Who’s at home for wild-card round? Not favorites

For some reason, the offense started sputtering, and the Packers went 4-6 in their final 10 games.

You might ride with the more reliable, experienced quarterback (each game has one), or you could just pick against a certain rotund head coach with a storied history of mismanaging the clock (one game has one!). This season, our beloved Indianapolis Colts missed the playoffs after a rough season. I doubt the Texans would present much of a problem. Seattle is my Super Bowl pick.

The Packers are the No. 5 seed.

So this weekend’s four playoff matchups are no mere appetizer for the main course to come in the next two weeks.

For those of you who don’t spend a lot of time looking at National Football League projected game odds, I can tell you that four road dog favorites is very unusual, especially in the playoffs.

Sunday’s game will be the third time Green Bay and Washington have met in the postseason.

Four road favorites in the Wild-Card round. Really, it’s simple: I think the Chiefs are the better team. It’s worked before and, according to the male sports writers who kindly helped me out with this article, it’ll work for anyone… if you know exactly what to say. Let’s get right into it. That usually is the main challenge against Seattle’s offense, but Marshawn Lynch’s status is uncertain after he sat out the last seven games (abdominal surgery). Does the team who plays at home win more often?

Both teams possess stout defensive fronts, but the Chiefs probably have the edge in the secondary, with safety Eric Berry back to his best after battling cancer and corner Marcus Peters the favourite for Defensive Rookie of the Year. Pittsburgh has no reliable options behind him, so that will force Ben Roethlisberger to win the game through the air, and it’s hard to be one-dimensional and win playoff games. Houston has JJ Watt and a scary defense, but the Chiefs can match that and present a better offense with more playmakers, which should be enough to stave off any potential Houston comeback. First of all, their offensive line is broken as Rodgers is forced to run for his life week in and week out.

The Chiefs take care of the ball (they are plus-16 in turnover margin during their current run) and keep opponents out of the end zone.

ABOUT THE STEELERS (10-6): While Pittsburgh’s vaunted aerial attack is raring to go, its rushing game could be a sore spot as veteran DeAngelo Williams’ ankle injury may play a major role on Saturday. But historically, home playoff underdogs do well. I think Andy Reid gets this done. This could lead to a few mishaps from the Bengals on offense.

They did it with four quarterbacks and after losing star running back Arian Foster to a season-ending Achilles tendon injury in October. His ability to rally the team in seemingly impossible situations, combined with his postseason experience will be crucial on Sunday. They can’t get into a shootout with the Steelers, but they certainly can slow down the game and rely on the running game regardless if Dalton of McCarron is under center.

When you grow up in the North Dakota/Minnesota area like I did, there are only two types of football fans: Vikings or Packers. This is why I’m calling the mild upset, in a shoot-out game full of points. “We approach them like a new team, we’re going to study them, do what we can, find our indicators, find our adjustments, then go out there and play a ballgame”. If you lived here, you’d understand how frustrating that is, to hear that EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE WEEK. The Vikings are hot right now and so are the Seahawks. It should be a low scoring game as both defenses are likely to dominate the game.

Considering that the Vikings are going up against the Seattle Seahawks and Legion of Boom this weekend, it’s tough to imagine that this is the week things get fixed for Teddy and his crew. In the Vikings home stadium, no less. He led Cincy to wins over San Francisco and Baltimore, teams that didn’t make the playoffs. He’s just not quite there yet.

The Seahawks are the two-time defending NFC champions who were one play away last February from back-to-back Super Bowl titles. So I’m at just below a. 500 record.