Upon Further Review: Packers win but don't cover, 10-3

A disappointing end to a disappointing season. The Packers struggled all game and eked out a hard-fought 10-3 win. This game was slightly frustrating in that, as I said, the Bears had nothing to play for, but yet they still played their starters the entire game. The Bears' defense looked pretty impressive, though, and the Packers looked fairly out-of-sync on offense. In fact, the Packers probably won this game by virtue of the big performances by some of their unheralded defensive backups.

One thought about why this game turned out poorly: the blowout theory. Indeed, the Packers were coming off a 45-17 drubbing of the Giants, and I've previously hypothesized that teams emerging from such blowouts rarely win big the following week. It's something that, if I have time, I'll check on in the offseason.

I plan on unwinding from this season and doing a little big picture thinking about what went wrong. I may then do a few offseason posts explaining the main lessons learned from this season and trying to regroup for a better season 3 of BadNFL. Until then.

Week 17 Pick: Packers -9 vs. Bears

I think that the Bears will have little more than pride to play for, and the Hilton contestants overwhelmingly picked this game (albeit at -6.5, which is quite a bit better).  I wouldn't be shocked if the Bears, should they fall behind, plug in their backups in the 2nd half. Packers will turn this one into a blowout late.

It's way too late to salvage a respectable season for BadNFL, but it'd be nice to at least end on a high note.

Upon Further Review: Raiders Lose 26-31

Well the Raiders made a game of it, but didn't quite cover the 3-point line.  For the second time (including my Chiefs/Seahawks pick), picking a strong running team against a porous run defense didn't work. The Raiders' top two RBs were held to a lackluster 64 yards on 14 carries. 

Indy looks good heading into the stretch run. Other than that, I don't have a ton to say. This wasn't a great pick; I'm really running out of steam at the end of the year.