Rodney Lynch extends lead with dominant Week 17 Armchair Quarterback win

The seventeenth week of the Tri-City Record’s annual Armchair Quarterback competition has been contested, but we made sure to continue our long-standing tradition of challenging our knowledgeable “superfans” over some ultimately tough choices on the gridiron, as our pigskin diehards attempted to pick the winner of five collegiate football bowl games and five professional football games. When all was said and done, our expert pickers might just have been glad to see the week end as just two of our reputable colleagues finished with a winning record.

Bowl season for college football has arrived, and a total of eight games were played between Saturday and Monday. None of our local teams, Michigan or Notre Dame, are in action until Dec. 29 (Notre Dame) and Jan. 1 (Michigan). But still, if you’re a college football fan, you will have plenty of games to watch in the days ahead!

In professional action, both of our local teams, the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions, took the field last weekend, looking to improve their records with just a few weeks remaining in the season. On Saturday night, at Ford Field, the Lions (10-4) took on the Denver Broncos and their offense and defense came alive, as they soared to a 42-17 victory giving them a three-game lead in the NFC North. Meanwhile, on Sunday in Cleveland, the Bears (5-9) led by ten points entering the fourth quarter, but the Browns scored thirteen unanswered points in the final fifteen minutes to win, 20-17.

When the final whistle blew and all the scores were verified, the best mark of the stretch stood at 8-2. Only one of our panelists was able to score eight victories at the conclusion of the festivities, as Rodney Lynch made it two straight finishes at the top of the podium, in another week where games could’ve gone either way. His biggest successes came in the collegiate ranks, where he was a perfect five-for-five and separated himself from the pack.

While Rodney celebrated yet another victory, Mike Banic can also be happy that he finished above the .500 mark, as his 6-4 record was good enough for him to finish as our runner-up during the stretch. Mike didn’t start this week on a good note, as he lost three collegiate games and the first of our professional contests, but he managed to find his footing over time and saw all four of his Saturday and Sunday pro picks come up clutch with wins.

Each week this season we usually have a “gaggle” of panelists that end the proceedings with the same record, and this week it comes at the 5-5 mark. Three of our panelists: RoxAnn Rodney-Isbrecht, Greg Krell and Maureen Ovington, will need to battle it out in a tiebreaker to determine our third through fifth place finishers. It’s been a rough two weeks to be a prognosticator, but if you finish at the .500 mark on a tough week like this, it’s a win.

Because we have a tie in the weekly standings, that means we had to go to the dreaded tiebreaker scenario to determine the order of finish between the three panelists. Our tiebreaker matchup, which featured Baltimore and Jacksonville, wasn’t an offensive juggernaut, and finished with a total of 30 points. Based on their highly educated guesses, RoxAnn, who predicted 45 total points, was the closest, and finished on the final step of the podium in third place, while Maureen (who predicted 47 total points) will take home fourth place honors and Greg (who predicted 51 total points) must settle for fifth place.

Unfortunately, we always must have one panelist finish as our “cellar dweller” and the title will go to Bill Whitney this week, as his 4-6 record will leave him with a devastating sixth place result. Bill has hit a rough patch recently, as he has scuffled to win just seven of our last twenty contests over the past two weeks. His mark during this stretch included winning just one of our college contests, while he did fare better in NFL picks, going three-for-five.

In the season-long race for the hat, there have been weekly changes in overall positioning virtually each week since this contest began. This week is no different, but the changes are quite aesthetic and small, as just one place changed hands, which happened outside of our top three.

Rodney continues to take control of the lead in the race for top honors, with his overall record sitting at 113-57 through our first 170 games. Having fell out of the lead last week, RoxAnn retained her claim on second place, with an overall record of 109-61, while Greg remains steadfast with third place honors, with an overall record of 107-63. The final three positions in our race feature Mike, who moved up one spot to fourth place, with an overall record of 102-68, Bill, who slipped a spot, falling to fifth place, with an overall record of 101-69 and Maureen in sixth place, with an overall record of 99-71. The race is continuing to get more pressure packed as the season winds down, and with just fourteen games between first through sixth place, we expect more changes soon!

Pigskin action continues this week, with the second week of the college football bowl season being played out, along with games from week sixteen of the professional football season. Now, here are your week eighteen games that our qualified panelists were tasked with picking:

South Florida vs. Syracuse

(Thu. Boca Raton Bowl)

Air Force vs. James Madison

(Sat. Armed Forces Bowl)

Eastern Michigan vs.

South Alabama

(Sat. 68 Ventures Bowl)

Georgia State vs. Utah State

(Sat. Famous Idaho Potato Bowl)

Northwestern vs. Utah

(Sat. Las Vegas Bowl)

New Orleans Saints at

LA Rams (Thu)

Arizona Cardinals at

Chicago Bears (Sun)

Dallas Cowboys at

Miami Dolphins (Sun) *

Detroit Lions at

Minnesota Vikings (Sun)

Seattle Seahawks at

Tennessee Titans (Sun)

* tiebreaker