It looked like a good idea at the time.

The matchup of the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants against a contender like the Houston Oilers in a Saturday game on national television in the season finale looked attractive last August.

Now it's a game between a team that has been eliminated from the playoffs and one that has clinched its division title and is only hoping to get a first-round bye.

Meanwhile, the Giants are going to spend a long off-season looking for answers. Can Ray Handley be a good head coach? Did this team just suffer a post-Super Bowl hangover year or does it need a major overhaul? Tune in next year for the answers. There won't be any today.

Oilers (-3) 20, Giants 14 -- The Oilers are checking their antifreeze and tuning up for that AFC title game in Buffalo next month. They survived a snowstorm in Cleveland last Sunday, and now they get to work in the wind in the Meadowlands.

Vikings (-5 1/2 ) 20, Packers 17 -- The only thing interesting about this game will be the no-show count. How many loyalists will show up on the Saturday before Christmas to watch a game that means nothing to either team?

Last week's record: 11-3. Against the spread: 8-5-1. Best bets: 1-3.

Season record: 148-62. Against the spread: 106-97-7. Best bets: 33-29-2.