With the final week being played, we can now take a stroll down memory lane and see how I did with my preseason predictions. So, let's do that! Since this is a one shot deal, I'll base this on a $100 bet.

• Arizona Cardinals - 7.5 (O -137 / U +125) -?5 Wins, +$125.00: I'm starting to think that maybe Dennis Green doesn't deserve the rep he's gotten - his choice of going back to Warner after McCown led the team pretty well. With another high draft pick, they should be better next year, but they look like they're modeling their team after the Lions. Not a good choice.
• Atlanta Falcons - 9.5 (O +114 / U -125) -?8 Wins, +$80.00: A disappointing season for the Falcons. I thought they'd make the playoffs again and make it to the conference finals, but that didn't happen.
• Baltimore Ravens - 9.5 (O -135 / U +123) -?6 Wins, -$100.00: The Ravens were awful at times this year (think about their penalties against the Lions), but Boller looks to be able to lead the team. They should be better next year.
• Buffalo Bills - 8.5 (O + 138 / U -150) -?5 Wins, +$66.67: Who said they'd get nine wins knowing that Losman, a rookie, was going to start? Not me. And looking at the money line, quite a few people agreed.
• Carolina Panthers - 9.5 (O +106 / U -116) -?11 Wins, +$106: The Panthers had a much better than expected year - Steve Smith healthy all year helped this situation a lot.
• Chicago Bears?- 6.5 (O -108 / U -102) -?11 Wins, -$100.00: The Bears came away with the best defense in football - no one predicted that. If their offense was anything resembling what most teams call an offense, they could have been even better.
• Cincinnati Bengals - 7.5 (O -197 / U +179) -?11 Wins, +50.76: The Bengals go out and not only do they hit double digit wins for the first time in a long time, they win the division too. Nice job.
• Cleveland Browns - 4.5 (O -120 / U +110) -?6 Wins, -$100.00: The Browns had a dismal year - no chance at the playoffs, and not a great draft choice either. But, they were better than expected.
• Dallas Cowboys - 8.5 (O -117 / U +107) -?9 Wins, -$100.00: They were better than expected, but not quite good enough to make the playoffs - they went into week 17 needing a lot help to get to the playoffs, and didn't get it.
• Denver Broncos - 8.5 (O -132 / U +120) -?13 Wins, -$100.00: The Broncos had a great team this year - something I never saw coming. The tandem of Anderson and Bell was great for them, and their defense was solid. Their home field advantage is probably one of the biggest in the league, and they use that to their advantage - 8-0 at home this year!
• Detroit Lions - 8.5 (O +135 / U -147) -?5 Wins, +$68.03: The Lions hit major turmoil this season - Harrington getting benched, Mariucci getting canned, etc., etc., etc. And things don't look much better for the offseason. Remeber the chants: FIRE MILLEN! FIRE MILLEN!
• Green Bay Packers - 7.5 (O -107 / U -103) -?4 Wins, -$100.00: Wow. Favre proved all of his critics right this year. I was a supporter of his, but after this year, I think it's time to hang it up.
• Houston Texans - 7.5 (O +128 / U -139) -?2 Wins, +$71.94: There were big expectations for Capers this season, and the only thing he accomplished was to get Reggie Bush. That's kind of a bitter sweet accomplishment, isn't it?
• Indianapolis Colts - 11.5 (O -128 / U +128) -?14 Wins, +$78.13: The Colts absolutely dominated this season. They hit the over in week 12. Not too bad.
• Jacksonville Jaguars - 8.5 (O -107 / U -103) -?12 Wins, -$100.00: I didn't think the Jags had it in them, but they did. Of course, they never really fought for the division title, but they are a playoff contender - with a better record than any other AFC team.
• Kansas City Chiefs - 8.5 (O -177 / U +164) -?10 Wins, -$100.00: The Chiefs got 10 wins, but missed the playoffs. What happened to parity? I remember when it was possible that an 8-8 team was going to be in the playoffs.
• Miami Dolfins - 5.5 (O -145 / U +133) -?9 Wins, -$100.00: Who saw this coming? Nick Saben reels off six straight wins to finish with nine wins. Wow. Give him a quarterback and this team could be dangerous.
• Minnesota Vikings - 9.5 (O -121 / U +110) -?9 Wins, -$100.00: The Vikes had a rough season - sex cruises, horrible play, Tice firing rumors, you name it. Then, they lose their starting quarterback, and they go on a winning streak. Go figure.
• New England Patriots - 10.5 (O -128 / U +117) -?10 Wins, -$100.00: After a pretty poor start, they got Bruschi back, and they started to play great. They are one of the scariest teams in the playoffs, despite having the worst record among division winners.
