My work schedule has been in a flux the past couple of weeks, so for the past two weekends I was working on Sundays, so I missed a lot of football. Needless to say I’ve kept up on the ins and outs of my team, but have let other stories pass me by. Thankfully two weeks ago was my team’s by week (and remember, I took the week off from this column as well) so I didn’t miss anything working on that Sunday. But this past weekend was a big game that I really wanted to watch, but am now glad that I did not. Losses happen, and for the past few seasons, the team has had some slumps in the early-mid season. Things usually pull back together by December and then a playoff run ensues. Regardless, the Packers were trounced by the Cowboys, and the two rookies leading that team are such a huge value for the money they’re making. Let’s hope dumbass Jerry Jones puts Romo back in around December and throws any hope of winning something meaningful out the window. As for my team, well we have a bunch of injuries just like every other year, but this time it’s mostly on defense, and the defense has been sound (save for this past game, due to the injuries) whereas the offense has been struggling, despite having decent runners and our best receivers in the game. It doesn’t make sense to me, but I’m not losing faith. I’m not going to jump on the “What’s wrong with Aaron Rodgers?” bandwagon. The struggles made sense last year. This year, something is off. I think they’ll still get it sorted out, and a good time to do so is against the struggling Bears. But, they have a knack for beating us even when they have a down season, so I’m not counting them out. Here’s hoping for a good game that results in another W for the Pack. Here’s my picks for the week:

Packers 27, Bears 23
Rams 20, Giants 10
Bengals 31, Browns 7
Redskins 24, Lions 21
Raiders 28, Jags 14
Saints 21, Chiefs 17
Bills 20, Dolphins 9
Ravens 19, Jets 6
Vikings 30, Eagles 20
Colts 26, Titans 13
Falcons 34, Chargers 21
Buccs 21, 49ers 13
Steelers 27, Patriots 24
Seahawks 28, Cardinals 26
Broncos 31, Texans 13