It’s the final countdown as the NFL regular season closes up all this Sunday.  Playoff spots will be locked up, my season review and playoff predictions will release, and the final division and wild card fights will go down today.  Last week I achieved my goal and went 12-4, having an awesome week.  Maybe this week 13-3 can happen.

Lock Of The Week

Colts, 38, Titans, 23

The Colts have motivation.  Well, you could say that.  The Colts have a crazy strength of victory tiebreaker that they need to beat the Texans to in order to get to the playoffs.  The Colts need to win, and the Texans, Bengals. Patriots, Saints, Jets and Chargers need to lose.  The Raiders and Steelers also need to win or tie, but only on of them can tie.  That’s nearly impossible.

Well, it’s very likely that the most important one won’t happen, the Colts winning.  The spread is even.  Either team can win.  But trust me, the Colts are the oldest team in the league, and the Titans are the youngest.  It’s bad to be too old or too young, but when they square off, experience wins, at least under a good coach like Chuck Pagano.  Against interim coach Mike Mularkey especially.

So, I see the Colts in a blowout.  Frank Gore and T.Y. Hilton have huge games, and Andrew Luck returns to dominate for the Colts.

Notable Locks: Broncos over Chargers, Panthers over Buccaneers, Rams over 49ers

Upset of The Week

Eagles, 33, Giants, 29

Yes.  The coach-less, desperate, Eagles will use their best players to their adavntage as they bounce back from an ugly loss and are under interim coach Pat Shurmur.  It sounds stupid, but I think this interim coach knows the offense well enough to use key factors to winning to their advantage.  They need to use a stromg run game against a weak rush defense to their advantage.  Ryan Mathews and DeMarco Murray, alongside Darren Sproles and Kenjon Barner need to kick some butt.  Shurmur can make sure they do that.

They need to to the same to the Giants secondary, between young Zach Ertz, Jordan Matthews and Nelson Agholor, and veterans Riley Cooper and Brent Celek.  Chip Kelly built the team well, fixing what Chiefs HC and former Eagles HC Andy Reid had done, but trained the team poorly, which led to a later downtrend after going 10-6 and winning the division in 2013, later losing in playoff round 1.  But he let go of three key players, LeSean McCoy, DeSean Jackson AND Jeremy Maclin.  I see a vengeance seeking Eagles winning the offensive battle to get the edge.

Notable Upsets: Vikings over Packers, Saints over Falcons, bears over Lions, Bills over Jets

Other Games

Patriots, 30, Dolphins, 13
Bills, 29, Jets, 27 OT
Bengals, 34, Ravens, 30
Steelers, 31, Browns, 28 OT
Texans, 37, Jaguars, 24
Broncos, 31, Chargers, 19
Chiefs, 37, Raiders, 23
Cowboys, 31, Redskins, 26
Vikings, 34, Packers, 23
Bears, 24, Lions, 17 OT
Saints, 44, Falcons, 43
Panthers, 37, Buccaneers, 29
Cardinals, 21, Seahawks, 20
Rams, 48, 49ers, 45

Team Of The Week

1. This team has not had a record above .500 for a while.
2. A player on this team had a long awaited breakout season.
3. This team was expected to do a little better than they did, possibly even make the playoffs, but is no longer in it.
4. This team has not always been in its current location and is a candidate to move.
5. This team has had 4 starting QBs throughout the last 2 years, 5 throughout the last 4.

What Team is This?  Guess In Comments.

Last Week: Titans