After looking practically unstoppable for the first 13 games of the season, the New Orleans Saints this afternoon dropped their second in a row, losing 20-17 to the allegedly hapless Buccaneers in overtime.  This a week after falling to the Cowboys for their first loss of the season.

And, perhaps most disturbingly from the Saints’ point-of-view, both losses happened at home.

For the Vikings, a Saints loss means one important thing:  the #1 seed in the NFC is still in play.

Obviously, the Vikings need to beat the Bears Monday night at chilly Soldier Field.  Should they do so, they would face the Giants in the Metrodome the last game of the regular season with a chance to clinch homefield throughout.

Should the Giants be eliminated today, as they will if the Cowboys take care of business vs. the Redskins, New York would have nothing to play for but pride.  Such a situation can of course work in favor of the eliminated team, if they take the field feeling no pressure.

It can also work against them, if they spend the week making their post-season travel plans, and come into the game just wanting to get it over with.

The Saints, meanwhile, will have as their opponent the very same Carolina Panthers squad that today pushed the Giants to the brink of elimination, and last week, took it to the Vikings in such dominating fashion that Brett Favre almost got his butt sat down.

That game will be in Carolina.  If the same Panthers team shows up that’s taken the field the last two weeks, the Saints will be in for a dogfight.  Carolina will have reasons to play hard, including the chance to finish .500, and of course, the opportunity to knock off a hated division rival.

Then again, given the way the Saints have played at home the last couple of weeks, maybe the Vikings would be better off getting the 2 seed and facing them in New Orleans in the conference title game.  Either way, the game would be indoors, something that would make #4 and his old joints very happy indeed.

As things turned out, there would be little suspense in either game.  The Panthers jumped all over the Giants early, behind noted Viking-killer Matt Moore, and ended up stunning New York 41-9 in their final game at Giants’ Stadium.  The Packers, meanwhile, had little trouble with Seattle, going up 24-3 at the half on their way to a 48-10 dismantling of the Seahawks.

Clearly, there was no hangover for the Packers after that disappointing last-second loss to Pittsburgh last week.

Five of the six NFC playoff spots have now been handed out, pending the outcome of this afternoon’s Cowboys-Redskins game.  Should Dallas win they would clinch, and eliminate the Giants.  Should that happen, the Giants would have nothing to play for a week from today at the Metrodome in the season finale, possibly making life easier for the Vikings should they need that game to sew up the 2 seed (or even, dare I say, the 1 seed?).

Of course, the more immediate concern for the Vikes is that they take care of business tomorrow night at Soldier Field.  If they lose to the Bears, no one will be thinking about seedings, and everyone will be thinking that the Vikings are set up for an early playoff exit no matter where they play.

Yes ladies and germs, the schism talk is back.  And it’s here to stay.

This time, though, the schism is not between Brett Favre and his teammates, it’s between Favre and coach Brad Childress.  And this time no one can deny its reality.  Brett Favre himself made sure of that.

In comments following last night’s debacle, Favre let us know that he’s not only not on the same page as Chilly, he’s not even in the same book.

It was inevitable that Favre would have to say something, after everyone in the stadium, and watching on TV, saw him get into a contentious exchange with Childress on the sideline.  Indeed, the question was raised during the post-game presser, and Favre, in typical fashion, was perhaps more forthcoming than he should’ve been.

“Yeah, there was a heated discussion, I guess you would call it,” Favre admitted. “We were up 7-6 at the time. No secret, I was getting hit a little bit. I felt the pressure on a lot of plays. We had seven points. So I think everyone in the building was like, ‘They’re not moving the ball, they’re not getting points.’ Brad wanted to go in a different direction and I wanted to stay in the game.”

There you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth:  Brad Childress tried to bench Brett Favre in the 3rd quarter with the Vikings ahead.  An idea Favre was not exactly keen on.

“We were up 7-6,” Favre continued.  “Yeah, it’s not 70-6, but we’re up 7-6. So I said, ‘I’m staying in the game, I’m playing.’ I don’t know if it was exactly to protect me, or we had seven points, I’m not sure. That’s his call. But we talked it out. We didn’t have time, I didn’t have time to sit there and say why or what. My response was, we’ve got to win this ballgame and I want to stay in and do whatever I can. Now, unfortunately, I didn’t do that, but that was my intention.”

As things turned out, the Vikings offense never did turn it around, and the defense took a 4th quarter nosedive even worse than the one that almost let the Ravens steal a game earlier this year, resulting in a humiliating 26-7 Panthers victory.

Such a loss always leads to big questions, especially with the team supposedly gearing up for a playoff run.  But the questions are going to come faster and more furiously than usual, now that we’ve gotten a glimpse of the tumultuous dynamic between Favre and Childress.

No Jared Allen, a schism isn’t an STD.