Going for Two: Week Nine Final Drive

For a while, I couldn't tell if all NFL teams had decided to play without coaches on the field. Then I noticed that the coaches were there, they were in camouflage.

Better to lose to undefeated teams.

Too many Packer games have been decided on that final drive - too many for my liking, and I was just happy when the game ended and we could be put out of our misery. And at least there is a team in the NFC that is undefeated. Then the Football Gods deigned to knock the Denver Broncos down a notch in Indiana today. Sure, my pick was wrong on that, but it was one I almost didn't want to get right. With that loss, Denver is the biggest loser this week, going from projected Super Bowl Champions to having to play in the Wild Card round. The Super Bowl now looks like New England and Carolina, and no teams will be making it to the playoffs with a losing record. Well, so long as Philadelphia and San Diego do the needful and win. If both lose, the Giants go to post-season at 8 & 8. If the Eagles had lost, they would have joined Denver as the biggest losers this week. Instead, NFC East fans should take solace that Philly is now projected to go 10 & 6.

In calculation news, once again, the original calculation does better than anything else this week - it predicted Carolina. Even my benchmarking site assumed that Green Bay could win in Charlotte. That is projected to be the Packers last loss of the season, unless my original calculation is right through week Week 11 when we are projected to lose in the Twin Cities and play the now evenly ranked Minnesota Vikings.

But I think that the Packers need this. I didn't see very good teams when I watched them last Sunday night and today, and I would worry about the prospect for the team I saw in the playoffs. They need to look inwardly and fix something - I don't know what - so they can be the 14 & 2 team that my Mid-Season calculation predicts.