The Brothers We Can’t Uninvite: Week 14 Picks

Alexander the Great once said ""Toil and risk are the prices of glory, but it's a lovely thing to live with courage and die leaving everlasting fame." 

Niko grew up penniless near the port of Pireas and he loved to play soccer. He and his friends would get together during recess and kick a crushed can of Coke around. His brother, Savva, was a natural talent: he ran like the wind, could shoot from anywhere, and had the body of a Greek god.

Niko, on the other hand, had to work hard to become a good player. His gift was that he saw the field better than any of the boys; he passed the ball like a magician and could see a counterattack forming before anyone else.

After he lost his left hand in a freak accident with the boat's anchor, Niko's father asked for his help with the family anchovy fishing business. "Savva was the one with the talent, so we will let him play, but we need you."

Niko refused. He practiced every day, risking everything to become a pro. He had to work hard to get his talent to match his smarts.

Eventually he got signed by the Olympiacos youth team, after giving 3 assists in the final of the U14 match on a gravel field. Meanwhile, Savva, had signed with the biggest local rival, Panathinaikos.

Eventually the boys got to the men's team and met each other in the darby on the last game of the season which would determine who the Superleague champion was. Savva scored two quick goals, but Olympiacos came back and tied the game with Niko's creativity being the driving force.

With the game in extra time, Savva broke away and was poised to score the winner but Niko surprised everyone by slide tackling from behind and stealing the ball. He then picked out his striker with a precision pass, who scored the winning goal.

Savva never got over the loss and blamed his brother for flaming out of the league the following season, Eventually Savva revived the family anchovy business, but hated Niko who continued to play and win.

The Bears and Packers rivalry is one of the oldest in the NFL, like those two villages in Chios who shoot rockets at each other every Easter.

Separated by only 200 miles they played their first game in 1921. The Bears won a game 3-0 in 1924, which is credited as the first game that had ejections for fighting.

The Packers lead the all-time series 108–96–6, but this has not been a real rivalry in over 15 years. The Bears won the final regular season game last year; beating Green Bay who were already in the playoffs and only played the starters for a couple of series. Prior to that game, the Bears had lost 11 straight and were 3-28 against the Pack when you go as far back as 2009. Most of those games had no playoff significance.

The rivalry was dead; Green Bay owned Chicago.

The Bears have woken up this year. The culture change that Ben Johnson brought with him is showing; his post-game locker room speeches are fun and outrageous. They are winning close games, but when you look closer, some of their wins have come via turnovers, clutch play, and some luck.

The overtime win against the Bengals when Caleb Williams threw a first down pass to rookie Colton Loveland, who bounced off two defenders and ran it in for a 58-yard touchdown. When Washington was driving with 3 minutes left to win the game and Jayden Daniels fumbled the handoff, or when Jaxson Dart got concussed and Russ couldn't cook anymore, or when the Raiders' field goal attempt to win the game got blocked after Geno Smith gifted them 3 interceptions.

Last week they beat the Super Bowl champion Eagles pretty handily —the direct result of a running game that has improved as the season progressed. But the cold DVOA statistics (Packers 5th, Bears 19th) and Vegas think that the Packers are almost a touchdown better.

Once touted to go undefeated, Green Bay has has underperformed, but they have won 3 straight and their defense is fierce. The public is taking the Bears, but we will go contrarian here and take the Pack to cover (-6.5) at home in the cold.

We are also high on the Texans (+3.5) and their defense to cover against the Chiefs and the Seahawks (-7.5) to crush the Falcons. 

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