Chris Johnson, the incredible Tennessee Titans running back dashing at a 2,000-yard pace, doesn’t have a chance.

Neither does Philip Rivers, the puckish San Diego Chargers quarterback who has led his team on a seven-game winning streak, rendering irrelevant its 2-3 start.

Even Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre, the ancient miracle man of the frozen North, is finding it difficult to compete with the two beasts devouring the rest of the NFL.

With the season officially entering its fourth quarter, though, we shouldn’t dismiss Favre.

Despite the lucky breaks they enjoyed all game, the New Orleans Saints’ bid for an unbeaten season was all but cooked. The Washington Redskins, leading by seven, nursed the ball into range for an easy field goal that would put the game away with less than two minutes to play.

Then Shaun Suisham missed. Wide right from 23 yards out.

“We thought he would make it,” Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma said.

New Orleans Saints linebacker Scott Fujita is glad to see the NFL changing its concussion policies. Why? Because he figures the league is finally getting around to saving players from themselves.

“You almost have to take it out of the players’ hands, because we’re not going to make the most responsible decision,” Fujita said. “If I was in that situation in a playoff game, and I was kind of dinged and not functioning very well on the sideline, I’d like to think that someone might look out for my best interest. Because I don’t think I’d do that for myself.”

If you put the neutral-site game in a dome — which would suit both teams, I’m sure — I’d have to give the edge to the New Orleans Saints right now. Both teams have astonishingly good quarterbacks, and offenses that take good-to-great receivers and make them transcendent, but the Saints have the advantage in their Achilles’ heel. Both teams have one obvious flaw. In Indy’s case, it’s the inability of their running game to get anything consistent going. New Orleans has a vulnerable run defense as their primary liability.

They ain’t the Ain’ts anymore. And ain’t that grand for New Orleans.

Football’s once-hapless New Orleans Saints are on a roll at 11-0, lifting spirits in this hurricane-battered city four miserable, down-in-the-dumps years after Katrina. In fact, folks in the Big Easy are feeling so good about their team’s chances that they are actually canceling or rearranging Mardi Gras events to keep Super Bowl Sunday clear.

“The whole city is floating right now. We’re all on a cloud. Cloud nine,” said 68-year-old Lynn Compter, standing next to his mustard-yellow 1939 Chevrolet, which was decked out in fleurs de lis with the Saints’ record in magnetic numbers on its doors. “The day after a win is like a steroid shot.”

Despite losing to the New Orleans Saints in their NFL preseason opener 17-7, the Cincinnati Bengals had a lot to be happy about. Most significantly, they were elated over the return of QB Carson Palmer after he’d missed most of the last NFL season. His solid performance gave them even more to be happy about despite being on the wrong end of the final score. When you live in Cincinnati, however, you’re used to having to take what you get so Palmer’s serviceable performance led to mass celebration in the streets of ‘The Queen City’.