Week Thirteen -- A Look Ahead

This NFL Week begins again on Thursday Night. The Jets play the Bills, which is of no interest to us as Packer fans, and is barely of interest to us as football fans. The NFL Network did not draw a winner here.

The more important action comes on Sunday, with the most important game (for us, that is) scheduled for Monday Night.

Of modest interest will be the Rams' visit to Chicago. The Bears have become a true disaster, and if they can't defeat the hapless Rams at home, you've got to know that heads are gonna roll. In the end, the Bears will probably win -- but it won't change the fact that they're a disaster, and their fans know it.

Also of league-wide interest is the fate of these two undefeated teams going into December. I heard that the NFL has never had two 11-0 teams in a single season before. Fascinating.

On paper, one would expect the Saints to move rather easily to 12-0, for they face the 3-8 Redskins on Sunday. On the other hand, it's a road game, it follows a huge, emotional victory, and it's against an easily overlooked opponent. This has "trap game" written all over it.

Elsewhere, the undefeated Colts host the resurgent Titans. Tennessee has been an unbelievable story all season long -- first for how unexpectedly bad they were, and now for how a QB changed has turned them completely around and put them on the fringe of the playoff race! They need this game more than Indy does, and the Colts have been winning ugly... no, surviving ugly.

Meanwhile, the teams of greatest interest to Green Bay in the NFC wild card hunt are all playing one another: the Eagles face the Falcons and the Cowboys visit the Giants.

If I felt confident that the Packers were going to win on Monday Night, then I would cheer for the two lower-rung teams, which also happen to be the home teams (Atlanta and New York). Since I expect that Baltimore is going to beat us, however, then I am more willing to cede the upper slots to Philly and Dallas, while feeling eager to keep those that are behind us still behind us.

No matter how you slice it, two of these four teams are going to lose, and that's good news for us. As I watch, though, I will be pulling for the visiting teams to prevail.

Meanwhile, on Sunday Night, I'll be cheering for the Cardinals as they host the 10-1 Minnesota Vikings. This is not mere anti-Viking sentiment on my part: this is self-interest. I want Arizona to wrap up their Division and have little reason for showing up in Week 17 when the Packers come to town.

Even apart from that self-interest, it will be a fascinating game, for it may represent Minnesota's best test to-date. Understand that of all the teams that the Vikings have played thus far, the opponent with the best W-L record is -- wait for it -- the Green Bay Packers! Other than the Packers, the best record of the victories the Vikings have notched belongs to the 6-5 Ravens, and their one loss came to the 6-5 Steelers.

I submit that the Vikings' 10-1 record is not as close to the Saints' 11-0 record as it appears on paper. These next two weeks -- at Arizona and home against the Bengals -- will be very revealing about just how good the 10-1 Vikings really are.

In any case, I'm rooting for the Cardinals.

Finally, Monday Night Football comes to Lambeau. And so do the Baltimore Ravens. They have the 4th ranked defense in the NFL. Their record is only one game poorer than ours, but they come out of a much tougher Division. Under their "Win" column they have victories over the Chargers, Broncos, and Steelers. Whom have we beaten? I'm afraid that the Ravens are the better team, and I'm afraid they're going to show it on Monday Night. My only reasons for hope are these: (1) We're coming off the long break, while they're coming off a big emotional win against a Division foe. (2) We're playing at home.

Bottom line? Packers lose, Eagles win, Giants win, Vikings get exposed, and one of the two undefeated teams finally falls.