• New Orlean Saints - 7.5 (O -135/ U +125) -?3 Wins, +$125.00: Everyone hoped the events this season wouldn't have a negative effect on the team, but that obviously didn't happen. And for most of us, it's tough to understand their complaints - too much travel, poor practice facilities, etc. They make millions, and it's tough to relate. But against other professionals with better conditions,?I'm sure it was a disadvantage.
• New York Giants - 6.5 (O -160 / U +140) -?11 Wins, +$62.50: Apparently, just putting Manning on the back of your quarterback's jersey is enough to make a team a contender. It's been working?for the Colts for a few years, and now it's working for the Giants. I suppose some of it could be the man in the jersey too.
• New York Jets - 9.5 (O +153 / U -165) -?4 Wins, +$60.61: Wow. What a year for the Jets. They get Pennington back, but it turns out it was too soon, and he's out possibly forever. Due to that (in my mind), the league's leading rusher last season just looked old this season.
• Oakland Raiders - 7.5 (O -136 / U +125) -?4 Wins, +$125.00: The Raiders had a lot of expectations on them this season, after getting Randy Moss. Early on, the questions were whether or not Daunte Culpepper would suffer from the loss of Moss, but not much talk about the effects on Moss without Culpepper. Looking back on this season, I'd say they missed each other about the same - neither had a great year (unless you count Culpepper's cruise).
• Philadelphia Eagles - 11.5 (O +135 / U -146) -?6 Wins, -$100.00: The Eagles had a rough year, starting even before the season started, with Owens' antics. Then, he played, and, well, the rest is pretty much public knowledge. The only question left for the Eagles is where Owens ends up and how he gets there.
• Pittsburgh Steelers - 9.5 (O -126 / U +116) -?11 Wins, +$79.37: The Steelers had an up and down season, culminating in a late season run to make the playoffs. An injury to Roethlisberger mid-season brought him back to earth, and he finally lost to a team not named New England.
• St. Louis Rams - 8.5 (O -136 / U +124) -?6 Wins, -$100.00: The Rams were much worse than expected, and it cost Martz his job, despite the fact that he was missing from 11 of 16 games. I guess if you missed work almost 70% of the time, you'd get fired too.
• San Diego Chargers - 8 (O -154 / U +142) -?9 Wins, +$64.94: The Chargers were a dangerous team at times this season, but couldn't get it done against the teams they needed to, and missed the playoffs. Teams finally figured out L.T. (or his injury was worse than reported), and he was held without a touchdown down te stretch. Unusual for him.
• San Francisco 49ers - 4.5 (O +118 / U -130) -?4 Wins, +$76.92: How can such a great franchise be this bad? What happened to the days of Joe Montana, Steve Young and Jerry Rice? They even chased the best thing that happened to them out of town: Steve Mariucci.
• Seattle Seahawks - 8.5 (O -143 / U +130) -?13 Wins, +$69.93: The Seahawks had a great season, even if no one knew about it. Being the sole team in the Northwest, they didn't get a lot of coverage. Unless you were a fantasy player. Then you saw a lot about Alexander.
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 6.5 (O -199 / U +185) -?11 Wins, +$50.25: The Bucs were better than I thought they would be. Maybe that trade for Gruden wasn't so bad after all.
• Tennessee Titans - 6.5 (O +113 / U -125) -?4 Wins, +$80.00: The Titans need some major help. The problem with bad teams like Tennessee is that they aren't bad enough to get the premiere draft picks. If you stay away from the quarterback position, then for the most part, the top 3 seem to be franchise type players (QBs are the exception. You need talent, but given roughly the same talent, it seems how you groom him has more to do with whether he's?a franchise player or not). After the top three, they are good players, but not someone you can build a team?around. Tennessee seems to fall just outside of the range of getting a?franchise-type?player, which is what they need to start moving back to the top of the standings.
• Washington Redskins - 7.5 (O +125 / U -137) -?10 Wins, +$125.00: Joe Gibbs gets them back in the playoffs, and does it using an ancient quarterback. Not quite as ancient as Gibbs himself, but he's done in two years what Steve Spurrier couldn't get done is whole time at the helm of Washington. Do they have enough to make a deep run? I don't think so, and it'll be interesting to see what happens next season, since a lot of their success was on the back of an aging veteran.

Overall, I got 19 of 32 right. Not too bad. Total winnings: $266.05. That would be an 8.3% return in five months. Again, not too bad. Overall, it's been a fun year. I hope those who read for the techie details weren't too bored, and I'd be surprised if anyone is even reading this. But who knows. Maybe I should focus on sports full time!

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