If the first half of the season was any indication, the Gehlke Bros. should be in for an unpredictable ride the rest of the way. The NawFuL officially crossed the halfway point in Week 9, with all but four teams having had their bye week. At least one of those teams — 0-9 Indianapolis — would probably prefer a merciful end to 2011. In all, 12 teams have sub-.500 records, which is just slightly more than a third of the league. Pathetic.
And while the Bros have at times felt as if things are going worse for them this year than in 2010, the fact is that Sean is nine games to the better in 2011 and Glenn is four games improved from a year ago at the same time. Only Ben has struggled more, notching nine fewer victories through nine weeks than in last year's championship season. The net effect is that the Junior Bro sits on a 4-game lead, made just a wee bit smaller in Week 9.
The lone split was a bonafide stinker — 1-7 St. Louis at 1-7 Arizona. The Cards tried their best to lose, but somehow the Rams were more successful in that department, allowing the home team to tie the game and then failing on a game-winning field goal attempt that sent the contest to OT, where Patrick Peterson ran back a 99-yard punt return to fuel a 19-13 win for the Senior Bro.
Still, Ben had the edge on his elders this week. The Chaos Kid went 8-5 to draw even with his dad for second place. Glenn was 7-7, and Sean was 6-8. We all correctly picked New Orleans, Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco, Houston and Green Bay. None of us predicted wins by the N.Y. Jets, Miami (first of the season!), Denver, the N.Y. Giants, Baltimore or Chicago.
PROGRAMMING ALERT: We knew the weekend-only schedule had to end eventually. Turn back the clocks and the NawFuL gods think that means it's time for Thursday night games, so we'll have our predictions a bit earlier this week.
