Yes, you read that title right. As the Pantheon gets ready to ring in the new year, it wants to try and forget these last two weeks. There was an issue with when the article was written last week, and for that I am sorry, but still, our prognosticators did not have a very good two weeks. There were only four points scored. There’s really not much else to say about that. Hopefully, we can do a lot better than that with just the four games on the schedule for this week, and then continue into the playoffs.
Anyway, enough of my rambling, bring on the games!
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.)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers XX @ Carolina Panthers YY
- New Orleans Saints XX @ Atlanta Falcons YY
- Detroit Lions XX @ Chicago Bears YY
- Minnesota Vikings XX @ Green Bay Packers YY
Once you have called your shots down below, please update the spreadsheet. Here is the link. (Only update the cells in your own column.)
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.)
- None either week.
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 15: Atlanta @ Jacksonville – sgunderson17 correctly predicted that the Falcons would win by six 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 15: Green Bay @ Oakland – MIB correctly predicted that the teams would combine to score 50 points.
- Week 16: Chicago @ Tampa Bay – MKE correctly predicted that the teams would combine to score 47 points.
Winning team’s score
- None either week.
Against the grain
Oftentimes, our picks will be unanimous. However, there are those who will sometimes walk their own path.
- Week 16: Carolina @ Atlanta – FF0125 was the only one (out of 10) who predicted that the Falcons would defeat the Panthers.
Special Events
There was no Special Event Category contest this week.
Week 16 Leaderboard
Now on to the leaderboard!
At the end of week 15, there was no change to the names in the top five. There was just a small change in the order, though. By scoring one of the only two points in week 15, MIB moved into sole possession of third place. However, he was only able to hang on to that position for one week. By scoring one of the only two points in week 16, MKE moved back into a tie for third place with MIB. There is still time for people to appear on the leaderboard. One good week from the one person with ten points, or the three people with nine, and they could see their names up here.
With that said, here is the leaderboard after Week 16 (in the case of a tie, the names are arranged alphabetically):
- Gabes222 – 15 points
- Natesweet – 13 points
- MIB – 12 points
- MKE – 12 points
- BP – 11 points
I don’t really feel like giving a shout out to anyone since these weeks weren’t great, but I guess we can congratulate FF0125 for having faith in his Falcons while no one else did.
Now that that’s out of the way, 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 NFC North and NFC South. Once you have done that, please update the spreadsheet using the link provided. I will be reviewing the spreadsheet 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 spreadsheet before it gets locked at the start of the games, I will include them.