CHICAGO - A win’s a win, as they say. But the Chicago Bears' 25-24 victory over the Raiders Sunday in Las Vegas had the odor of defeat until, well, abruptly, it didn’t.

Such is the baked-in parity of the NFL . With the draft , revenue sharing, salary cap, etc. it’s as hard to be really bad as it is to be really good. Everybody’s always got a chance.

If you count on things like a last-second field goal block to win your game by a point, that’s exactly the way the league wants it. Did anybody turn off the Bears-Raiders TV game before the end? Doubt it.

It’s the little things in the NFL that make a difference between winning and losing. For instance, it’s for sure that if the Raiders had it to do over again, someone in their field goal formation would at least brush Bears rusher

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