Another week, another … tie.

Mercifully, the season is down to its final week. Andy and Tony have gone back and forth with hot and cold streaks all season and now it will finally be done.

Week 17 Tie 8-8
Season Tony 128-127-1

So, who takes the prize. Gets the imaginary trophy? We’ll find out here.

1 Tony – Colts over Jaguars – The Colts are technically still playing for that last playoff spot–a win here locks it up. A loss here is both embarrassing and opens the door to others jumping in front of them. The Colts will take care of business.

2 Andy – Titans over Texans – Inexplicably, with all the injuries and relatively ordinary play this season from QB Ryan Tannehill, Tennessee is a win away from being the AFC’s top seed. I did not see that coming. But I also do not see Houston being a major impediment to accomplishing that goal.

3 Andy – Chiefs over Broncos – The team with the most to gain from a Tennessee stumble would be Kansas City, which fell out of the top spot with last week’s loss to Cincinnati. The Chiefs now likely will hold the 2 seed, but they’ll destroy Denver, just in case.

4 Tony – Bills over Jets – Surprised this one is still on the board, even at 4. The Jets just don’t look that good, and the Bills seem to have figured it back out, with three wins in a row.

5 Andy – Patriots over Dolphins – I guess that’s why you’re winning this contest and I’m in the last week chasing. In this game, a battle between the two QBs who screwed us over in a fantasy league where we run a team together (yeah, yeah, I know, we kind of screwed ourselves relying on these two, but what fun is accepting responsibility) … Not sure which QB is better, but the Patriots are better than the Dolphins and still have a shot at the AFC East if, somehow, the Bills stumble against the Jets.

6 Tony – Packers over Lions – Sure, the Packers might rest some starters, especially in the second half. But I still take the Packers.

7 Andy – Buccaneers over Panthers – If Tampa can get off to a good start it shouldn’t take Carolina long to pack it in. If they don’t get off to a good start, it’s not all that unlikely that Carolina packs it in anyway.

8 Tony – Rams over 49ers – The 49ers are capable of winning this game, but I don’t think that the Rams defense allows it to happen.

9 Andy – Bears over Vikings – Of all of the players, executives, fellow coaches and himself he had available to rip on after last week’s blowout loss to Green Bay, why did Mike Zimmer choose Kellen Mond, a third-round draft pick nobody expected would be ready to step up this season? This game would seem to feature two dead-men walking head coaches, but where the Bears have at least been relatively competitive the last couple weeks, I think the Vikings have already started their offseason.

10 Tony – Cardinals over Seahawks – Much like the 49ers/Rams, the Seahawks are capable of winning this game–but I suspect that the team has checked out a little bit, especially with all the ongoing Russell Wilson/Pete Carroll drama.

11 Andy – Saints over Falcons – New Orleans is suspect offensively, but really is playing playoff-level defense. Atlanta is pretty much done.

12 Tony – Cowboys over Eagles – The Eagles have shocked me this year, but I don’t think they’re good enough to knock off the Cowboys, unless the Cowboys decide to coast into the playoffs.

13 Andy – Bengals over Browns – It’s looked to me for a couple months now like the Cowboys planned to coast into the playoffs. One team definitely not coasting right now is Cincinnati. If the Bengals keep putting effort into it, they’ll win this game. Even if they pull their foot off the gas, they still might.

14 Tony – Football Team over Giants – Kind of disappointed I missed that one–although I also think that it looks like Kevin Stefanski hasn’t gotten all the Vikings out of his blood–with his backup QB this week, could be a good week to get the moral victory to end the season. Here, in the Football Team’s last game as The Football Team, before changing their team name to something else that half of Washington fans won’t care about because they still want to be the old name, and still won’t clear the organization of the underwear stain that their owner is, they’ll take down the Giants because … well, the Giants suck.

15 Andy – Raiders over Chargers – So, really I think LA is going to beat LV. But whenever I think the Raiders are going to do well this season, they suck. And vice versa. The same is true to a slightly lesser extent with the Chargers. So, I’m probably overthinking a double-negative and should be picking the Chargers. But … this is tying my brain in knots and I should probably go focus on some work that will actually derive a paycheck someday.

16 Tony – Ravens over Steelers – The last pick of the season … fitting that I have no idea on it. I think if Lamar Jackson was fully healthy, it’d be an obvious Ravens pick. Even with him hurt (or out, and Huntley playing) I’m leaning Ravens, mostly because I think Big Ben shot his final shot last week.

There won’t be as much drama with straight-up picks, which Tony has dominated for most of the season. He added another game to his lead in week 17.

Andy Tony
Week 17 10-6 11-5
Season 146-108-1 160-94-1

It’s unlikely Andy can pull off a 15 game swing in one week, so who really cares, but … here goes anyway.

Andy Tony
Colts Colts
Titans Titans
Chiefs Chiefs
Bills Bills
Patriots Patriots
Packers Packers
Buccaneers Buccaneers
49ers Rams
Bears Vikings
Cardinals Cardinals
Saints Falcons
Eagles Cowboys
Bengals Bengals
Football Team Football Team
Raiders Chargers
Steelers Ravens