NFC North: It's week 17, so not many important games are being played in the NFC. The Bears will probably beat the Lions but that's just for pride and I'm not even sure how much pride is gained by beating either team. The Packers are one of the few teams in the playoffs with nothing to play for, so the Cardinals will probably beat them. Really, the only excitement is the Vikings and Eagles/Cowboys games.

Random Football Thought: I've been watching some bowl games and I've decided that there are a million reasons to hate the college football's overtime system, but only one reason to like it. College football overtime is very exciting, plain and simple.So, from a pure entertainment standpoint, I think the NFL should adopt it. Maybe place the ball on the 50, though.

By the way, this wasn't sparked by the Vikings' overtime loss to the Bears. While I don't like the NFL's overtime rules, the Vikings had more than enough chances to win that game before and in overtime. The Vikings deserved to lose that game.

My Statistical Analysis (That Is Faulty And Most Likely Inaccurate): This is a prediction based on pure statistics and my own negative biases are not put into it. Last week's prediction was bad, let's hope this one is better (hmmm..that sounds familiar):

The Giants get 241 passing yards and 105 rushing yards.
The Vikings get 229 passing yards and 115 rushing yards.
The Vikings beat the Giants 27 to 23.

That's actually a prediction I could agree with.

Giants vs. Vikings: Well, by now you should all know that I'm pretty much a big pessimist. So naturally you'd be expecting me to predict a Vikings loss. But you're wrong.

The Giants are demoralized and have nothing to play for. Couple that with the fact that the Vikings should be pumped up by the home crowd and itching to "redeem" themselves and I think the Vikings will get a 10 point victory. However, it won't matter because I think Philadelphia will win and secure a bye for themselves.

I'm sure the Vikings will try to pat themselves on the back and talk about how a win against the Giants has gotten them back to their winning ways but I won't buy it. In fact, here are my predictions for what will occur after the Vikings/Giants game.

1. The only thing that will change if the Vikings get a bye is that they'll lose in the divisional round instead of the wild card round. That's right, the Vikings will not win a single playoff game.

2. If Brad Childress is the coach next year then Brett Favre will not be with the Vikings. Considering that stupid extension that Zygi gave Childress midseason, it's looking like Brad Childress is going to be the Vikings head coach for years to come and, if that's the case, the team will progressively get worse with each year.

3. If the Bears get Bill Cowher to coach them next year then the Vikings will be the third worst team in the NFC North and closer to last than first. (Also, if that happens, extending Childress and thus not going after a coach like Bill Cowher will look about as bad a picking Randy Foye over Brandon Roy.)

4. The only way the Vikings will win a Super Bowl in my lifetime is if they're the Los Angeles Vikings (or at least not residing in Minnesota).

5. In five years my pessimism will reach critical mass. I'll be so negative that my negativity will become negative. That means I'll become positive and, thus, a cheerful optimist.

Jared Allen Quote of the Week: "To hell with what everybody says. We're going to start making noise and we're going to take this thing for a nice little run."

If by "nice little run" he means beat the Giants and then lose their first playoff game then I believe it. Otherwise, this is probably more false bravado from the Vikings players.