears. Knowing that their secondary, even when healthy, is not always able to cover, the Giants resorted to the old game plan of rushing the quarterback hard and heavy. This didn’t happen right away, not until the Giants got the scare -- and the break -- of their lives when Devin Hester had a guaranteed touchdown pass bounce right off his shoulder pad to go incomplete. From there the Giants really put the press on the line of scrimmage, always seeming to get that big sack at the most opportune time. Justin Tuck, as predicted a few years ago, has clearly emerged as one the Giants most formidable pass rushing threats.

Offensively, despite fumbling the ball that resulted in a Chicago score, Derrick Ward (24/154, 1 TD) offered a bruising blend of hard up-the-middle running mixed with bursts of speed to the outside. Unfortunately, he was not able to finish the game because of an ankle injury. Again, this poses concerns about the durability of the Giants backfield, as all season long the Giants have had to rotate backs in and out of the line-up due to injury. As for other solid offensive play, the “under-the-radar” award for this week goes to Giants fullback Madison Hedgecock, who made key blocks at critical times all day long. Hedgecock has shown both speed and brawn in his blocking; not to mention great vision. At times he resembles a pulling guard, sprinting to the end of the line to kick out the defensive end. In other situations, Hedgecock shows his patience by waiting for the play to develop, quickly finding the defender with the best pursuit angle, and getting to him…fast. Hedgecock’s value will certainly rise as the season winds down, especially since the Giants will see more and more blitzing schemes with their passing attack hampered by injuries.

The Giants have another road game next week against Philadelphia. Perhaps the only team in the NFL more erratic than the Giants right now is the Eagles, so predicting the outcome of this one could be anyone’s guess. The Eagles could be high and mighty next week if Donovan McNabb is back. The Eagles could be God-freaking awful if Donovan McNabb is back. Go ahead, roll the dice, this one could go either way. As with most of these streaky teams, it usually boils down to special teams anyway. The biggest story about Devin Hester Sunday was that he was a non story. Add in the frigid temperatures that have finally arrived this winter, and this could be another one of those games of attrition rather than the classic knife fight these teams often bring to the table. If that’s the case, than expect another disappointing week Giants fans, Big Blue just might play irritatingly well enough to win this one too.