What can you do except keep it light - after last week's 41-17 loss to Minnesota.
Michael Strahan after losing:
- Talkin' to myself and feelin' old. Sometimes I'd like to quit. Nothing ever seems to fit.
- Hangin' around. Nothing to do but frown. Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.
Eli Manning on appearing confused:
- What I've got they used to call the blues. Nothin' is really wrong. Feelin' like I don't belong.
- Walkin' around. Some kind of lonely clown. Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.
Fan at the bar eyeing his drink:
- Funny but it seems I always wind up here with you. Nice to know somebody loves me.
- Funny but it seems that it's the only thing to do. Run and find the one who loves me.
Tom Coughlin on a second half collapse:
- What I feel has come and gone before. No need to talk it out. We know what it's all about.
- Hangin' around. Nothing to do but frown. Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.

Chicago's Rex Grossman - Who is he?
Coach Lovie Smith put it this way, "Rex had an outstanding season for a first-year quarterback. I'll put his numbers up against most guys that started in their first year. Most first-year quarterbacks don't take their team to the Super Bowl. I'm excited about Rex's second year in the starting role." By the end of the third game with one touchdown against six interceptions, Rex was on the bench and the Bears were 1-2. Brian Griese threw three interceptions in game four in losing to the Lions, and four games later with the Bears at 3-5, Grossman came in to replace Brian Griese who was injured.
Rex didn't inspire confidence fumbling his first snap, but he later completed a 59-yard, go-ahead touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to beat the Raiders 17-6. Rex is inconsistent with QB ratings all over the place and it was 109.8 for that game. Last year he had an NFC best seven games with a passer rating over 100, but also had games with ratings of 10.2, 36.8, 23.7, 1.3, and 0.0. In those games he threw 16 interceptions and just 1 touchdown.

Chicago's Devin Hester - Who is he?
If you don't remember, Hester returned the opening kickoff in the Super Bowl for a touchdown. He has 12 returns for touchdowns in only 30 career NFL games. Hester helped win the game last week. Broncos punter and kickoff specialist Todd Sauerbrun had said, “We're not going to play chicken[bleep] ball . . . we're not going to kick away from him." Hester took one of Sauerbrun's punts back 75 yards for a touchdown and one of his kickoffs back 88 yards for another touchdown. Jeff Feagles said this week, “We're certainly not going to kick the ball right to him, I can tell you that." Last year the Giants missed on a 52-yard field goal try, and Hester returned that ball 108 yards for a touchdown. The Giants lost the game 38-20.

Giants Eli Manning - Who is he?
Is he just a kid who grew up and got pushed into the family business? For some it's pizza shops. For Eli it's football. His older brother is very successful in Indianapolis, so his father got him linked up with football version of the the big pizza chain in NY, but it's hard standing behind the hot counter tossing pizza dough into the air time after time. They don't always come down right and can make you look darn right silly.
Kidding aside, With his family background Eli easily excelled in the early days of high school and college, but now the level of play is really high and tough and not always that much fun. Does Eli really care? Does he really want all this? Eli, the fans are getting tired of waiting for their pizzas and don't want to hear "I'll do better next time." when one hits the floor.

Giants - Offense.
The Giants looked pretty bad last week. Eli Manning was rattled by the Vikings defense and even the Giants GM Jerry Reese said he "has gotten skittish, for whatever reason." Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said that the one thing he has seen from opposing defenses in recent weeks is more pressure on Manning. Hopefully the Giants can simplify the gameplan a bit so Manning and his receivers won't have to make so many decisions. They could be passing a lot this game with running back Brandon Jacobs out and Derrick Ward has already said that while he is anxious to get back to the field, he isn't 100%. "This is the best I'm going to get," said Ward. "Four weeks I've been out, so I'm ready to get out against the Bears."

