Home field advantage goes bye-bye
| Week 4 results | ||||
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| 39-23-1 8-7 |
38-24-1 8-7 |
32-30-1 8-7 |
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| Thursday, September 26, 2019 | ||||
| Philadelphia @ Green Bay | Green Bay | Green Bay | Green Bay | |
| Sunday, September 29, 2019 | ||||
| Carolina @ Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | |
| Cleveland @ Baltimore | Baltimore | Baltimore | Baltimore | |
| Kansas City @ Detroit | Kansas City | Kansas City | Kansas City | |
| L.A. Chargers @ Miami | L.A. Chargers | L.A. Chargers | L.A. Chargers | |
| New England @ Buffalo | New England | New England | New England | |
| Oakland @ Indianapolis | Indianapolis | Indianapolis | Indianapolis | |
| Tennessee @ Atlanta | Atlanta | Atlanta | Atlanta | |
| Washington @ N.Y. Giants | New York Giants | New York Giants | New York Giants | |
| Seattle @ Arizona | Seattle | Seattle | Seattle | |
| Tampa Bay @ L.A. Rams | L.A. Rams | L.A. Rams | L.A. Rams | |
| Jacksonville @ Denver | Denver | Jacksonville | Denver | |
| Minnesota @ Chicago | Chicago | Minnesota | Chicago | |
| Dallas @ New Orleans | New Orleans | New Orleans | Dallas | |
| Monday, September 30, 2019 | ||||
| Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | |
| Byes: N.Y. Jets, San Francisco | ||||
| © 2019 Gehlke Bros. Football | ||||
Whatever happened to home field advantage? There have been 63 games played so far this season, and the visiting team has won 35 of them. You read that right — 35! For those who like things expressed in percentages (and why wouldn’t you, if you are a GBF stats fan?) that is 55.6 percent. Or .556, which would be Hall of Fame numbers if we were talking baseball and career batting averages. But we aren’t, of course, and so back to the subject at hand…
Yes, the roadies have won better than three of every five games this season, and more if you count the Week 1 tie between the Lions and Cardinals. (But we don’t like to count ties, especially where the Lions and Cards are concerned.) Put another way, the homies have won less than half of the time, and that has made it a challenging environment for anyone counting on that competitive edge you’re supposed to get from being on your home turf.
Just ask the Denver Broncos, who for much of their game Sunday sounded like they were playing in Jacksonville, Florida rather than the Mile High City. Perhaps easy to understand, seeing as the Broncos have yet to win a game and probably won’t be winning one soon if they continue to squander big leads. Yes, up by 17-3 just before the half, the home field curse rose to the challenge and saw the Jaguars go on a 23-7 run to dominate the time of possession and stage their second biggest comeback on the road in team history. The 26-24 finale went to the Junior Bro as one of two splits on the weekend.
Glenn got help from the Bears — one of just three teams to win at home in Week 4 — when they pulled off a 16-6 victory over the Vikings despite the loss of starting quarterback Mitchell Trubisky on the opening play of the game. Two splits, split between brothers, to keep things the same in the Gehlke Bros Football standings. At the end of the season’s first quarter, Senior Bro leads by a game.
The bye weeks are now under way, and it is no surprise that accuracy levels suffered among our professional amateur prognosticators. Glenn and Ben tied for the week’s best record at 8-7. Ben owned third with a 7-8 mark. Three teams remain undefeated heading into Week 5, including the Patriots, Chiefs and 49ers, the latter of which had the week off. Our mutually correct predictions this week included Kansas City, the L.A. Chargers, New England, the New York Giants, Seattle and Pittsburgh. Several surprises meant we all missed winners Philadelphia, Carolina, Cleveland, Oakland, Tennessee and Tampa Bay.
