Mark Craig: It's Hail-Mary season

Sixteen NFL teams either have clinched a playoff spot or haven't been eliminated. Seven of them have been forced to start at least two quarterbacks. The Panthers lead the way with four, followed by the Vikings with three.

"Obviously, you hope it doesn't happen to you," said Redskins coach Joe Gibbs, who has had to turn over his team's playoff push to backup Todd Collins, who went 10 years, two days and three teams between NFL starts. "But should it happen, your backup quarterback becomes one of the most critical decisions you can make."

Gibbs put Redskins owner Daniel Snyder's money where his mouth was last season. Longtime Chiefs assistant Al Saunders was hired as associate head coach/offense. He wanted to bring Collins with him, even though Collins hadn't started a game in eight seasons with the Chiefs.

The Redskins already had aging veteran Mark Brunell penciled in to back up young starter Jason Campbell. And Gibbs had no intentions of releasing Brunell to make room for Collins.

"Most owners would have told me to hit the hills," Gibbs said. "They would have said, 'I'm not going to spend that kind of money for two [veterans] to back up a young guy.'"

For those keeping score, Collins and Brunell are a combined 73 years old with 28 years of NFL experience. They aren't the future, but Collins, 36 and in his 13th season, is one of the main reasons the Redskins (7-7) are in the thick of the NFC playoff race heading into Sunday night's must-win game against the Vikings (8-6) at the Metrodome.

With the Redskins riding a four-game losing streak, still numb from the slaying of teammate Sean Taylor and trailing the Bears in the second quarter on Dec. 6, Campbell left the game because of a dislocated left kneecap. Collins hadn't appeared in a game since 2005 and hadn't attempted a pass since 2004.

"I haven't had anybody like Todd with that kind of performance," Gibbs said. "We had Doug Williams here, but Doug had not been out of a starting role that long when he took over [in 1987] and kind of took us to the Super Bowl."

Last weekend was a busy one for Collins. He took Snyder's personal jet to Boston last Friday to be with his wife during the birth of their second child, a boy. Two days later, during a windy night at Giants Stadium, he went turnover free in his first start since 1997 when he was in Buffalo. The Redskins beat the Giants 22-10.

Collins isn't the only unusual backup-turned-starter story this season.

In Cleveland, opening-day starter Charlie Frye was traded in Week 2, setting in motion the rise of Derek Anderson, who is 9-4. In Jacksonville, Quinn Gray had to replace the injured David Garrard for three consecutive games, all of them on the road. He went 2-1 for the 10-4 Jags.

In Carolina, rookie free agent Matt Moore is 1-0 after following 44-year-old former retiree Vinny Testaverde (2-4) and former failed No. 1 overall draft pick David Carr (1-3). And now Moore will face Dallas, the team that cut him in training camp.

Yeah, the money is good. But imagine doing that for a decade with little chance of playing.

"Yeah, it can get boring," Collins said. "But it's your job, number one, and also, if that is all you can get, then you better take it because it's better than nothing."