A season that for all intents and purposes had been over since Week 12 officially concluded Sunday when Sean pocketed his first Gehlke Bros. Football championship in three years. There was no nail-biter conclusion to the 2005 campaign as there had been in each of the previous two seasons. In fact, the only real suspense was watching the Texans and the Niners duke it out in overtime for the loss and the right to take the first pick in the June draft.
Truly befitting of the anticlimactic mood of Week 17, our lone split was between two truly miserable teams: Buffalo and the New York Jets, with Glenn taking the home team and Sean going with the roadies. The Jets took the 30-26 win, giving the Senior Bro a minor consolation prize of back-to-back winning weeks to finish the season. But that had all the excitement of a second-string quarterback tossing a last-second touchdown in a game where the other team is up by 30 points and your coach is about to get the boot.
Glenn's 10-6 finale wasn't enough to earn overall bragging rights in Week 17, however. Ben pulled off a 12-4 week, while Sean was 9-7. A complete reversal of fortunes in the final week. Our collective correct predictions included the New York Giants, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and Washington. We failed to predict winners Cleveland, Miami and Green Bay.
Stats? You want stats, you say? Here are some stats worth noting: For the 256-game season, Sean went 167-89 for an accuracy rating of 65.2 percent, up two games from last season when he was 165-91 (64.5%). Glenn's 157-99 (61.3%) was a 12-game dip from 2004, when he was 169-87 (66.0%). Ben saw continued improvement this year, finishing 145-111 (56.6%), up five games from last season's 140-116 (54.7%). There were 56 splits this season, six more than the 50 we saw in 2004. That was 21.9 percent of all games played, despite going splitless twice.
As he did in 2004, Sean compiled the best weekly record with 6 wins and 4 ties. Glenn had 3 wins, 4 ties. Ben wound up with 4 wins, 1 tie. Sean's best single week was 12-2, accomplished in Week 9. His worst was 7-7 in Week 5. Glenn's best marks were 11-3 (Weeks 6 and 9) and 12-4 (Week 14). His worst was the 6-10 in Week 12. Ben's best was also the best of the year: 13-3 in Week 14. His worst, however, was also the worst of the year: 4-10 in Week 4.
Our biggest single week for splits was eight in Week 12, which will forever be remembered as the Thanksgiving Weekend Massacre that sealed the fate of the two Bros. Sean picked up six games that week and cruised the rest of the way. We had two splitless weeks: Weeks 10 and 11.
Nothing left to do now but prepare for the Surfy Trophy presentation in February and watch the NawFuL elite crumble in the postseason. Thanks for joining us in 2005 and we look forward to picking the winners again in 2006.
Total splits: 1
