Every week I give you 5 picks and more importantly 5 storylines for this weekend’s games. Last week I was 4-1. Let’s get started with week 12.

Broncos @ Panthers: The “Do we have to” game:

True love is watching your spouse’s team with them no matter how painful it might be. But I will definitely be asking “Do we have to” in my head. The Broncos are coming off yet another devastating loss, this one to the Raiders…again. The Panthers are coming off a 10 point loss to the Ravens in a game that was tied 3-3 for three and half quarters. This one has all the makings of that exciting Thursday night game when the Broncos played to Colts. This is before the Colts hired Jeff Saturday and became fun.

I am not one to make excuses for the Broncos as they were just as bad in the beginning of the year as they are now, but their team has been decimated by injuries. While the 49ers are typically the most injury prone team in the league, we might have a new champion this year. The ironic part is Nathaniel Hackett insisted on not playing his starters in preseason games and running light practices to keep the team healthy. This led to a slow start followed by a ton of injuries. The recent release of Mr. Fumble, Melvin Gordon, only makes them more depleted. They are down to one starting receiver, their 3rd starting running back, half an offensive line and about a 3rd of their defensive starters.

But don’t worry they still have their Quarterback. The running joke on the radio is whether or not he will finish the year with more bathrooms or touchdown passes. He has 12 bathrooms, which seems excessive. He has a ways to go to catch up with touchdown passes. Russ has been a major disappointment to say the least. To my wife’s credit, she was skeptical from the beginning. Living in Denver, I heard all offseason on the radio how this was a playoff roster and how now we have the quarterback to take them all the way. As Maury Povich would say the evidenced has determined “That was a lie!” But even Maury couldn’t have predicted it would be this bad. The combination of injuries, bad play and terrible coaching decisions has combined to make this one of the worst teams in the league. A team who the year before had a quarterback battle between Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater, somehow got worse.

Meanwhile, the Panthers have been in tank mode for what seems like the better part of a decade. Their coach was fired very early in the year. Matt Rhule seemed over his head early on and never seemed to be able to figure it out. They have had a carousel of quarterbacks which is never a good sign for a team. That with questionable play calling and a lack of leadership skills led to his demise. The Panthers fired him and traded their best player and then…got better. That tells you all you need to know about Rhule. They improved by benching Baker Mayfield, a good plan for any team to succeed, and starting PJ Walker. Walker isn’t great but can run and doesn’t turn the ball over a lot. So basically the opposite of Mayfield. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Walker got hurt and with his loss they went from an okay team back to a bad one. They mustered 3 points last week which has led to the insertion of Sam Darnold into the starting lineup. You may have forgotten Darnold but he was a top 3 draft pick a few years back. Actually it was the same year Mayfield went #1. Literally, the Panthers have 2 of the top 3 picks for the 2018 draft and would rather not start either one of them. To say Darnold has been bad would be an understatement.

All this leads to what should be a very boring, low scoring game that we will suffer through because my wife is a very loyal fan. I can’t imagine anyone, not even the Broncos losing to Sam Darnold so I think they come out on top but it won’t be pretty. But hey, a win is a win and hopefully it will make my wife happy. Happy wife, happy life.

Broncos 12 Panthers 6

Bengals @ Titans: The I-pad game

While the Broncos will take over the big screen, I do have the NFL ticket so I’ll be switching around to different games on my iPad. I’ll be checking most games for fantasy football purposes but I’ll mostly be tuned into this one, a rematch from the playoffs last year. These teams had quite the battle last year as every divisional game went down to the wire. This game was so competitive mostly because Tannehill threw 3 bad interceptions and the Bengals kicker had what might have been the greatest post season by a kicker ever.

Derrick Henry has been running over everyone and occasionally throwing touchdowns. With such a good run game and defense, they really only need Tannehill to be serviceable which he is most games but occasionally turns the ball over multiple times. The Bengals are a formidable opponent with no major weaknesses. Their o-line has started to get better and is no longer letting Joe Burrow get sacked 6 times a game. And in good news for them and one of my fantasy teams, Jamar Chase looks like he will be returning.

These teams seem pretty equally matched. The Titans are at home and highly motivated after losing last year in the playoffs as the one seed. But in a tight game I typically go with the better quarterback and kicker. The Bengals have the better of both as the Titans have Tannehill and I am not sure who their kicker is, but no matter who it is they are usually good for a botched field goal every other game. The Bengals get another big kick late for the win.

Bengals 27 Titans 24

Rams @ Chiefs: The we play down to our competition game

At the beginning of the year, I saw this game and thought this will be an exciting game. The Rams have what looked like a great roster and just won the super bowl. But it turns out the Rams have like 5 great players and then a bunch of people you have never heard of. This has led to quite possibly the worst follow up season to a super bowl victory in the history of the NFL. To make matters worse, they lost their best offensive player a couple of weeks ago. And now their quarterback is concussed…again. Honestly, if it was up to the Rams, I think they would just call it a year and forfeit the rest of their games. But the NFL doesn’t allow that so they will show up to Arrowhead on Sunday even though they don’t want to be there.

So why am I worried about this game? Well the Chiefs have a tendency to play down to their competition. I am not sure why this is. It’s like they think they need to bring us to a near heart attack every week for entertainment purposes. Hey Chiefs, we think blow outs are fun. We won’t be disappointed at all.

