Colts coach Jim Caldwell on Sunday showed the ugly side of what can happen when NFL reality intrudes upon fantasy football. This week, Chris Johnson will try to do the opposite. Caldwell, in pursuit of a silly, little thing called the Vince Lombardi Trophy, bungled the Colts’ run at a perfect season and fouled up fantasy playoffs everywhere by benching Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne, among others, and lost to the Jets.

It’s about the time of year when the Colts start resting up for a playoff run, a development that annually spells trouble for fantasy teams banking on Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark and Joseph Addai. Fortunately for those Colts owners deep in the fake playoffs, there’s probably at least one more game of regular-season effort left in Indianapolis.

As the long-awaited fantasy football playoffs get under way this week, one of the most troubling matchups takes place in Minnesota. The Vikings’ Adrian Peterson is coming off a horrible game, has been unimpressive for three weeks and faces a Cincinnati run defense that ranks second in the NFL. On the other side, Bengals back Cedric Benson has only been back from a hip injury for a week and runs up against the Vikings’ No. 3 run defense.

Anybody whose fantasy football playoff run still includes Carson Palmer and Chad Ochocinco has a big problem: They aren’t all that important to the Bengals’ playoff run. Of course they do play crucial roles in Cincinnati’s offense, just not in that statistical way that’s ever-so important to fantasy geeks. The Bengals are 8-3, dominating their division and apparently playoff-bound thanks to that age-old formula of running the ball and playing good defense.

Afew short weeks ago, Vince Young was the poster child for NFL busts, a first-round draft pick with a permanent spot on the bench after apparently losing all confidence and football ability. Now that Young has led the Titans to four consecutive wins, even his fake career is back on track as he’s become a solid option for fantasy football teams needing quarterback help. In fact, he could be a big factor for teams making late pushes for the fantasy postseason.

Ever since the discovery of the wildcat offense, it’s been difficult to take Miami’s Ronnie Brown out of any fantasy lineup. This may be the week where you want to show him the bench, though. Brown is coming off a 27-yard game - which ties his worst output in 21 games since the unveiling of the high school-style scheme - and returns to the stadium where it all began. Tomorrow, he’ll face the Patriots, who surely are still bitter over his 113 yards and four TDs against them in the wildcat’s debut last year.

There’s a small group of stars who are so great you can never leave them out of your fantasy football lineup, regardless of matchup, recent performance or minor injuries. Now that it’s halfway through the fantasy season in many leagues, it’s time to call out some impostors who’ve slipped out of that no-brainer category. So goodbye, Steve Smith (no TDs). Adios, Clinton Portis (no line, little hope), LaDainian Tomlinson (1 TD, 2 missed games), Brian Westbrook (injuries, age) and Marion Barber (fragile time-sharer). See you later, Matt Forte (sophomore slump ends brief stay in this group). And if it weren’t for a 200-yard game that makes it just too scary to bench him, Frank Gore would be out, too, thanks to injury and the 1940s offense he plays in.

As Brett Favre puts his 40th birthday in the rearview mirror, fantasy football players are wondering the same thing everybody else is: Can he really keep doing this? He’s off to a blistering start for the unbeaten Vikings, with 12 touchdowns, four multiple-TD games and an average of 270 yards in the past four contests. That’s enough for some fantasy players to plug him into the starting lineup, or at least consider it most weeks.

Where many NFL fans see hideous matchups, fantasy football players see opportunity. Consider the worst of this week’s schedule, the disastrous clash between the Rams and Jaguars. Or the slightly less heinous showdown between the Panthers and Buccaneers. While these games will prompt many viewers to reach for the remote, fantasy geeks will be drawn to the potential points offered up by the Rams (allowing 29 points a game), Bucs (28 points a game), Jags (30th-ranked pass defense) or Panthers (No. 30 run defense).

The crisis has gotten so bad that maybe the NFL should consider a fantasy football bailout package. Tony Romo and Terrell Owens are terrible. Many suspected fantasy disaster for each after their high-profile divorce, but this bad? T.O.‘s departure was supposed to make the Dallas offense “Romo-friendly,“ and his arrival in Buffalo was supposed to make that offense at least viewer-friendly. Yet the pair that combined for 34 touchdowns in 43½ games isn’t doing anything apart. Already this year T.O. had his 185-game reception streak broken and Romo went without a TD pass for two straight weeks for the first time. This time last year, they had hooked up for four scores.

Weekly contest in which the contestant with the highest point total wins a prize. Points are determined by performance of pro football players based on scoring system.

Week 12 winner Dan Lindsey not only won last week’s pool, but he also posted the high score of the year - 109, leaving himself in position to win the $500 grand prize.