Giants have to prove they can beat team like Bears

	Plaxico Burress is struggling with back problems, but hopes to play against the Bears. Burress said he wasn't impressed with Chicago's cornerbacks. Damian Strohmeyer/SI
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The star running back, who's about to walk away from football in his prime, recently called Michael Irvin an "idiot."

The star tight end referred to coach Tom Coughlin as a "pain in the ass" during training camp, then ripped Coughlin's gameplan after a September defeat in Seattle.

The star defensive end, accused by his ex-wife of having lived "an alternative lifestyle" during their made-for-tabloid divorce trial last summer, is one of the best interview subjects in the business. The same description applies to the team's wise, old backup tackle, who told me Wednesday, "Remember the old adage that a team takes on the personality of the coach? Tom Coughlin's got multiple personalities -- and he's in control of all of us. He creates a little bit of disorder to keep us in order." (Relax, New York Post headline writers -- Bob Whitfield was only joking ... I think.)

Hey, I'm not saying the New York Giants are Super Bowl-bound, but if they do end up in Miami, you won't catch me complaining.

It's tempting to say that the Giants, who host the Bears Sunday night in a game that could vault them to the top of the race for homefield advantage in the NFC, have snuck up on us with their recent five-game winning streak -- except that everything this team does is loud.

From the jump-shot celebration that inspired mocking imitations from two members of the suddenly feisty Houston Texans (the Texans taunting? Yes, it happened last Sunday ... ) to the stream of golden quotes from the locker room (for example, star wideout Plaxico Burress said Terrell Owens was "being a coward" when sliding to dodge a hit from New York safety Gibril Wilson), these guys are the brashest thing to hit Jersey since the Bada Bing.

On Sunday, after an impressive 6-2 start, the Giants finally get down and dirty. The 7-1 Bears, coming off an embarrassing home defeat to the Dolphins, roll into Giants Stadium all grumpy and famished.

Twice last year, New York had a chance to make a similarly huge statement, and each time it flailed: First, in a December regular-season game at Seattle, the Giants outplayed the Seahawks but lost in overtime after Jay Feely gagged on three potential game-winning field-goal attempts. The Seahawks rode the momentum to their first Super Bowl appearance; the Giants' sole consolation prize was the seriously funny Saturday Night Live skit the debacle inspired.

Then came the Giants' wild-card-round playoff game against the Carolina Panthers, who rolled to a 24-0 victory that humiliated the NFC East champions at home.

"We've been in this predicament before," Whitfield says. "The guys on this team know how the Seattle and Carolina games went down, and they want to make up for it in a big way. This is the matchup. This is it. This is for NFC supremacy."

Six weeks ago, the thought of the Giants playing a big game against anyone was absurd. New York played reasonably well in the Manning Bowl, losing 26-21 to Indy at home, before falling way behind to the Eagles in Philly -- a game in which the Giants allowed a ridiculous eight sacks. Then came an amazing 17-point comeback in the fourth quarter, followed by Eli Manning's 31-yard touchdown pass to Burress in overtime that, in retrospect, may have saved the team's season.