01:00 AM EST on Monday, December 20, 2004

So, when do you suppose Archie Manning is going to call Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi and demand that his son, Eli, be traded to the Chargers?

When does Archie put his foot down and say there's only one team in the NFL that Eli doesn't want to play for, and it's the Giants?

When does Archie point out that it's not personal, it's business, but he just doesn't want his baby boy suffering through the same sort of painful -- emotionally, as well as physically -- sort of career he had with those perennially-losing, stumblebum Saints in New Orleans?

In other words, when does Archie start saying the same things about the Giants he was saying about the Chargers just prior to this year's draft?

Remember how it was, back in April, when the Family Manning embarrassed -- and, yes,

angered, too -- the San Diego organization by saying, in so many words, that Marty Schottenheimer was a lame-duck coach, general manager A.J. Smith was in over his head and likely would be following Schottenheimer out the door, and that the Chargers were losers, and always would be losers, and that there was no way Eli ever was going to play for them?

Put all that under the category of Be Careful What You Wish For.

Because they're laughing in San Diego now, and you can hear it all the way across the country in north Jersey, where the Giants and their rookie QB are buried almost as deep in the NFC East as Jimmy Hoffa is under their mausoleum of a stadium in the Meadowlands.

While the Giants, a dismal 4-12 last year under the since-fired Jim Fassel, lost their fifth straight game Saturday to fall to 5-9, the Chargers rolled to their eighth straight victory yesterday in Cleveland to improve their record to 11-3 and clinch the AFC West title.

Schottenheimer, the coach the Mannings thought was going to get fired, could be coach of the year in the AFC. Meanwhile, in New York, the Giants are on the brink of mutiny under the iron hand of Tom Coughlin, who's either a disciplinarian or a dictator, depending on whether his team is winning or losing. Which, at the moment, places him on a par with Captain Bligh.

Smith, the guy the Mannings thought was overmatched by the complexities of player procurement in the NFL, not only has overseen the rebuilding of an offensive line Archie was convinced would get Eli killed, but also is holding the Giants' first-round pick in 2005, which promises to be a high one. Not to mention that Smith has structured San Diego's salary cap so that the Chargers can slap a "franchise" label on suddenly-stellar QB Drew Brees and keep both him and rookie Philip Rivers for another year if they want.

So who's the smart one now?

It was on April 20 that Archie flew to San Diego and had dinner with Smith and Schottenheimer. The next day, Manning informed the Chargers, through agent Tom Condon of IMG, that Eli did not want to play -- indeed, would not play -- for the Chargers.

There had been rumors floating around the league last spring that Archie and Eli were concerned about the fact the Chargers had had just four winning seasons in two decades, and none since 1995. Nor did a quick turnaround seem likely in San Diego, with apparent weak spots along the offensive line and at wide receiver.

Throw in the fact the IMG was drooling over the endorsement potential of having a hot young QB in NYC, and it's hardly surprising that Condon was pushing to have Eli wind up with the Giants.

"I regret," Archie said last spring, "that this all became public. That wasn't our intention. I wish we could have kept it behind the scenes."

That was understandable, because it made Eli look like a prima donna and Archie like a control freak. It's even more true now, because the Mannings also look ridiculous.

As do the Giants, who could have saved themselves lots of money, aggravation, and their first-round pick next year if they'd allowed Manning to work out his own problems with the Chargers and instead drafted Ben Roethlisberger.

Big Ben added to his NFL rookie record by leading the Steelers to their 12th straight victory Saturday over the struggling Giants and Manning, who now is 0-5 since replacing veteran Kurt Warner as the starter.

No wonder that Giants fans are questioning both Coughlin's apparently premature decision to get Eli into the lineup, and Accorsi's decision to make that draft-day deal to obtain Manning from the Chargers, rather than simply selecting Roethlisberger.

"I'm just thankful that everything worked out the way it did," Eli said on draft day. "Things could have turned out a whole lot worse. This is a terrific situation."

That was then. Now, as it turns out, things couldn't be a whole lot worse in New York, while, thanks to Smith and Schottenheimer, the situation in San Diego is as good as it's been in years.

"We didn't do this on a whim," Archie said. "We've given it a lot of thought."

You think maybe the Mannings -- and the Giants -- are having second thoughts now?

But don't think for even a second that there's any second-guessing going on in Pittsburgh or San Diego.