We’re back for another week of football! Six weeks down, 11 weeks to go. The San Francisco 49ers are not back in action until Sunday, but in the meantime, Thursday Night Football is back and that means more straight up picks, TNF against the spread, and even a Survivor pool pick. The Green Bay Packers host the Chicago Bears on Thursday Night Football. The Packers could be without running back Eddie Lacy, and Aaron Rodgers has been struggling in recent weeks. I doubt we see a Bears upset, but you never know what might happen.
The 49ers are back home facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 7. The 49ers will be on bye next week, so injured players like Carlos Hyde might get this week off to get a full two weeks to recover before Week 9. The Buccaneers are not a particularly good team, but they do have some confidence coming from a Week 5 road win over the Carolina Panthers.
Naturally, I won’t be taking either of these teams in my Survivor pool. With the Survivor pool, you can only pick a team once. You get one grace loss, so if I pick a team and they lose this week, I’m still alive. If I pick a team next week after that loss, and that latter team loses, then I’m done. I went with the Tennessee Titans over the Cleveland Browns and advanced with that. This week, I’m looking at the Cincinnati Bengals (vs. CLE), Kansas City Chiefs (vs. NO), the Patriots (@ PIT without Roethlisberger), and the Falcons (vs. SD).
The TNF matchup between the Packers and Bears has Green Bay sitting as a 7.5-point favorite. They could be without running back Eddie Lacy, who is dealing with an ankle injury that limited him in Week 6. Aaron Rodgers is struggling right now, with three interceptions to offset his three touchdowns the last two weeks. Of course, they’re facing a Bears team that is stumbling along at 1-5. They’ve actually hung close the last few weeks, losing their last two games by a combined nine points. Chicago is 2-9 ATS in their last 11 games against the Packers. I’m leaning Green Bay with this one, even without Lacy.
Here are my straight up picks for the week.
Bears @ Packers: Packers
Giants @ Rams: Rams
Saints @ Chiefs: Chiefs
Colts @ Titans: Titans
Vikings @ Eagles: Vikings
Browns @ Bengals: Bengals
Washington @ Lions: Washington
Raiders @ Jaguars: Jaguars
Bills @ Dolphins: Dolphins
Ravens @ Jets: Ravens
Buccaneers @ 49ers: 49ers
Chargers @ Falcons: Falcons
Patriots @ Steelers: Patriots
Seahawks @ Cardinals: Cardinals
Texans @ Broncos: Broncos