By Mike Kahn
CBS SportsLine Executive Editor
Nov. 1, 1998

The allure of the 1998 NFL season, Part II, is perhaps more than we could even imagine.

The prospect of the Big Tuna swimming across the field in Kansas City as co-owner of first place in the AFC East wasn't a likely scenario heading into Sunday's game.

But after BT's New York Jets polished off the fading Kansas City Chiefs, the Jets joined the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins atop the division.

The even more unlikely scenario was Doug Flutie leading the Bills to their fifth consecutive victory -- knocking off Dan Marino and the Dolphins.

So the Bills, Dolphins, Jets and Patriots are in a four-way deadlock.

Pity Peyton Manning and the 1-7 Colts in the cellar.

But that's only one segment of what got the juices flowing.

THERE'S

Tennessee's Eddie George breaks away from Steelers defender Lee Flowers for a third quarter touchdown in Pittsburgh. (AP)

ONLY ONE UNDEFEATED TEAM remaining, the Denver Broncos, now that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat up the Minnesota Vikings. Sure, Randall Cunningham had another great day for the Vikes. But the Bucs pounded them into the turf, setting a franchise record with both Mike Alstott (128 yards) and Warrick Dunn (115 yards) rushing for more than 100 yards in the 27-24 victory.

That leaves the Broncos at 8-0, following their hardly impressive 33-26 win at Cincinnati. The Bengals led into the fourth quarter, and it required two more touchdowns from Terrell Davis to make it happen. Davis, by the way, again rushed for 149 yards, and now has surpassed 1,150 yards in eight games, on pace for an NFL record. More important, in just his fourth season, Davis has now edged ahead of Jim Brown's career record of 104.3 yards a game.

Oh yeah, and 38-year-old John Elway threw a couple of touchdown passes and amassed 213 yards for the Broncos. Some things never change.

The other good news is from the bottom of the pack. No longer are there any winless teams in the NFL. Those pathetic Washington Redskins utilized a handful of injuries to put in some players dying to win. And those players proved just because you aren't a starter to begin the season doesn't mean you can't win a job.

The Skins beat up the overrated New York Giants, 21-14, and now have a chance to leave the basement of the NFC East, if they can leapfrog the equally hapless Philadelphia Eagles. Let fading quarterback Gus Frerotte whine all he wants . . . at least Trent Green got a win for Redskins fans.

THE SAME GOES FOR THE WOEBEGONE Carolina Panthers, who have veteran backup quarterback Steve Beuerlein at the helm. The Panthers blew by the religious right -- uh, Mike Ditka's New Orleans Saints -- 31-17.

At least the pressure is off the Panthers now as they head into the second half. You've got to figure the Panthers and Redskins are capable of winning at least one more game.

And some things among the elite never change. Brett Favre can throw three interceptions, Steve Young can continue to be the sharpest quarterback on the planet, but the Packers still own the 49ers. Their 36-22 victory Sunday in Green Bay was just fair warning -- as the Vikings fell hard in Tampa -- that the defending NFC champs are not going to go down easy, if at all.

On the other hand, the Pittsburgh Steelers had dominated the Oilers and Eddie George -- whether they were playing in Houston, Memphis or Nashville -- for the past three seasons. So when the Oilers showed up Sunday in Pittsburgh, nobody expected anything different ... except George, on the heels of an upset loss to the Chicago Bears last week. George ran for more than 150 yards against the Steelers for the first time.

"Sometimes you have to look at yourself in the mirror and deal with what you see," George said. "We didn't like what we saw last week."

They did after Sunday's game. The Oilers were up 41-16 before the Steelers woke up with a couple of touchdowns, and made the final score a misleading 41-31. This was a blowout. The Steelers also fell into second place in the AFC Central because of another blowout. Jacksonville took sole possession of the division lead, thanks to the Pittsburgh loss and a 45-19 Jacksonville win over Baltimore. The Jags set a franchise record by scoring 42 points in the first half. They earned first place.

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. THE SECOND HALF of the road to Super Bowl XXXIII is under way. The defending champion Broncos seem well on their way to a return visit. But who they will meet in the playoffs is anybody's guess, particularly with the four-way deadlock at 5-3 in the AFC East.

Will the Packers return for their third consecutive Super Bowl appearance as NFC champs? Sunday's game goes a long way toward saying yes, but they've got to get out of their division first. The Vikings are for real, and the general consensus is the 4-4 Bucs will be a lot tougher the second half of the season than the first.

And the 49ers still linger.

Who's going to win it. Well, the preseason picks in this corner were an All-Florida Super Bowl to be played in Miami -- Jacksonville vs. Tampa Bay.

Needless to say, my conviction is slipping.