As two NFL teams from the state of Ohio proved again on Sunday, Ohio State is not the only football team this month to prosper by not playing.
When the Cleveland Browns scored only two touchdowns in a 19-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals -- that would be 37 fewer points than Cleveland scored in Week 2 against Cincinnati -- the Browns did for the Pittsburgh Steelers what Missouri and West Virginia did for Ohio State three weeks earlier.
Backing in, discouraged at many parking structures at airports and shopping malls, has become a great way to reach the BCS title game or clinch the AFC North championship.
Or wrap up the NFC's No. 1 seeding. When Green Bay lost, 35-7, at Chicago, the Dallas Cowboys were gifted home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The 10-5 Steelers, who beat St. Louis, 41-24, on Thursday, wrapped up the AFC North title Sunday when Cleveland quarterback Derek Anderson locked up against the 6-9 Bengals. On Sept. 16, Anderson threw for a career-high five touchdowns in a 51-45 Browns victory. In the rematch, Anderson had four passes intercepted, another career high.
The 13-2 Cowboys, also kicking back after Saturday's 20-13 victory at Carolina, spent the afternoon grabbing a few cold ones and the NFC's top seeding while the Packers experienced a new kind of cold.
How cold was it Sunday in Chicago?
It was so cold that the team that plays its home games in Green Bay walked away from Soldier Field complaining about the weather.
It was so cold, Packers quarterback Brett Favre, grizzled survivor of 16 winters in the Wisconsin hinterland, called the wind- and snow-swept conditions the worst he had experienced as an NFL player.
It was so cold, the Bears (6-9) beat the Packers (12-3) by 28 points.
Favre will go into the Hall of Fame as the game's all-time leader in passing yardage and touchdown passes, but the record book will forever show that on Dec. 23, 2007, Favre lost by four touchdowns to Kyle Orton.
Pittsburgh was the main beneficiary of Anderson's frigid performance at Paul Brown Stadium, but the Steelers were not alone.
Secondary beneficiary: Tennessee, now in charge of its playoff fate despite a ragged performance against the New York Jets. The Titans won, 10-6, to move to 9-6, the same record owned by the Browns. Unlike the Browns, the Titans can now reach the postseason without outside help.
For Tennessee, the assignment next week is simple:
