NFL Survivor Contest: Bills win in Chicago makes it a lucky dozen

With last week's win, we are up to 12 in a row. Buffalo did not play its best game at Chicago, but in the end, they won with ease.

At this point, we have used all of the obvious teams so far this season, even if it took us a while to find our groove. There are still two weeks to go, though.  You can't "protect" a streak, even though it would be nice to call it quits on the season right now. 

This is an interesting week in the NFL on many fronts. There are not many teams favored that I would have banked on prior to the season. That's what makes contests like these so fun. 

Survivor Pool Teams Used So Far:  Tennessee Titans, Cincinnati Bengals, Los Angeles Chargers, Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Los Angeles Rams, Las Vegas Raiders, Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Commanders, San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Ravens, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and the Buffalo Bills.

Record: 12-4

Week 17 Survivor Pool Recommendation

Denver just kicked its coach to the curb and is -13.5 on the road against Kansas City. That is the only game with a favorite over a TD this week. That means there are not a lot of obvious options and a lot of close game expected by those setting the markets.

Further, those unexpected favorites I was referring to earlier include teams like the Falcons, Lions, Giants, and Jaguars. Jacksonville is on the road in a must-win spot against one of my favorite fades of the season Houston. The Texans are one of my favorite fades, though betting against the Bears has made for wins the last couple of weeks. They are playing the Lions this week but, unfortunately, I used Detroit back in Week 5 ... they started the 12-game winning streak we are on, in case you didn't remember. 

This week's pick feels kind of obvious in the scariest kind of way — see below. 

The Pick: Jacksonville Jaguars

Jacksonville has won its last three games; if the Jags win out, they will win the AFC South. That is in part thanks to the Texans, who got their second win of the season at Tennessee last week.

It is not getting enough attention just how good QB Trevor Lawrence has been in his second season. The Jags' offense is sixth in yards and 11th in points. In November and December, he has thrown just one interception and unless he turns back into a turnover machine at Houston, Jacksonville has a number of advantages they can exploit to get a comfortable win. 

Kudos to Houston for not completely giving up on the season and getting the win last week. I am not sure you can say they really outplayed the Titans though. They gave up a ton of yards on the ground and took advantage of the situation of facing a rookie quarterback with very little game experience. They fought and got the win, but things are hardly turned around for the Texans. 

Yes, Houston's only other win was at Jacksonville in October. I am not reading anything into that other than the Jags are not elite. We already knew that. That is why we never used them to this point. Among other reasons.

They look good in this spot though.