Why the exciting finishes in two of last weekend's NFL playoff games should matter greatly to Bears fans

Baltimore had somehow kept pace with Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos on Saturday afternoon. Joe Flacco played like he was Manning's equal, and maybe just a little bit better.

Thus, as the clock wound down, Joe Flacco's connected on a 70-yard heave to Jacoby Jones, knotting the score at 35-all. Peyton Manning led the Broncos onto the field with only 31 seconds on the game clock but two timeouts.

Peyton Manning -- arguably the greatest QB of this or any generation, the field general, the miracle worker, in a charmed comeback-of-the-year, MVP season -- yes, that Peyton Manning took a knee to send the game to overtime.

Who the heck came up with that genius plan? Even if Denver had won the game, this would have been among the stupidest plans ever. If this was head coach John Fox's idea, the good people of Denver should rise up in righteous anger and demand his firing. If this was Peyton Manning's idea of sound strategy, yet another of my idols is revealed to have feet of clay.

But what if Peyton's kneel-down was the brainstorm of Denver OC Mike McCoy? He's on the Bears' interview list and among the reputed favorites. If McCoy couldn't figure out that Manning had a chance to put the Broncos in position to win that game in regulation, Mr. Emery, cross him off your list.

In the first game Sunday, a seemingly insurmountable Atlanta lead was darn near surmounted by Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks. A field goal in the last minute put Seattle ahead for the first time and left the Atlanta crowd stunned.

Matt Ryan led the Falcons out onto the field with just 25 seconds left -- but got his team down the field and in position to kick a seemingly dispositive field goal (folks watching in Denver must have found this quick, efficient drive particularly painful).

Only six seconds now stood between Atlanta and the NFC Championship Game. All that Atlanta had to do was squib kick the ball -- not high and deep so as to avoid a return, but deep enough to make it unlikely that, short of a miracle, Russell Wilson would be unable to do any harm.

The kick, however, resembled more an onside kick attempt than a squib kick -- and the Atlanta celebration was put on hold.

Atlanta survived and will play this weekend. But the Falcons' special teams coordinator, the guy responsible for telling the kicker what to do after the field goal, is Keith Armstrong, another Bears head coach candidate. Did Atlanta's kicker make a physical mistake? Shouldn't he have practiced the squib kick in anticipation of just such an occasion? Surely he wasn't told to kick it that short, was he? If Mr. Armstrong doesn't have a compelling explanation, Mr. Emery, cross him off your list.