If you believe in such things, all should be right with the Detroit Lions beginning with today's game against the Minnesota Vikings. Team president Matt Millen and his 31-84 record was fired last month. And last week, the Curse of Bobby Layne expired.

The Curse of Bobby Layne?

It's half-myth, half-legend and all conjecture. Logically, it's hard to believe. But, as the Detroit News wrote, when dissecting the Lions' half-century of futility, why bother with logic?

There's even a Steelers tie-in. It was because of his trade to the Steelers in 1958 that he supposedly cursed the Lions; that they "would not win for 50 years." And, well, they haven't. Not much, anyway.

It's all supposition becuse nobody really heard him say it. But to fans in Detroit, it's not really important who heard it or who believes it. It's only important that as of Monday -- 50 years to the day after the trade -- that it expired.

"Bobby gets credit for a lot of things he never did, sort of embellishing the Bobby Layne mystique," Lions great Joe Schmidt told the Detroit News.

Well, we'll see. Beginning today.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times did a little case study last Sunday. It supports with numbers what has become accepted as fact over a generation: The NFL, not baseball, is the national pastime.

On Sunday, just after 1 p.m., Game 4 of the Phillies-Brewers playoff series competed directly with the Packers' kickoff against the Falcons at Green Bay. In the Milwaukee market, baseball's 12.7 rating was less than half of football's 28.7.

In Philadelphia, the same Phillies-Brewers game was shown against Redskins-Eagles. The 13.2 local rating for the division series game fell considerably below the 22.7 for football.

Arizona is 8-2 at University of Phoenix Stadium since Ken Whisenhunt took over as coach in 2007 and is riding a five-game winning streak there going into its game vs. Dallas. "I know that we have an appreciation of home-field advantage as a football team. I think our fans are starting to get a sense of that as well," Whisenhunt said.

The NFL trading deadline is Tuesday. ... Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer will not start today vs. the Jets. ... Houston made history Sunday in that Sage Rosenfels-fueled 30-27 loss to the Colts, becoming the first team in history to blow a 17-point lead in the last five minutes and lose in regulation. ... Minnesota's Adrian Peterson rushed for just 32 yards on 21 carries against the Saints Monday. His 1.52 yards-per-carry average was the lowest by an NFL running back with at least 20 carries in six seasons.