You can go home again

It may be too early to start popping the champagne corks — and when you happen to be under age, as the Chaos Kid is, it's always too early — but with three weeks left to go in the Gehlke Bros. Football season and sitting on what is now a five-game lead, Ben can almost taste the delicious fruits of victory. Even if those fruits might have to be sparkling apple cider.

After two weeks in which road teams dominated the win column, 11 of 16 home teams ruled the day in Week 14. Ben used victories by Miami and Carolina to add another game to his advantage, which a couple of weeks ago had dwindled to three games over his father. The Dolphins downed the Bills in a neutral-site game at Montreal, 16-3, while the home town Panthers knocked off the Bucs in an NFC South showdown on Monday night, 38-23. Only the Saints' 29-25 win over the visiting Falcons kept him from having a bigger weekend.

As Ben went, so did the Junior Bro. Sean and Ben had identical picks, which means that while Sean remains six games back of Ben, he crept to within a single game of the Senior Bro in the battle for the Surfy Trophy. That is the closest the Bros have been in weeks, a sign that even while Ben appears to be running away with the best overall record, the historic contest between his elders is tightening up going into the home stretch.

For the week, Ben and Sean were tops at 12-4, while Glenn finished last at 11-5. We all correctly predicted the wins of San Diego, Chicago, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Tennessee, New England, Denver, Arizona, Pittsburgh and Baltimore. No one predicted wins by Houston, Philadelphia or San Francisco.