Five underdogs won outright last week. Nine of them kept the favorites from covering.
A 10th would have covered, but Bill Belichick — his heart growing like the Grinch's on Christmas morning — decided to beat the Jets by only 16 when they were getting 22. So, yes indeed, last week's prediction of a 100-point New England victory fell 84 points shy.
I also picked three of the underdogs to win. They just weren't three of the ones who, you know, actually won.
And, overall, point spreads were an issue last week. A 3-12 issue to be exact. (BTW, you know the Vegas boys know their stuff when you pick the Chiefs to win by 6, but they win by 5 when they're favored by 5 1/2).
This week, your first-place Detroit Lions — ouch, sprained a tongue saying that one — won as an underdog for the second straight week. After beating the Chargers at home as a 1-point dog, the Lions went to Philly and won as a 4-point dog.
Will that trend continue? Hardly. Not with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid's scoring machine visiting Ford Field. Mahomes has played 22 games including playoffs. The Chiefs have scored 26 or more in every one of them.
At Soldier Field, the Bears are favored by 2 over the Vikings. I'm taking the Bears to win. They have home torture chamber advantage, the league's most opportunistic defense and a quarterback who … never mind.
And, for what it's worth Bears fans, I haven't been this certain of a Windy City victory since the Eagles playoff game last year.
