The week's pro lines :)

Ouch! Chicago blows it.

Ouch! Chicago blows it.

Yeah, lost money on them, but made money on New Orleans over Tampa.
Unfortunately, too many games are looking to be against my wagers.
Dallas hurt me too. And WTT Vikings for any half-ass decent peewee league team.

And WTT Vikings for any half-ass decent peewee league team.


This made me feel a little better:

Tom Powers, St. Paul Pioneer Press (http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/football/15939308.htm)


That was the worst football game I ever saw.

Remember that I spent several years watching not only Jim Wacker's Gophers stumble around, but also assorted "everybody plays" kiddie games in which many of those children should have been taking violin lessons instead of trying to tackle someone.

Oh, the horror of it all at Monster Park on Sunday.

We witnessed a 9-3 ballgame that was not — repeat not — a defensive struggle. Instead, we had two offenses that were inept to the point of being stupefying. We had receivers running 4-yard routes on third and 5. We had ridiculously predictable play calling. We had poor decisions by the quarterbacks.

Toss in the dropped balls, leaky line play and an excessive number of really dumb penalties and you have, well, 49ers 9, Vikings 3. Boring, inept, hopeless football. Did I mention boring? Let me throw that out there again. D-U-L-L.

"Right now we're 4-4," safety Darren Sharper said. "We're an average team."

Sunday's game against the 49ers was supposed to be the first of four straight against NFL patsies. November has been designated as the month in which the Vikings vault into contention by playing against a series of slugs.

Part of the equation held true. The 49ers, who lost to the Bears 41-10 last week, were awful. But Minnesota managed to outdo them in that department. I didn't think that was possible.

"Today, I felt we did some good things," quarterback Brad Johnson said. "We ran the ball effectively. We passed the ball pretty effectively."

Sweet Mother of Pearl, these guys just don't get it! Hey Brad, you scored three points!

"We actually had a good day," Johnson said. "But we didn't come up with points, so that's a bad day. Penalties cost us more than anything."

Johnson called the 49ers' coverage "vanilla." I'll paraphrase his explanation as to why the Vikings didn't try to throw long all afternoon: San Francisco was playing "soft" coverage, determined not to give up the deep ball. So the Vikings "took advantage" of the underneath passes that the defense gave them.

"We made some drives," Johnson said.

I'm telling you, these fellows are in denial. Zygi Wilf ought to dispatch a half-dozen or so of his currently idle bulldozers to dig a massive hole in Anoka. Then they should bury this whole offensive scheme. I don't think they need a referendum for that.

But even if Johnson had flung more long ones, his receivers likely would have dropped the majority of them. I'm beginning to think that Troy Williamson has claws where his hands should be.

"It's concentration," tight end Jermaine Wiggins said of all the drops. "You got it coming your way, you've got to stay on it the whole way."

Meanwhile, the defense wasn't blameless. In one of the all-time boneheaded moves, defensive end Darrion Scott delivered a late hit on running back Michael Robinson at the worst possible time. It was a mind-numbingly dumb play.

On third and 8 near midfield, Robinson was stopped after a 1-yard gain. This was about six minutes into the fourth quarter with the 49ers up 6-3. But Scott piled on right in front of an official. The 15-yard penalty gave the 49ers new life, and they eventually kicked a field goal.

The difference between trailing 6-3 and 9-3 was huge. It meant Minnesota needed to score a touchdown to win. Ha! Fat chance of that happening. Sunday's game was the fourth this season in which the Vikings' offense didn't get into the end zone.

After the game, Johnson looked as if he had been run over by a bus. He sported some ugly welts and appeared to have a slight limp. His very expensive offensive line did not offer him the best protection. I don't know how much longer Brad Childress can go with Marcus Johnson at right tackle.

Expect Brad Johnson to get a lot of heat this week. He threw for just 136 yards. The only problem is the Vikings do not have a viable alternative at quarterback. Remember all the concern about that before the season started? Now there might be major trouble on the horizon.

"Guys in the offense know it's not Brad," fullback Tony Richardson said. "I'll rally behind Brad Johnson any day of the week."

Winning and losing is part of football. It's the dreariness of the play that is killing people. The 49ers were just as bad, but you really don't care about them, do you?

Sunday's contest was as tedious as any as I've ever watched: Constant repetition of conservative, ineffective plays. Several cups of coffee didn't help. Chewing the coffee grounds straight out of the pot, a last-ditch effort, didn't work, either.

Is it too much to ask for a team to be even remotely interesting?

LOL!

Now that is a game write up :)

I had a horrible week this week on both pro and college games :(

I had a horrible week this week on both pro and college games :(

Out of six bets on Sunday, only the Broncos and the Saints gave me wins. The Dallas game should have been a win, but the refs wanted my money.

After the way the season has been going, and looking at the matchups, I just had a really bad feeling about betting on any of the games except for denver/pitt. Looks like I was quite right.

Apparently the underdogs are winning around 60-70% or more(I don't remember exactly) against the spread this season.