The Week Ahead

Packers at Dolphins. Green Bay is 0-5 in this series, dating back to 1971. The Dolphins' margins of victory: 21, 24, 20, 10 and seven points. But this year Green Bay quarterback Don Majkowski is outplaying Dan Marino, and for the first time a Green Bay win over Miami won't be a surprise.

Vikings at Lions. Against Minnesota at Pontiac last year, Detroit set back Thanksgiving Day football with one of the worst offensive performances in NFL history. In losing 23-0, the Lions went 44 minutes without making a first down. In a blizzard, that might have been understandable. But under a plastic sky? Ridiculous. Detroit won its first game of the year Sunday, but this week, simply improving over the Debacle under the Dome may be victory enough.

Giants at Chargers. With this matchup, New York begins a series of five games in eight weeks in the West, at San Diego, Phoenix, Anaheim, San Francisco and Denver. In Weeks 12 and 13, New York plays at San Francisco on a Monday night and then at home against Philadelphia. Of course, the Giants remember that in '86 they played a Monday night game in San Francisco followed by a game in Washington in Weeks 13 and 14, and won both. Then they went on to win a championship.