There are a few things I am nervous about…this feels a little like week 3 against the Colts game. We just came off a big win against the Chargers and had a revenge game against the Bucs the following week. Well, we just came off a big win against the Chargers and have a revenge game against the Bengals next week. The Rams are not good but they do have some good defensive players that can create problems for us. They are starting a quarterback who is mobile and we have absolutely no real film on. And they have absolutely nothing to lose. A team with nothing to lose can be dangerous.

The differences between this and week 3 are two things. First of all, the Colts were desperate for a win. They had to win to save their season. I firmly believe the Rams gave up on their season a couple of weeks ago and are just waiting for it to be over. Secondly, we are a much better football team now. I think their quarterback will do enough to make things uncomfortable in the first half but we take care of business in the second half and win big…or at least big for us.

Chiefs 34 Rams 20

Packers @ Eagles: The Bragging rights for my kids game

My son is huge Packers fan. It started several years ago as he got tired of not being able to please both parents by picking either the Chiefs or Broncos so he went his own way. To his credit he has been loyal and I certainly can respect and empathize with his fandom has he has suffered much disappointment. We actually went to a game at Lambeau last year for his 13th birthday which was awesome.

Unfortunately for him, his Packers have not been good this year. The loss of Davante Adams has been a big one. Rodgers seems to think he should be able to just show up and do his thing without working out with his batch of new receivers. That has not proven to be true. Rodgers is a weird dude and seems unhappy most of the time when he is playing football. He’s like the teacher who has gotten tenure but still has to keep showing up for the paycheck but doesn’t really want to be there. They show up, throw out a few assignments and begrudgingly yell at a kid here or there that is misbehaving. It is painfully obvious to all the students and faculty that the teacher doesn’t want to be there, doesn’t actually like teaching and is just counting the days down to summer break. But no one knows what to do with him because you can’t really get rid of them but you can’t really have good classes with him either. I believe this is where the Packers are at with Rodgers. They have to keep running him out there and they don’t really have better options but they know he isn’t excited about it and it is sort of painful to watch.

My daughter on the other hand really cares very little about football. Her favorite game is the Super Bowl because she knows after that, she doesn’t have to watch anymore football for several months. This makes it all the more hilarious that she won our family fantasy football league last year. A few years back in a way to attempt to fit in and be a part of the Sunday festivities she picked the Eagles as her team during their Super Bowl run. One, they were winning and two, she likes birds. She has stayed loyalish to them ever since. I say loyalish because her fandom is simply asking me if they won. If they win she says “Yay!” If they lose, she says “oh, that’s too bad.” And then she moves on with her day. Let’s be honest, we would all be healthier people if we handled our fandom in the way she does.

However, this game is different. I think she will be more invested in this one. If there is one thing that brings joy to her it is antagonizing her big brother. She knows a win means bragging rights. And her Eagles are good. They haven’t played as well the last couple of weeks but I expect a bounce back game. They have a very good defense, a great running game and a good passing game. They don’t have any glaring weaknesses.

The Packers are desperate and will play them tough because they aren’t terrible. I believe the Packers will be down a score late and driving down the field. Rodgers will throw a late interception and blame the receiver for running the wrong route. And my daughter will pick at my son about it for the next several weeks.

Eagles 30 Packers 24

Steelers @ Colts: Saturday on Monday!

I don’t know why the Jeff Saturday story line brings me so much joy but it does. I am not sure if it is because they literally picked a guy off the street and he is somewhat succeeding. I don’t know if it is because all these former coaches that 3 weeks ago had the same job as Jeff Saturday are so upset about it. I don’t know if it is because we have the same first name and both once coached high school football. Whatever the reason I am all in on Jeff Saturday and the Colts. I am even trying to map out a path for them to make the playoffs which might make Bill Cowher and Rex Ryan’s heads explode.

Well, they aren’t making the playoffs without beating the lowly Steelers. The Steelers are actually playing better once they benched Mitch Trubisky in place of Kenny Pickett. It doesn’t take much to have an upgrade over Trubisky but Pickett is an upgrade for sure. They are sort of running the ball better and they win when TJ Watt plays more than they lose.

I am openly not a Steelers fan and also don’t really like Mike Tomlin. He once tried to trip a player on the field during a game and he often has food and spit stuck in his beard which really bothers my wife. But he is a hell of a football coach. He always finishes at least .500 no matter what talent or lack of talent he has. However, he is in trouble of keeping that streak alive. At 3-7 he can only lose 1 more game to keep that record alive. This is a big game in keeping that going. If they can win this game then they have a shot. The rest of the way, they’ve got the Falcons, Panthers, Raiders, Browns and Ravens twice. Win this and win one against the Ravens and they could have a realistic shot of finishing 9-8.

The Colts on the other hand also need a win to keep their playoff hopes alive. They are running the ball better and limiting the mistakes Matt Ryan can make. They are all of the sudden playing hard and almost knocked off the Eagles. A win here might send Bill Cowher straight to the hospital with a heart attack.

When I look at these two teams, I can’t really tell which one is better. They are both flawed and have issues. But I can’t help but to think at some point the fact that Jeff Saturday really has never coached before is going to catch up with him. Normally I would go with the home team, and I certainly will be cheering for Jeff and the Colts, but I think the Steelers pull this one out on the road. Assuming TJ Watt finishes the game. If Watt gets hurt then flip the score.

Steelers 20 Colts 17

Enjoy the weekend and check back in on Tuesday for my reactions and rankings.