Early afternoon news and notes.

A little Sunday update, while I’m waiting for the Dallas game to start.

The Saints, who need the Cowboys to beat the Redskins and the Broncos to beat the Vikings in order to make the playoffs, aren’t helping themselves out right now, as they’re trailing 24-17 at halftime in Chicago.

That’s right, the Bears’ offense has created 24 points in one half. Alert the presses!

All kidding aside though, you’ve got to hand it to them for not throwing in the towel in such a disappointing season, having beaten the snot out of the Packers last week (thanks Lovie!) and now on track to derail the Saints’ playoff hopes.

Cleveland, meanwhile, is taking care of their end in the AFC. The Browns have to beat San Francisco and hope Tennessee loses to Indianapolis in order to get into the postseason. So far, so good, as they’re up 17-7 in the third.

As a side note about that game, Brady Quinn finally got his first regular-season action, going 3 of 8 for 45 yards.

Who’d have thought - at the time of that trade, it looked like a steal for both the Cowboys (potential #1 pick, yay!) and Browns (franchise QB late in the first round!). Now, the Browns have a QB they don’t exactly need (but a damn good insurance policy in case Derek Anderson gets hurt or plays horridly next year), and that pick that we all expected to be a top-5 or 10 is going to be in the 20s, quite possibly the same #22 that the Cowboys traded to the Browns last April.

Not that it’s a bad thing, however. The Cowboys will likely get more out of that pick in 2008 than they would have in 2007 (if they plan on using their two first-rounders on corner/receiver/O-line), but we’ll just have to see how they play their cards come draft time.

And as for the Browns, well, they could be on their way to a Rivers-Brees like situation in a few seasons, where they have to choose between keeping one and parting with the other, though it‘s worth nothing that it’s worked for Rivers and Brees (both succeeding with their respective teams).

Well…it’s not exactly working out for Brees right now, as his Saints are now down 31-17, but they already have it in Chicago territory, so that deficit could be down to seven again soon.