With the biggest sports story of the week already written, returning to another Sunday of the NFL regular season may seem a little anti-climactic. Perhaps more so when you consider the Redskins upcoming home game against the Green Bay Packers—both teams started out with big wins, fell into long losing streaks, got mired in the basement of their respective divisions, and only now are showing some signs of life. Both teams are enduring some hardship as well: Green Bay’s quarterback Brett Favre has been understandably distracted as his wife recovers from breast cancer, while Redskins rookie safety Sean Taylor will be benched this weekend after being picked up on a driving while intoxicated charge.

But the games get played regardless and this game pits the Packers second-ranked offense against the Skins top-ranked defense. For the Redskins, who are great at shutting down the run, it will be a real test—after all, you don’t find many smart people willing to bet their Christmas money on a defense that says, “We’re looking to force Favre to throw.” On the other side of the ball, Green Bay needs to stop Clinton Portis so bad that they’d be willing to sign a Jersey barrier to the practice squad.

If even after the Red Sox big win, you aren’t sated in your thirst for sports weirdness, unforgiving curses, lunar eclipses and bizarre twists of fate, remember the last Redskins home game before the Presidential election has, since the team’s incarnation as the Redskins in (guess where?) Boston, been a 100% predictor of the election day outcome. To make a long story short: if the Redskins win, Bush returns; if the Packers win, Kerry ascends. A revelation of the universe’s grand design? Or just a foolishly heeded statistical coincidence? After these teams take the field, it’s no sleep till Tuesday.

(Written by DCist correspondent Jason Linkins)