Oh, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Well, if your team is headed to the playoffs…. Oh, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Well, if your team is headed to the playoffs. Actually, it’s beyond wonderful and borderline fantastic if you have a spot in the playoffs clinched before Week 17 rolls around.

Such is the case for the Indianapolis Colts, whose 12-0 record has already guaranteed them a spot in the upcoming festivities. Tony Dungy’s squad is a one win over pesky Jacksonville away from wrapping up the AFC South division.

Should that happen, and it appears even more inevitable that it will with each passing week, the debate is going to arise over whether or not Dungy should sit the starters for his offensive juggernaut to prevent injury in what are essentially meaningless games.

He has to give this common practice second thoughts this year, though, as his team is on the cusp of NFL immortality – a perfect season, the likes of which have never been done in a full 16-game regular season. As enticing as that precedent would be to set, he would still be only a fluke injury to Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison or any other star on either side of the ball, away from ruining the season.

Regardless, Tony Dungy isn’t the one faced with the bigger decision when it comes to who takes the field in the final weeks of the season. Who is? You’re going to have to dig all the way down into the basement of not only the AFC South, but also the entire league to decipher who does.

Sitting your starters when your team is 12-0 and destined for playoff greatness is common coaching theory. Doing the same when your team is clearly out of contention is another, although it’s less conventional.

A lot can be said against the idea of intentionally losing games once a season is lost. It’s embarrassing to the franchise, it upsets fans and generally goes against the very idea of competition in professional sports. Fans don’t want to see their money going to a franchise that isn’t going to do its best every single game, regardless of the situation at hand.

What I think is lost in the logic, however, is that franchises can’t be treated as just teams. They are businesses, organizations that need make economically sound decisions to better the future of the franchise. No season in recent memory brings this issue more to light than the 2005 NFL season.

The Houston Texans and San Francisco 49ers have both stumbled to miserable seasons, the Texans a league-worst 1-11 that has been every bit as laughable as it has been pathetic. The 49ers have been more competitive in their games, but still have only one more win than Houston to show for it.

With the realistic possibility of 1-15 and 2-14 finishes in sight, one can’t help but wonder what incentive there is to win this year. There is too much at stake – and by too much, I mean the most dynamic game-changer in years in USC tailback Reggie Bush, to win meaningless ballgames.

Bush is what every franchise could possibly want. He’s electrifying, a smart football player and he has the potential to go the distance every time he touches the ball. Just ask Fresno State and UCLA, teams that Bush knifed through for 554 rushing yards on his way to a likely Heisman trophy.

The junior is all but certain to come out for this spring’s draft. While other teams remain in contention for the No. 1 pick, Houston has the edge, if that’s what you want to call the worst record in the league, on the rest of the pack. What makes this even more interesting is the Texans’ matchup in Week 17.

A trip to Monster Park for a real pillow fight with San Francisco.

Think of this game as two declawed kittens in a fight to the death. Neither one can really hit hard, each just kind of bats softly at the other while looking really gentle and harmless. Eventually, though, one of them has to go down.

If this were a MAC game, it would surely be a Tuesday-night affair. I mean, who would really want to win this game?

Look, nobody wants to finish 1-15, but by the same token, nobody should want to win that game and lose the opportunity to draft Bush. Economically, he is the investment that any team could use. Both teams do have glaring needs elsewhere, meaning the No. 1 pick could even be used as incredible trade bait to get help elsewhere.

I am not always a proponent of this practice, but this year is different. Reggie Bush is different. Losing now could be the new way to win later, and Houston has the chance right now to prove that.

That being said, I think you’ll see more incomplete passes, one-yard runs and fumbles than you ever thought you would see in a game, not that it contrasts the game these teams play in now. That game will boil down to the central question: Who wants it less?

Geoff Dutelle is the sports editor of The Pitt News. E-mail him at [email protected].