Happy New Year to all of you from the Pantheon! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season, and that you are all ready to come back and predict what will happen in the playoffs. I know that the Pantheon was blessed over these past two weeks because there was another correct final score prediction! It is always amazing to see one of those happen, and the Pantheon cannot wait to welcome that person into its halls.
Along with the final score prediction, there were 22 other points scored over the past two weeks. While these numbers are still not the best of weeks, they have become commonplace, and as such are becoming more bearable.
Anyway, the regular season has now ended, and we are ready to move on to the postseason. Congratulations to the teams that are still moving on. May their feet never get so numb that they don’t realize how stupid they’re acting. To the teams that are done, may the draft be kind, and may your front office finally figure out what it needs to do (looking at you, Bears).
With the playoffs, come postseason prognostications. These are rare indeed, but I know that our prodigious predictors of the pigskin will be able to make some magic happen.
So, without further ado, bring on the playoffs!
The Games
As always, here is the slate for next week’s games. Simply copy and paste it to the comments, and add your predicted scores after the team names. (Substitute scores for the XX and YY.)
- Arizona Cardinals XX @ Carolina Panthers YY
- Baltimore Ravens XX @ Pittsburgh Steelers YY
- Cincinnati Bengals XX @ Indianapolis Colts YY
- Detroit Lions XX @ Dallas Cowboys YY
With all of that out of the way, read on to find exactly who Nailed It!
Final score
These are the people who have (somehow) correctly predicted the final outcome of a game. The only shot that was called that could be considered more famous than these belongs to Babe Ruth. Bow down before their wisdom! (And make sure you ask them for next week’s lotto numbers.)
- Week 17: Detroit @ Green Bay – natesweet correctly predicted that the Packers would defeat the Lions by a score of 30-20!
Scoring differential
These are the ones who correctly predicted the margin by which the victors would best their competition. These are also the ones to consult if you want to bet the spread.
- Week 16: Cleveland @ Carolina – FalconsFan0125 and jmac3444 both correctly predicted that the Panthers would win by four points.
- Week 16: Green Bay @ Tampa Bay – DanOnWis23 and jmac3444 both correctly predicted that the Packers would win by 17 points.
- Week 17: Chicago @ Minnesota – curtisfryer_p, Maized and Confused, natradamus, SDL, and Staffords_Glove all correctly predicted that the Vikings would win by four points.
- Week 17: New Orleans @ Tampa Bay – Nardo and natradamus both correctly predicted that the Saints would win by three points.
- Week 17: Detroit @ Green Bay – LaCW, SDL, smtate, and Staffords_Glove all correctly predicted that the Packers would win by 10 points.
Total combined score
These are those who somehow managed to pick the correct total score but did not have any clue in how the teams would actually get there. Still, if you want to bet an over/under, you could do worse than consulting with them.
- Week 16: Detroit @ Chicago – TheRajiBelt47 correctly predicted that the teams would combine to score 34 points.
- Week 16: Cleveland @ Carolina – LaCW and niemerg1 both correctly predicted that the teams would combine to score 30 points.
Winning team’s score
- Week 16: Detroit @ Chicago – MIBearFan correctly predicted that the Lions would win with a score of 20 points.
- Week 16: Atlanta @ New Orleans – smtate correctly predicted that the Falcons would win with a score of 30 points.
- Week 17: Detroit @ Green Bay – Donny33 and The Real CJammin both correctly predicted that the Packers would score 30 points in a victory.
Against the grain
Oftentimes, our picks will be unanimous. However, there are those who will sometimes walk their own path.
- None these past two weeks.
ESPN The Magazine
In their NFL preview issue, the writers at ESPN The Magazine predicted the score for every single NFL game to be played in the regular season. Let’s see how they did these past weeks. Here are their predictions:
Week 16
- Detroit Lions 7 @ Chicago Bears 41
- Minnesota Vikings 20 @ Miami Dolphins 17
- Cleveland Browns 21 @ Carolina Panthers 24
- Atlanta Falcons 20 @ New Orleans Saints 28
- Green Bay Packers 38 @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers 6
Week 17
- Chicago Bears 21 @ Minnesota Vikings 27
- New Orleans Saints 17 @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31
- Carolina Panthers 20 @ Atlanta Falcons 37
- Detroit Lions 41 @ Green Bay Packers 10
The “pros” did not get any predictions correct over the past two weeks. That means that they finished the year with 8 points. We had 12 prognosticators that matched, or exceeded their point total. So congratulations to the following prognosticators, you could predict for ESPN The Magazine (presented in alphabetical order):
- curtisfryer_p
- DanOnWis23
- Donny33
- FalconsFan0125
- jmac3444
- LaCW
- Maized and Confused
- MIBearFan
- MKE
- natesweet
- smtate
- Staffords_Glove
Week 17 Leaderboard
Now on to the leaderboard!
None of the names changed on the leaderboard over the past two weeks as each person scored at least one point, but their positions on it did. By virtue of his three points from correctly predicting a final score, natesweet moved from a four-way tie for fourth in a tie for second place. Joining him in second place is smtate who scored two points of his own. The only other movement came from LaCW who also scored two points moving him from being tied for fourth place into sole possession of fourth.
Oh yeah, Maized and Confused also scored one more point this week, and extended his lead even further. I wonder if anyone will be able to catch him.
Time is getting very short, but here are several prognosticators who still have a chance to appear on here over the next few weeks. So to the one prognosticator with nine points, and the four with eight points, keep on plugging away and you could see your names on here.
With that said, here is the leaderboard after Week 17 (in the case of a tie, the names are arranged alphabetically):
- Maized and Confused – 15 points
- natesweet – 12 points
- smtate – 12 points
- LaCW – 11 points
- curtisfryer_p – 10 points
- FalconsFan0125 – 10 points
- MKE – 10 points
Again, I just wanted to give one last big shoutout to natesweet for his correct final score prediction! He is the sixth correct final score for the season. Amazing! And, as always, it is great to see another name added to the vaunted halls of the Pantheon. Congratulations!.
Now that we’ve congratulated him, let’s give a little congratulatory clap to all the people who are listed in this article. Or not. Your choice.
If you would like to have your name forever enshrined in the vast expanse that is the internet, simply call your shot in the comment section below for the games of the playoffs. I will be reviewing the comments and keeping track as the season goes on. And who knows? Maybe you’ll even see your name in the leaderboard!
If you cannot call your shots on Thursday, as is custom, it is still possible to participate. As long as your called shots are posted to the comments of this article before the games start, I will include them.