With three weeks left in the season, the playoff picture is more in focus. In the AFC:

PLAYOFF TEAMS
• Colts (13-0)
• Broncos (10-3)
• Bengals (10-3)
• Patriots (8-5)
• Jaguars (9-4)
• Steelers (8-5)

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
• Chargers (8-5)
• Chiefs (8-5)
• Dolphins (6-7)

ELIMINATED
• Bills (4-9)
• Raiders (4-9)
• Ravens (4-9)
• Browns (4-9)
• Titans (4-9)
• Jets (3-10)
• Texans (1-12)

AFC playoff matchups at the moment

Wild-card round, Jan. 7-8

No. 5 Jaguars (9-4) at No. 4 Patriots (8-5, AFC East leaders)

No. 6 Steelers (8-5) at No. 3 Bengals (10-3, AFC North leaders)

Second round, Jan. 14-15

Lower-ranked team at No. 1 Colts (13-0, AFC South leaders)

Higher-ranked team at No. 2 Broncos (10-3, AFC West leaders)

Explaining the Seedings

Broncos seeded ahead of Bengals because of better record agaisnt AFC (Denver 7-2, Cincinnati 7-3)

Steelers seeded ahead of Chargers, Chiefs (one team from AFC West must be eliminated, and Chargers beat Chiefs 28-20 on Oct. 30; Steelers beat Chargers 24-22 on Oct. 10)

In the NFC:

PLAYOFF TEAMS
• Seahawks (11-2)
• Bears (9-4)
• Bucs (9-4)
• Giants (9-4)
• Panthers (9-4)
• Cowboys (8-5)

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
• Vikings (8-5)
• Falcons (8-5)
• Redskins (7-6)

ELIMINATED
• Eagles (5-8)
• Rams (5-8)
• Lions (4-9)
• Cardinals (4-9)
• Packers (3-10)
• Saints (3-10)
• 49ers (2-11)

Wild-card round, Jan. 7-8

No. 5 Panthers (9-4) at No. 4 Giants (9-4, NFC East leaders)

No. 6 Cowboys (8-5) at No. 3 Buccaneers (9-4, NFC South leaders)

Second round, Jan. 14-15

Lower-ranked team at No. 1 Seahawks (11-2, NFC West winners)

Higher-ranked team at No. 2 Bears (9-4, NFC North leaders)

Explaining the Seedings

Bears seeded ahead of Bucs, Giants, Panthers by best record vs. NFC (Chicago 8-1, N.Y. 8-3, Tampa 7-3, Carolina 6-3)

Cowboys seeded ahead of Vikings, Falcons by best record vs. NFC (Dallas 6-3, Minnesota 7-4, Atlanta 5-4)

COD Carnac

Artist rendition by Shane Nackerud

Here is the continuation of my highly scientific analysis of the remaining schedule to try and ascertain how the Vikes will end up: Invited to the party or on the outside looking in. Here is the playoff picture based on my Carnac-like powers:

•AFC: Division winners: New England at 11-5 (East); Cincinnati at 12-4 (North); Indianapolis at 16-0 (South); Denver at 13-3 (West); wild cards: Kansas City at 10-6 and Jacksonville at 12-4.
•NFC: Division winners: N.Y. Giants at 12-4 (East); Minnesota at 11-5 (North); Carolina at 12-4 (South); Seattle at 13-3 (West); wild cards: Tampa Bay at 11-5 and Dallas at 10-6. That puts the Vikes hosting Tampa Bay in one wild card matchup and Dallas going to Carolina. Seattle and New York would have byes.

I do think the Bears are playoff pretenders. Even if the Vikes were to lose to Pittsburgh this coming Sunday, I still think the Purple win the NFC North.

VU Fantasy Updates

The VU Pick 'Em League is heading into the last three weeks. Can Coworker Jim of the league leading Cuyahoga Riverdawgs hold onto the lead he has held for nearly the whole season? We'll see if he can hold or if he folds like the Browns against the Bronco's circa 1987.

Straight Cash Homies won Week 14 missing just two picks. In fact, Straight Cash Homies and I picked the same games but SCH was a bit smarter with his confidence points. So while I was leading going into the MNF game, I dropped to fourth after it. The Wizzinator and FITZ also made the same selections and had better luck with the confidence point system and finished 2nd and 3rd respectively for the week. Nice job all!

The Top 15:

1 cuyahoga riverdawgs
2 Bubbling Farts
3 The Wizzinator
4 C.J.'s pix
5 Straight Cash Homies
6 Pogo
7 FITZ
8 Ron Burgundy
9 hawgdawg
10 Ragnar
11 paviking
12 Mr. Cheer Or Die
13 Wisconsin Vikes?
14 Big Dogs
15 Oracle of Cheese

Over in the Beer Brotherhood Fantasy League, I defeated The Curse! If you'll recall, The Curse has struck every #1 seed as far back as we can remember by losing to the #8 seed. It is now onto round two.

