I had my worst week of the year last week going 2-3. I’m 26-10 on the year. I am not too upset about last week though, because in case I hadn’t mentioned it…I was at the Chiefs game, which was awesome. Anyhoo, looking for a solid bounce back week. Amazingly, no teams are on bye this week. So let’s dive in to 5 for Friday.

Who’s going “Higher” in the standings: Vikings @ Packers

Apparently Kirk Cousins is forcing his teammates to listen to Creed before games in the locker room. This is the most Kirk Cousins thing ever. If you watched the Netflix series Quarterback, then you know Kirk is probably the dorkiest guy in the league. He shops at Kohl’s (or at least his wife shops for him there). He doesn’t really say bad words and sometimes wears really large chains while not wearing a shirt. Kirk is very likable but lets be honest, most of us wrote him and the Vikings off when they were 1-4 and Justin Jefferson got hurt. Since then they beat the hapless bears and the “unstoppable” 49ers. Now they face a Packers team that I thought would be solid but have turned out to be pretty terrible. I don’t think Jordan Love is the answer but they haven’t been helped by the injury bug. Pretty much all their best offensive players have been hurt at some point including Aaron Jones who is on one of my fantasy team and hasn’t really played a lot since the first week. Both teams somehow still have a great chance of making the playoffs. But I like the directions the Vikings are headed. Kirk takes the Vikings Higher and gets them to .500. Also, my son told me the other day that he likes Nickelback. I laughed because I thought he was joking. Is Nickelback cool now? Is that what the world has come to?

Vikings 31 Packers 17

Jersey Shore: NY Jets @ NY Giants…in New Jersey

The Jets and Giants share a field. To make things even better, that field is in New Jersey. Also, the field sucks and people always get hurt on it. Anyway, the Jets are coming off a bye but have been playing some great defense and some just good enough offense. Zach Wilson is played average at QB which is a huge improvement for him. On the other side, the Giants have been without Daniel Jones the last two weeks and have been drastically more competitive. Tyrod Taylor has filled in and led his team to an impressive 23 points of offense the last two weeks. That’s 23 points combined…not 23 points per game. And yes, it is still an improvement. But good offenses struggle against this Jets D so I don’t like the Giants offensive chances no matter who is playing QB. Assuming Zach Wilson continues to play average and doesn’t turn the ball over a bunch, the Jets should win this one pretty easily because the Giants are just awful.

Jets 23 Giants 10

Battle of the hair: Jaguars @ Steelers

This game is the battle of first round quarterbacks who need a hair cut. Trevor Lawrence has played solid since heading to London. They’ve come back and taken care of business against the Colts and Saints and are now in great position to win their division. The defense has been solid and the offense has a lot of weapons. I have Lawrence in one of my fantasy leagues and am highly annoyed by Travis Etienne who keeps scoring all the touchdowns. But the Jags have looked good, winning 4 in a row. The Steelers have stayed competitive, mostly due to their defense that continues to be a dominant force. But the offense hasn’t looked terrible the last couple of weeks either. The Steelers don’t need a lot of offense to win, they just need to be functional. Prior to the year, I was high on the Jags and thought the Steelers would make the playoffs. I think both still happen but I like the Jags in this one. Even on the road, I think the Jags are the clear better team all the way around. And let’s be honest, Lawrence has way better hair.

Jaguars 24 Steelers 20

The System QB vs Brock Purdy: Bengals @ 49ers

I know a lot of people are critical of Brock Purdy and say he is a system QB. And he has struggled the last two weeks. Brock is a bit limited and facing adversity for the first time in his career. But Burrow might also be a system QB. I think Burrow is solid but when has Burrow played and had success without an all star cast? At LSU he was throwing to Chase and Justin Jefferson. Now he is throwing to Chase, Higgins and Boyd. Not a tough life. Brock also has a ton of weapons and a very good defense. The defense didn’t look as dominant this past week though. Burrow and company are better than Kirk and the Vikings. Both these teams need this win. The Bengals have a tough schedule and dropping to 3-4 is not ideal. The 49ers obviously don’t want to lose 3 in a row. This should be a very good game. My prediction really comes down to which thing I can imagine more, the Bengals being 3-4 or the 49ers losing 3 in a row. Both are possible, but I’ll take the 49ers in a bounce back game.

49ers 30 Bengals 24

The quiet game: Chiefs @ Broncos

Most Sundays are filled with fun and joy as my family hangs out and watches football most of the day. Although secretly, neither my wife or I want the other person’s team to win, we play nice and cheer along and congratulate each other on the win. Well she congratulates me and I say “sorry your team lost, again.” But everyone is cordial and tries to enjoy the day together. But two weeks out of the football season, things are different. Her Broncos and My Chiefs play each other. This year, the combination of games come very close together. We already had a Thursday night game and now after one week off, we are back at it. Typically, this is the quietest Sunday of the year. Danielle and I sit on opposite sides of the couch and try not to cheer to loud when are team does well. This year, my Sister will be here for the awkwardness. Perhaps she can sit in the middle of the couch. After the game the winner tries to leave the loser alone and not brag to much. The next morning we wake up and everything is okay again. The good news is after this week we don’t have to worry about this again until 2024.

As far as the game goes, the Chiefs are one win away from beating the Broncos for an entire season. They have won 16 in a row. One more and it is a whole season of winning. I really thought the Broncos would be better this year. Not good, but better. But they are the same mess that they always are or at least have been since 2015. The Chiefs have dominated the division since then and Mahomes has only lost 3 division games. He is undefeated against the Broncos but the winning streak started even before him. I thought this would be the year that it ended. But I just don’t see it happening so we will have to wait until at least 2024 for the streak to end. Speaking of streaks, I read the following this morning. Mahomes is 12-0 against the Broncos. He is a ridiculous 16-0 against the division in road games. He is 25-0 against teams that are more than 2 games below .500. All streaks must come to an end. But not this week.

Chiefs 30 Broncos 17