Bears - Defense.
The Bears defense was one of the best in the NFL last year but not now. Injuries have hit middle linebacker Brian Urlacher (back), outside linebacker Lance Briggs (hamstring) and defensive tackle Tommie Harris (hamstring), and remember their defensive tackle Tank Johnson? He was released by the Bears in the off-season because of off-field issues and ended up playing (very effectively) in his first game back with Dallas against the Giants. Learning from the Vikings, the Bears defense will try to get pressure and mix things up to force Eli Manning into making major mistakes. They know that Manning has thrown six interceptions against three touchdowns in his last three games. In fact, he's tied for the NFL lead in interceptions with 15, as opposed to 16 touchdown passes. First the Bears will have to prove that they can stop the Giants running game with their poor run defense which is ranked a low 27 out of 32.

Bears - Offense.
The fans never know from week to week if they are going to get the 'good' Rex Grossman, or the 'bad' version, and they don't have a lot of patience. The passing game becomes more important for the Bears this week since they lost their leading rusher Cedric Benson in last week's game. Benson has been placed on injured reserve and his backup and strong special-teams player, six-year veteran Adrian Peterson, will replace him. When actually asked last week by reporters about playing running back, Devin Hester said. "I did it in high school and a little bit in college. I would try. It ain't no promise that I would be successful, but I'm a team player and I would try." The Bears offensive line will have to pass block against the Giants tremendous rush if Grossman is to have a chance, and that's going to be tough. The Bears taller receivers, Muhsin Muhammad and Mark Bradley, both 6' 2", will try to work the Giants secondary.

Giants Defense.
Last week they could have played better. Late in the game with the score 24-10, the Giants needed to get the ball back, but they let the Vikings take 9:24 off the clock, with a 69-yard drive. It ended with a 26-yard field goal that made it 27-10 with just 1:43 left. Still, the Giants lead the league with 38 sacks, and Rex Grossman has been sacked 19 times in six games this season, after being sacked 20 times in 16 games last year. They'll need to keep the pressure up front, because the Giants secondary is always suspect. Rookie cornerback Aaron Ross had been playing well, but he is out for this game, and Kevin Dockery will be taking his place in only his second start at cornerback. Also weak-side safety Gibril Wilson (knee) might not play.

Brad Maynard.
The Giants (make that Jim Fassel) could have saved themselves a lot of problems over the years if they had just hung onto Brad Maynard. He was their third-round selection (95th pick overall) in the 1997 NFL Draft. He later signed on as a free agent with Chicago (3/3/01). How do they like him? He signed a 5-year contract extension (12/31/04), and is signed through 2010. Reliable Maynard missed a game for the first time in his career, ending a streak of 161 consecutive games, when he sat out Chicago's second game against Kansas City because of a groin injury. Some believe that the Giants would not have gone to the Super Bowl except for the fact that Brad spoke up, and spurred head coach Jim Fassel to finally take some serious action with the special teams unit, one of the team's weakest links up to that point.

Notes on Sean Taylor.
Giants Jeremy Shockey, Plaxico Burress, Antonio Pierce, Reuben Droughns, Derrick Ward and Sinorice Moss will fly from Chicago to attend the service on Monday on the campus of Florida International University in Miami.
Chicago's Devin Hester remembers returning a kick for a touchdown in his freshman year. Taylor was his lead blocker. "All he said was, 'Devin, just follow me. I got you.' Sure enough, first play of the game, I ran the opening kickoff back just following him.. Coming from Miami, we treat all our players as brothers. Right now, it's sad."

Notes.
Bears were in the Super Bowl last year.
This year they have yet to string together back-to-back victories.

Giants haven't lost two in a row since the first two weeks of the season.

Giants at 7-4 have a one-game lead over Detroit for the top wild-card spot in the NFC.
Six teams are 5-6, including the Bears.

Giants lost last season's game to the Bears 38-20
In that game Jeff Feagles kept the ball away from Devin Hester - on 5 punts, 3 went out of bounds and 2 were not returned.

Michael Strahan, who turned 36 last week, is tied for ninth in the NFC with 8 sacks and has 140 1/2 in his 15-year career.
That's the most among active players and fifth in NFL history, 3 ahead of former Bear Richard Dent.

The Giants will wear black decals with the number 21 in white on their helmets Sunday at Soldier Field to honor Redskins safety Sean Taylor, who died Tuesday after he was shot in the leg during an attempted armed robbery early Monday morning.

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