My tenative lineup heading into the playoff game:

QB C. Palmer, CIN @DET
RB S. Alexander, SEA @TEN
RB T. Barber, NYG KC
WR T. Holt, STL PHI
WR J. Porter, OAK CLE
TE C. Cooley, WAS DAL
PK N. Rackers, ARI @HOU
Def Seahawks @TEN
Total FP 74.8

My opponents tenative lineup heading into the playoff game:

QB J. Plummer, DEN @BUF
RB T. Jones, CHI ATL
RB L. Johnson, KC @NYG
WR K. Curtis, STL PHI
WR R. Moss, OAK CLE
TE J. Witten, DAL @WAS
PK J. Feely, NYG KC
Def Panthers @NO
Total FP 60.1

Could I return to the Beer Brotherhood Fantasy League championship game once again? Return next week to find out how I did.

Meanwhile in Motown

Did y'all see this news coming out of Detroit? Think of what could have happened here in the Twin Cities had the team not turned it around. Talk about getting ugly!

Courtesy of the lads over at PFT:

With an "Orange Out" planned for Sunday's home game against the Bengals and raucous chants of "Fire Millen" expected to ring through the rafters, a radio station in Motown is doing its part to stoke the flames that soon could consume the guy who by all appearances thinks the initials "CEO" mean "Chew Every Oreo."

WDFN 1130 invited listeners to suggest slogans for a billboard, and the winner is:

Well done, Tim Latimer of Farmington. At least two copies of the board will be up by Sunday, with one in the same neighborhood as Ford Field.

WDFN also is organizing an "Angry Man March" (why not call it the "Millen Man March"?) prior to Sunday's game.

"We want to promote people protesting, showing their feelings in a creative way, and having fun with it," Rona Danziger, programming director at WDFN, told The Detroit News.

"It's about showing the Lions how fans feel in an organized, peaceful way."

So why do we have a feeling that "organized" and "peaceful" won't be the adjectives ultimately used to describe the events of this coming Sunday?

Wonder what the most requested game on the ol' NFL Network will be this weekend!?!!?!

Of course, the boys over at PFT are also complete idiots. To wit:

Vikes' Bubble Is About to Go Boom.

We've been watching the Minnesota Vikings carefully during their implausible six-game winning streak, and we still can't figure out how they're getting it done. The offense excels only in spurts, while primarily avoiding fatal mistakes. The defense bends plenty, but comes up with timely stops and/or turnovers when it's time to break.

Besides, who have they beaten during their string of victories? The Browns. The Packers. The Rams. The Lions twice. Oooooo.

The only quality win came against the Giants, and that was the fluke of all flukes, with three touchdowns coming on returns.

So even at 8-5 with three games to go, the bubble is going to burst.

Violently. Convincingly. Permanently.

And it could happen as soon as Sunday, when the suddenly rejuvenated Steelers come to the Metrodome for the first time since 1986. Though the 'Burghermeisters didn't look too good when they ventured indoors last month, that one came against the Colts. This time around, the Steelers will be facing a squad that has been winning not with speed and strength, but with smoke and mirrors.

Another fine example of East Coast bias wherein the so-called sports experts are so fixated on watching yet another Jets team misfire and still can't accept that the Vikes spanked the Giants...at their house no less...that they come out swinging against a team that has won with defense and no mistake offense. Nothing more simple that that. No smoke and mirros needed. Take Pat "The Planet" Williams for instance when asked about The Bus:

Yet to a man on Monday, the Vikings remained confident they will continue their streak Sunday -- even against the Steelers (8-5), who would be only the second team with a winning record the Vikings have defeated this season. Nose tackle Pat Williams said Vikings opponents "are in trouble now" and expressed disdain for Pittsburgh running back Jerome Bettis: "I've run through the Bus plenty of times," Williams said. "He ain't really no problem."

You go Pat! And I ain't seen no bus yet that can carry a planet.

I expect a full apology from PFT editor Mike Florio about 3:30 PM CST Sunday. Just send it to the Vikings lockerroom c/o The Planet.

Fun Stuff

No time to post my own VU videos but here are some quick links not to be missed. The first is Mr. T singing a tribute to mother. Love those shorts Mr. T!

The second is an amazing 8+ minute video from Russia about some Spiderman pretenders. Actually it is something called Free Running which is a craze in Europe right now.....and another reason why European kids will be skinny and American kids fat. I mean, can you see American kids doing this? They'll wait for the video game so they can play it!

Posted by maasx003 at December 14, 2005 06:18 AM