Week Seven -- A Look Ahead

The NFC North is spending Sunday in the AFC North. While the Packers play in Cleveland, the Bears will be in Cincinnati and the Vikings will head to Pittsburgh. (The Lions have their bye.) Happily, Green Bay draws the shortest straw. The Steelers and Ravens are still in our future, and we've already lost to the Bengals. But for this week, we get the easiest assignment.

Cleveland will probably be more competitive than Detroit was last weekend, although the reports are that the Browns have been afflicted by the Swine Flu. The Packers may have to wear a different sort of facemask on Sunday. Though it's an out-of-Conference road game, it really is a must-win for Green Bay. You can't afford to let a game like this against a dysfunctional, inferior opponent get away.

Meanwhile, the Bears are also traveling to Ohio, as they face the Bengals this Sunday. Cincy is knotted with Pittsburgh atop their Division, and they have proven themselves a formidable team this year. They clearly faltered last week against Houston, but I think that will help their focus this Sunday. I like the Bengals in this game, and Cedric Benson, who has already been playing well, will be playing with an extra chip on his shoulder.

Brett and the Vikings will be in Pittsburgh for one of the most intriguing match-ups of the season. The Steelers are 5.5 to 6 point favorites. Personally, I'd pick Minnesota against that spread. I'm worried that the Steelers won't be able to get anything done against the Viking defense, but Polamalu is coming back and I relish the prospect of the Pittsburgh defense shutting down the Brett-and-Adrian Show.

Elsewhere around the league, it's really something of a ho-hum week. No great match-ups.

Perhaps the most interesting game will be the Falcons in Dallas. The Cowboys are favored by 4.5, but the Falcons are playing like a better top-to-bottom team. Dallas looks to me like a team that's waiting to have a coaching hot-seat issue. I like Atlanta in this game.

The Colts play in St. Louis, which should mean the rich get richer and the poor get poorer in terms of the Win-Loss column.

The Colts are 1 of 4 undefeated teams going into this week, and the Rams are 1 of 3 winless teams. As I look at the match-ups, I envision the status quo persisting into Week Eight -- though of course I'm hopeful that Minnesota will drop from the ranks of the unbeaten.