Donovan McNabb, perhaps the best Chicago-born football player to get out of the Windy City, whipped the city's favorite sons, Da Bears, and he whipped them bad in a 33-19 NFC divisional playoff victory. Boston's Red Sox may be cursed by the loss of Babe Ruth. Bulls management broke up Jordan's team. Now, the curse has carried over to Soldier Field.

McNabb, you see, was a big fan of Jordan growing up. As hard as the Bears rushed him, McNabb's Air Jordans had him floating on top of the slightly frozen grass of Soldier Field.

"I still wear the Jordan brand of shoes," McNabb said. "I guess we're two up."

	Donovan McNabb's dunk after a 5-yard TD run was the exclamation mark.

McNabb wouldn't say that his goal-post dunk following a 5-yard touchdown run with 3:21 left was Jordanesque. His performance Saturday was. McNabb accounted for 299 of the Eagles' 336 yards. He completed 26 of 40 passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns. He had eight carries for 37 yards and one touchdown. If that wasn't enough, McNabb's mother provided even more Chicago home-cooking.

On Friday night at the team's downtown Chicago hotel, McNabb's mother cooked the Eagles' evening meal. She had 15 varieties of entrees, including Donovan's favorite red beans and rice. During the week, she took orders from the players.

"Mom had great food for us," McNabb said.

Well-fed, McNabb and the Eagles ate up the Bears' defense. Watching McNabb win his third playoff game in four tries over the past two seasons, it's easy to see that the Eagles will win a Super Bowl with him at quarterback. Even though it's only his third season, McNabb is maturing well past his years.

Saturday's examples were many, but the most important play came on his biggest mistake. Less than three minutes into the third quarter, McNabb threw a pass toward James Thrash that was slightly off the mark. R.W. McQuarters tipped it. Cornerback Jerry Azumah returned it 39 yards for a touchdown that gave the Bears a 14-13 lead even though the Eagles had owned the first half by holding the ball 20:17 of the first 30 minutes.

McNabb chased Azumah fruitlessly into the end zone, but he returned to the sideline clapping. He was confident. The bad play was behind him. Like most great quarterbacks, he started to focus on the next opportunity. Like Joe Montana, McNabb had the look of a champion.

"He's definitely our leader," halfback Duce Staley said. "You know, coming in as a rookie, you saw it in his eyes. We knew this game was going to be special for him, coming home. We knew he was going to be crazy out there."

McNabb came to the sidelines and assembled as many offensive players as he could. His directions were simple.

"My job is to get the guys together and make sure we move forward and not worry about what happened," McNabb said. "I told them it was my fault. I told them we're going to get this drive and we are going to get it back in the end zone. They hadn't been stopping us all day. We had been stopping ourselves. Guys are going to look in your eyes. As a quarterback, you've got to drive off that. You could see the confidence in our huddle."

McNabb kept the offense's composure so that, one possession later, the Eagles drove 36 yards for what turned out to be the game-winning TD. On a third-and-14, McNabb kept his Air Jordans moving in the pocket. He ran right and left to buy time until he spotted tight end Jeff Thomason for a 30-yard gain to the Bears' 10.

Two plays later on a second-and-goal from the Bears' 6, coach Andy Reid emptied the backfield. No one covered halfback Duce Staley, so McNabb audibled to a quick count and looked directly at Staley.

"Donovan threw me a bullet," Staley said. "When I saw the ball coming, I thought, 'Donovan, don't do me like this.' "

Staley caught the touchdown pass to open a 20-14 lead and the Eagles never looked back. McNabb executed two time-consuming field-goal drives of 11 and four plays in the fourth quarter to open a 26-17 lead.

Had McNabb looked dejected following that third-quarter interception, the Eagles might have regressed. But this team is on a mission. They want to be a Super Bowl team. They know they have a Super Bowl quarterback. Reid's instructions to McNabb was simple: "Get back on the horse and keep shooting."

Even Reid is amazed how quickly McNabb is developing. He seems to be doing it faster than Reid's former pupil, Brett Favre.

"The interception didn't rattle him," Reid said. "Today he showed what a composed athlete he is. He's something to watch."

	“	(Donovan McNabb) beat us. He beat us running. He beat us throwing. A couple of times, I did see where he was running and end up throwing the ball and the guy down the field was wide open. I don't know what happened, but he was successful. ”
		— Keith Traylor, Bears defensive tackle

Just like Jordan, Bears fans must have been muttering. Reid put the game plan on McNabb's shoulders and feet. The Eagles knew they couldn't run against Bears defensive tackles Ted Washington and Keith Traylor, so they let McNabb work his magic in the pocket and let Staley and rookie Correll Buckhalter run to the outside. Only three times in 31 carries did they run between the guards.

"Those two big guys in the middle do a great job of clogging the middle, so we tried to keep them off balance as much as possible," Staley said. "When one big guy was out, we tried to take advantage of that. More important, Donovan continues to develop and mature as a quarterback."

When the Eagles emptied their backfield on some third-down plays, the Bears' defense looked lost. The Eagles' offense spent the week preparing for Bears linebackers spying on McNabb, but instead, they had the linebackers drop into zones. McNabb picked them apart.

"He beat us," Traylor said. "He beat us running. He beat us throwing. A couple of times, I did see where he was running and end up throwing the ball and the guy down the field was wide open. I don't know what happened, but he was successful."

That success was a byproduct of McNabb's past two offseasons working with a trainer in Phoenix. He repeatedly worked on agility drills to help his feet feel balanced when he scrambles.

In the first quarter, for example, McNabb scrambled for an eternity and found Thrash alone on the left sideline. Thrash caught the ball and ran for a 43-yard gain.

Already, McNabb is a better quarterback than former Eagle Randall Cunningham. He's a lot like Jordan on the football field. He wears his Air Jordans well. And Chicago must hate that.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.