Never in its long history has the NFL had two 11-0 teams. Never has it had an 0-6 club win its next five games.

It has them now.

The New Orleans Saints, fresh from a romp over New England that affirmed their power, and the Indianapolis Colts, the only team already into the playoffs, go for an even dozen victories without a blemish on Sunday. New Orleans heads to Washington, and must keep winning because Minnesota is right on its heels in the NFC. Indy, which clinched the AFC South last weekend, hosts the Titans - the guys with the five successive wins after dropping their first six games.

A victory would give the Saints the NFC South crown. Their dynamic offense and ball-hawking defense were on display against the Patriots, who were overmatched, outmanned and even outcoached.

``People are going to talk about this game and maybe blow it out of proportion a little bit,'' said sensational quarterback Drew Brees after throwing for 371 yards and five touchdowns. ``This game doesn't entitle us to anything. It's just another win in the win column. If anything, you have the challenge of coming back on a short week and playing at Washington. That's what I mean when I say it gets tougher.''

Actually, things get tougher this week for the Colts, not the Saints; Washington is 3-8 and ravaged by injuries. Indy will tie New England's record 21-game, regular-season winning streak if it handles Tennessee. But that's become quite a chore since Vince Young was elevated to starting quarterback and the Titans got healthy on defense.

``At this point, we're 5-6 and on a five-game winning streak, but at the same time, we don't have anything to lose,'' Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck said. ``That's the attitude we have. We have five, and now we're going for six.''

As impressive as the Titans' turnaround has been, it pales in comparison to the Colts going for 21.

``It (tying the NFL record) doesn't matter, we're on a mission right now and that's to win the Super Bowl,'' Colts cornerback Kelvin Hayden said. ``We just want to keep this thing going.''

Elsewhere Sunday, Minnesota is at Arizona, San Diego at Cleveland, San Francisco at Seattle, Dallas at the New York Giants, New England at Miami, Philadelphia at Atlanta, Oakland at Pittsburgh, Detroit at Cincinnati, Houston at Jacksonville, Tampa Bay at Carolina, Denver at Kansas City, and St. Louis at Chicago.

On Monday night, Baltimore is at Green Bay.

The weekend began with the New York Jets facing division rival Buffalo in Toronto on Thursday night.

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Brett Favre will play in his 283rd consecutive regular-season game, surpassing Jim Marshall's 282, the longest streak for a non-kicker. The way the 40-year-old Favre is performing, he might be around for another 283. His accuracy has been superb, best proven by his 112.1 passer rating and 24 touchdowns against just three interceptions. In November, the numbers were 12 TDs and no picks.

A win and a Green Bay loss gives Minnesota the NFC North title. The Vikings also can earn a playoff spot if they win or tie, the Giants lose and the Falcons lose or tie.

This could be one of the season's most entertaining games if Arizona's Kurt Warner is recovered from the post-concussion symptoms that sidelined him for last week's final-play loss at Tennessee. Who wouldn't want to see a shootout between two of the sport's best gunslingers?

The league's top-ranked defense yardage-wise will be on display at Lambeau Field, and it doesn't belong to the usually stingy Ravens. They are 10th.

Green Bay has won three straight since that stunning upset loss in Tampa, and the switch to the 3-4 is taking root under coordinator Dom Capers. But without LB Aaron Kampman and CB Al Harris for the rest of the season, the unit will be tested, especially on the ground this week by budding star Ray Rice.

The Chargers, who have a deep receiving corps and a revitalized LaDainian Tomlinson, have won six in a row and are thinking of a playoff bye. You can't doubt them considering they haven't lost a December game since 2005 (14-0), but they do face Dallas, Cincinnati and surging Tennessee this month.

``I think when you get to this point it's in the back of your mind,'' coach Norv Turner said about the fight for playoff seeding. ``But to me it's scary because the No. 1 thing, I don't care who you are, you want to qualify for the playoffs and that's a starting point. Then once you do that, you start thinking about, 'Hey, we want to be in the best position we can.' ``

Cleveland is in about the worst position it could imagine.

The first of three NFC East games for the Giants, who probably need a sweep to have any chance of winning the division. New York's most impressive victory this year was at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas' home opener, but the Giants have struggled against quality opposition all season.

The Cowboys really have come around on defense, allowing no more than 17 points in the last five games. And their receiving corps, sparked by New Jersey's Miles Austin, has been dynamic, presenting matchup problems for New York.

Some teams let losses linger. Bill Belichick always has managed to avoid that problem in New England, but the Patriots are operating on a short week, are on the road, and were overwhelmed by New Orleans on Monday night.

They can pretty much put away the AFC East title by beating the Dolphins, who folded even worse than the Patriots last weekend, yielding 24 points at Buffalo in the final period. Miami has been outscored 134-74 in the fourth quarter.

An ugly month ended nicely on the field for Josh McDaniels and the Broncos with their convincing victory over the Giants. It was still ugly on the sideline, though, where a national TV audience heard the young coach cursing to a group of players.

McDaniels shouldn't have such issues against the Chiefs. Their rout on Sunday at the hands of San Diego was disheartening, following as it did an upset of the Steelers. KC has to be more careful with the ball.

Michael Vick's return to Atlanta has become a sidebar - and not a very meaningful one - because his role has been so minimal in Philly. The Eagles have a potent offense when everyone can get on the field, but concussions to Brian Westbrook and now DeSean Jackson are limiting them. The defense has made up for some of that with 25 takeaways, including 18 interceptions, meaning Atlanta QB Chris Redman, filling in for the injured Matt Ryan, must be very careful.

Unfortunately for the Falcons, RB Michael Turner aggravated a right ankle sprain in the close win over Tampa Bay.

So much for the Steelers being a big, happy, championship-winning family. Hines Ward's comments about Ben Roethlisberger sitting out the loss at Baltimore shattered that image, even if Ward later apologized.

If the Steelers fall here, the entire squad might have to make mea culpas to the Terrible Towel community. It would mean four straight defeats and, yes, a strong chance of not making the playoffs.

What to make of the Texans, who can't stand what limited prosperity they've managed in their eight years of existence? They seemed primed for their first playoff berth, but have flopped three straight weeks, including twice to AFC South boss Indianapolis in games they led.

A loss to the inconsistent Jaguars would eliminate postseason talk in Houston, and revive it in Jacksonville, which still has Indy and New England on its schedule.

Cincinnati gets back to playing real opponents next week at Minnesota. Then again, the Bengals stumbled two weeks ago at Oakland, so looking ahead would be foolhardy.

Larry Johnson's rushing performance last weekend means Cincy doesn't have to rush back Cedric Benson. Carson Palmer could have a huge day against the lowest-ranked defense in the NFL.

Both teams come off impressive wins, although San Francisco's was even more so because it was over Jacksonville. The Niners are vulnerable to the run, but the Seahawks had been one of the league's worst teams on the ground. Then Seattle turned to second-year back Justin Forsett. He had 123 yards in a loss at Arizona and in the win at St. Louis he produced 130 yards rushing and two scores.

Give the Bucs some kudos for playing much better the last month, with the exception of a blowout by New Orleans, which can happen to anybody (right, Patriots?). They beat the Packers and barely lost to the Dolphins and Falcons.

Carolina probably is better off letting QB Jake Delhomme rest that broken finger.

There is a reason to watch this game. Wait, we're trying to find it. Oh yeah, Rams RB Steven Jackson, who leads the NFC with 1,120 yards rushing and never backs down.