As I write this, sports news outlets are in a tizzy over the fact that the Steelers flew into town on Monday instead of the traditional Sunday arrival. The folks at ESPN, Fox, CNNSI, and so forth appear to harbor the belief that this is of momentous importance. Quick, ask Ron Jaworski how this will affect Cowher's play calling!

Along those same lines, there is a rumor floating around that someone with mad photoshop skillz has created a picture with Troy Polamalu's hair on top of Matt Hasselbeck's bald head. I expect a special segment on tonight's SportsCenter about how this will affect the Pittsburgh D-line. It's enough to make you take a passionate interest in how Jerry Rice is doing on Dancing With the Stars.

Let's hope at some point this week someone does something to put himself on this list of infamous Super Bowl moments or I may just sleep through until game time.

The two weeks off with only one game to cover not only drives reporters to story-line desperation, but it also tints the game with a let's-just-get-it-over-with-already feel. Frankly, at this point I find I have a good deal more interest in trying to figure out what to expect from next year's season. To that end, what follows are a random pack of predictions for next year. Proceeding from this point implies that you have read and accepted the following license agreement.

The Licensee (The Reader) is hereby granted limited rights to use these predictions to laugh at, with or about the author. Any use of these predictions that results in a financial gain for the reader or anyone the reader informs of said predictions requires a full 10% of the net financial gain be remitted to the author (casino chips and hotel or restaurant comps will be accepted at market value). In the event any of these predictions fail to come to pass, the reader agrees that such predictions NEVER HAPPENED, and any further mention of them subjects the reader to dire sanctions at the discretion of the author.

The Colts: Edge James is a free agent. Tony Dungy is mourning. And Peyton is going to hear so much about being a post-season failure that he'll quit football and become a roadie for Kenny Chesney. (It's hard times at the Manning household these days — Archie slaps Peyton, Peyton slaps Eli, Eli slaps...himself.) What happens to the Colts next year? Was this the end of the road for them? They'll still have plenty of talent, but what must be going through their minds? My guess: They've peaked in their current state. Anticipating the loss of James, they should do a minor rework with an eye to getting back to the top of the heap in three or four years while Peyton is still sharp.