The road to riches: Desperate Bros slash deficit against Chaos Kid

When a football team is trailing by a couple of touchdowns late in the four quarter, things get more intense. They go to their hurry-up offense, try an onside kick, go for it on fourth down... Facing a similarly tough situation with six weeks remaining in the 2008 Gehlke Bros. Football season, there are signs of desperation setting in as the Junior and Senior Bro scramble to gain ground on the heretofore impenetrable fortress that has been Ben's huge lead.

Did we say impenetrable? Not in Week 12, which saw the the Chaos Kid surrender half of his 6-game cushion amid a series of upsets dominated by road teams. In all, 11 of 16 games went to the visitors in a week that also saw two winners score more than 50 points and the league's last unbeaten team suffer its first defeat.

There was plenty of opportunity to shake things up as Sean led the parade in selecting against the grain, creating seven splits with Ben and six with Glenn. Ben and Glenn managed five splits of their own.

In the ongoing battle between the elder Bros for the Surfy Trophy, Glenn and Sean managed to split their games. The Junior Bro cashed in when Buffalo shelled Kansas City 54-31, Minnesota upended Jacksonville 30-12, and Atlanta exposed Carolina's deficiencies in a 45-28 NFC South showdown. The Senior Bro had his football mojo working, however, when Baltimore defeated Philadelphia 36-7, Washington held off Seattle 20-17, and Adam Vinatieri booted a last-second field goal on Sunday night to give Indianapolis a 23-20 win at San Diego.

Ben didn't fare as well in his splits, losing 4-of-5 to his dad, and 5-of-7 to his uncle — his first significant stumble in what has been a breakout season thus far. He missed an opportunity for a win when he changed his pick in the Houston-Cleveland game at the last minute, siding with the eventual-loser Browns.

For the week, Glenn and Sean tied for the best record at 10-6. Ben was a frustrated 7-9. We were short on consensus, agreeing in the wins by Pittsburgh, Dallas, Tampa Bay and Chicago. We all got fooled by Cleveland, Denver and Tennessee, which lost its first game of the year in a 34-13 blowout loss at home to the Jets.

Coming up next... Turkey Day games!