Redskins fans haven't seemed to find it easy to bask in any kind of glow of Saturday's 17-10 win over the Bucs. Many of us were left with a distinct feeling of escaping, of narrowly avoiding being embarrased by an opponent we had on the ropes.

Our offense certainly gave us room for worry, especially when it comes to the health of Brunnel and Portis. But we should be allowed to do a little chest-thumping over a dominant defensive performance. We gave Tampa a variety of chances to overtake our limited points output, from penalties (Taylor), to special teams gaffes (14 yard punt), to finally gift-wrapping an interception late in the fourth. Each time, we managed to keep them out of the end zone, with only a small dose of luck required on the dropped TD pass.

If you have any doubts that a team that performs like this can be loved, just look north and west to the Windy City, where the Bears have won with stout defense and ugly offense all season. With both the Skins and Bears playing teams they've already beaten this weekend, there's a decent chance that the NFC Championship game could be a collision of two teams who've won behind that formula.

Seattle is certainly not an easy mark, with home field and rest to prop them up. But they don't have Tampa's defense, and if our offense can get back to being methodical and opportunistic, we can take a good run at them. In the meantime, lets all stop turning up our collective noses at the ugly side of Saturday's game and enjoy what it was - our first playoff win in 6 years.