By Ron Borges

This is desperation Sunday in the National Football League for the San Diego Chargers, New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears and Atlanta Falcons. It would be for a few other teams too if they’d ever had a legitimate right to think they were in the playoff picture when the season began in the first place but they weren’t so it’s not Desperation Sunday for them. It’s just another week in Loserville.

Three other teams managed to dodge the desperation bullet (Cincinnati, Minnesota and Philadelphia) only by the grace of the schedule makers but they will face it a week hence. For the above named teams however, the worst of fates is staring them in their helmeted faces this Sunday.

That’s because all five are in a position to fall to 1-4 or worse and in today’s NFL that is all but a guarantee that you won’t be working any extra weekends this season. Since 1990, 83 teams have begun their seasons 1-4. Only five reached the playoffs. Only one made the Super Bowl.

Those are the grim facts of life for last year’s NFC champion Bears, who face the undefeated Packers in Green Bay in a must win game. If our first glimpse of Brian Griese at quarterback in place of struggling Rex Grossman was a precursor of what’s to come he’ll never be known as “The Savior’’ in the Windy City.

Normally it would be a problem for an offense that has produced 84 per cent of its yardage through the air to be facing the Bears’ defense but the likelihood is that Chicago will be missing both starting cornerbacks. Brett Favre is salivating just at the thought of it.

The San Diego Chargers were 14-2 a year ago but were bounced by the Patriots in their first playoff game and cocky GM A.J. Smith said that was the last straw, forcing out head coach Marty Schottenheimer after a long power struggle between them because of his proven inability to win in the post-season. So he brings Norv Turner in to coach a team with 11 Pro Bowlers and now it looks like they won’t have to worry about winning in the post-season because they can’t win in the regular season. Good move, A.J.

In typically befuddling Norv Turner fashion, the Chargers have arguably the best running back in the NFL in LaDainian Tomlinson so why is he averaging only 19 carries a game? Marty wouldn’t do that. At least not until January.

Now admittedly San Diego is averaging only 3.1 yards a carry and 83.8 rushing yards a game but so what? Give the ball to LT, especially Sunday against a Bronco defense that is giving up an average of 181 yards a game. If Turner doesn’t do it this time, Smith should listen to the chants from the fans in San Diego, who rang down the name “MARTY! MARTY! MARTY!’’ late in last Sunday’s loss.

Unlike the other teams at 1-3 or in the case of New Orleans 0-3, San Diego has a bit more light at the end of the tunnel because the AFC West has no dominate team. It barely has a good team, which is why the Chargers are only two games behind the Broncos, Raiders and Chiefs, who are all 2-2. Still, it’s hard to argue with the odds if San Diego drops another game off the pace.

The battle for New York is being contested across the river in New Jersey, which says a lot about both these teams. They’re lost but no one seems more lost right now than the Jets and their head coach Eric “No Longer Mangenius’’ Mangini.

The Jets found a way to lose last Sunday to the Bills despite the fact Buffalo had seven of its top 16 defensive players, as well as their starting quarterback, out with injuries. Considering that up to that moment the Bills hadn’t beaten able to beat anybody with those guys IN a game, the 17-14 loss didn’t say much about the Jets. Or maybe it said everything.

The Bills never figured to contend this year for a playoff spot so slipping to 1-4 means little but the Jets were coming off a 10-6 season buoyed with hope. Lose on Sunday in a road game that is really a home game and they can forget the post-season just the way they’ve already forgotten about contesting in the AFC East with the undefeated (4-0) Patriots. To make matters worse, if that’s possible, poor Chad Pennington is facing a Giant defense that sacked Donovan McNabb 12 times last Sunday, a horror film one hopes Mangenius was smart enough not to show him.

These are the dog days for the Atlanta Falcons and have been since the Federal government put the bite on Michael Vick and very likely ended his career and the Falcons’ season. While Vick’s replacement, Joey Harrington, has actually been playing better than anyone could have expected it hasn’t been enough to overcome Atlanta’s other problems both psychological and physical.

Sunday they face a hard-nosed Tennessee team that stuffs the run, attacks opposing quarterbacks and leaves the offense in the spectacular hands of quarterback Vince Young. You’d think having a quarterback completing 71.2 per cent of his passes might give the Falcons an edge in this game but Atlanta has managed to score only 56 points all season, a woeful average of 14 a game, so accurate short passing may not be the answer. It also won’t be good enough to survive Desperation Sunday.

The Saints are in even more dire straits than the rest after opening their season 0-3. A year ago they were the Cinderfellas of the NFL, a feel good story about a team helping a battered city fight back from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina by giving them something to cheer for. This season however, it’s gotten to the point where local residents are looking at them as the football version of FEMA.

Things are so bad that even if they find a way to beat back the Carolina Panthers, New Orleans will be back in Desperation Sunday mode again next week. The Saints are coming off a well needed week off and will be hosting the Panthers but that may not be the best news because Carolina is 0-2 at home and 2-0 on the road. What they aren’t is as desperate as the Saints, who know full well that if they drop to 0-4 the Saints will have gone marching out of this season barely a month into it.

Things are not all bad games and bad records however. There are, in fact, at least three games well worth your time and attention.

The first pits Tony Dungy’s undefeated Colts (4-0) against the surprising Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-1) and the man who replaced Dungy there, Jon Gruden. If Indy can win this game it will be the third straight year they’ve opened the season 5-0 and will go into their bye week feeling as if they are starting the defense of their Super Bowl title as consistently as possible.

The Bucs come into the RCA Dome in depleted fashion, having lost top runner Cadillac Williams for the season with a knee injury as well as left tackle Luke Pettigout. The Colts could be without bone-crushing safety Bob Sanders, who is the key player in their defense, and might sit out both Marvin Harrison and running back Joseph Addai because of nagging injuries that would benefit from the equivalent of two weeks off. Because the Bucs have been replying more on their 8^th ranked running game than the arm of Jeff Garcia, the loss of Williams and Pettigout could be the key to how this game plays out because if Tampa cannot successfully play keep away from Colts’ quarterback Peyton Manning they could be in for a long afternoon.

The showdown between the 3-1 Seahawks and Steelers is a repeat of Super Bowl XL but of a lot less import. Still, the Steelers have issued warnings about counterfeit tickets being in circulation so in Steel Town the fans are taking this game seriously.

So will the Seahawks but the record of West Coast teams traveling three time zones to the East is not good. Pittsburgh suffered a week ago going in the opposite direction, and performed in underwhelming fashion in losing to the Arizona Cardinals. They’re out to right the ship so this could be a long trip back to Seattle for the Seahawks.

Lastly, the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-1) journey to one of the most difficult stadiums to win in, Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, to face the surprisingly tough Chiefs (2-2). Kansas City’s offense remains one-dimensional, boiling down to Larry Johnson to the left, Larry Johnson to the right and Larry Johnson up the middle followed by a screen pass to … Larry Johnson.

It’s a bit more elaborate than that but not much because head coach Herm Edwards is concentrating on winning with a young but stingy defense (barely 11 points a game allowed) and an offense that is supposed to limit its mistakes and play close to the vest.

The emphasis on Johnson and the running games would seem to dovetail perfectly with Jacksonville’s biggest weakness, which is a run defense that has allowed an average of 137 yards rushing a game. If the Chiefs can run away with this game and the Colts defeat the Bucs, the Jags would find themselves 2 ½ games off the pace and with an uphill fight in the AFC South.

If you’re a betting man go with the teams in the most desperate straits Sunday and you may have a good weekend at the pay window. Just don’t include the Bucs or the Seahawks on your parlay cards. They’re not desperate but they’re not winning this weekend either.