Is there any more unwelcome visitor than the NFL Bye Week, passing through your home market like the in-law who spends most of the weekend sleeping loudly on your couch? Don't look now, Bears and Packers fans, but here comes Uncle Bye. But we'll still ask the crystal ball to weigh in on the Sunday to come:
-- Minnesota Vikings at St. Louis Rams: Another dome game against another Pop Warner team for the Vikings, blessed with the softest early-season schedule since Ronald Reagan's waltz through the 1984 Republican primaries (or do you remember Harold Stassen?). The pick: Vikings.
-- Pittsburgh Steelers at Detroit Lions: A week after his kneecap popped out of and back into place against the Bears, Matthew Stafford might or might not be available to play against the fading NFL champs. The Daunte Culpepper Era re-begins. The pick: Steelers.
-- Atlanta Falcons at San Francisco 49ers: Next Sunday night, the Falcons will welcome the Bears back to the scene of the crime. The over/under on number of times NBC will show clips of last October's 22-20 Falcons victory-from-the-jaws-of-defeat is 76. The pick: 49ers.
-- New England Patriots at Denver Broncos: With a Bears bye, the vacuum of 24-hour sports/talk radio needs to be filled, more so than usual. Fortunately, Chicago castoff Kyle Orton and his arranged-marriage partner have a chance to be 5-0 if the Pats can't handle the Mile High atmosphere. Let the half-hearted second-guessing begin. The pick: Broncos.
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