Marquee matchups missing down the stretch

CHICAGO – This is a rare weekend in the NFL with three games pitting division leaders against each other:

NFC North-leading Bears vs. NFC South-leading Buccaneers.

NFC East-leading Giants vs. NFC West-leading Seahawks.

AFC North-leading Steelers vs. AFC South-leading Colts.

On Thanksgiving, the AFC West-leading Broncos beat the then-NFC East-leading Cowboys.

The AFC East-leading Patriots play the AFC West-contending Chiefs, giving every division a headliner game.

Enjoy it while you can. Unfortunately, the rest of the season is unlikely to produce another such weekend. The unappealing prime-time games down the stretch are a perfect example of why the networks want adjustable scheduling.

Except for Monday night’s Pittsburgh-Indianapolis game, a lot of the remaining Sunday night and Monday night games will revolve around which teams will want USC quarterback Matt Leinart and which will prefer USC running back Reggie Bush, assuming he opts for the draft.

It starts tonight with the Saints and Jets. Others include Lions-Packers, Saints-Falcons, Packers-Ravens, Vikings-Ravens, and Patriots-Jets.

Bad teams

For all the talk about parity, close races and close games, there are a lot of bad teams in the NFL. After 10 weeks, five teams have won only two games and the Houston Texans have won only one.

That’s the most bad teams in the league after 10 games since 1988, when there were seven with no more than two victories.

The Texans are in the Leinart-Bush lead and would be expected to take Bush because they drafted quarterback David Carr No. 1 three years ago.

But if Carr can’t beat St. Louis today, the Texans should start looking at Leinart. The Rams (4-6) are so depleted in their secondary that converted receiver Mike Furrey, who has started only five games at free safety, might be the most experienced of their first-team defensive backs.

Safety Adam Archuleta (concussion) is out, cornerback Travis Fisher (groin) is doubtful and cornerback DeJuan Groce (concussion) is questionable.

Colts’ quest

Don Shula, coach of the 1972 undefeated Dolphins, on the Colts’ 10-0 record:

“We’ve been accused of being angry old men, and just hoping and praying that the last team would lose, and that’s not the case. If the Colts do it, I’d be the first guy to call (Tony) Dungy and congratulate him, and I’m sure our players would congratulate their players. It just shows you how tough it is to do when nobody had done it before us and nobody has done it since us.”

Bears Hall of Famer Dan Hampton told the Indianapolis Star that chasing perfection is like walking on a 2-by-4.

“Everybody can do it,” he said. “Put it five feet off the ground and you’re still OK.”

But as that board gets higher, the pressure mounts.

“You start looking down and things are starting to crop up in the back of your mind,” said. “You get to 11-0, man, and it’s like that 2-by-4 is 20 feet up.

“It’s not so much you and how you deal with it. It’s every day in the paper, every day on ESPN, every day on the radio, every day you leave your house. You see your neighbor and he says, ‘Wow, do you think you can go undefeated?’ It’s only going to get worse.”

Season over for Raiders’ Sapp

The Oakland Raiders placed defensive tackle Warren Sapp on injured reserve with a right shoulder injury, prematurely ending his 11th NFL season. Sapp had been listed as doubtful during the week for Sunday’s home game against the Miami Dolphins after injuring his shoulder during the Raiders’ 16-13 win at Washington last Sunday. He has a torn rotator cuff, the team said.