Is there a greater jinx going than being universally declared the best team in the wide-open NFC?
Ask the 49ers. Or the Packers. Or the Seahawks. Or the Saints, who zoom into Week 10 with a five-game winning streak, a 35-point prime-time beatdown of Tom Brady, and this week's media deification as — wait for it — THE BEST TEAM IN THE NFC!
"This," Saints coach Sean Payton said this past week, "is a funny league."
Not funny, ha-ha. Funny, interesting. Especially if you're in the cross hairs as the latest alleged best team in the NFC.
The reigning conference champion, the 49ers, swaggered into Week 1 with firepower unmatched in the NFC. They lost at home to upstart Arizona before the roster decimation by injury began in earnest in the Meadowlands the following week.
Today, the 49ers are 4-5 and sitting ninth in the NFC, one spot ahead of the Vikings.
"Things can go well, and we know week to week how fortunes can change in this league," Payton said. "You enjoy [the good games] and then get ready to work."
Nothing was working better during the first month of the season than Matt LaFleur's Green Bay offense. Scoring records were falling left and right as Aaron Rodgers and the Packers scored 43 against the Vikings, 42 against the Lions, 37 against the Saints and 30 against the Falcons.