A Different Kind of Analysis

My brain hurts from analyzing so many snow storms so I am going to give you football fans a bit of a different type of outlook for this Sunday. Both the Bears and the Packers play at home at noon on Sunday. Here is a breakdown for the weather and outcomes of each game.

First off, I'll start with the Chicago Bears. The Jacksonville Jaguars (4-8) visit Soldier Field and they are in for a shocker weatherwise. After leaving the relatively tropical east coast of Florida, those players will have to attempt to get used to some freezing temperatures. Highs for Sunday in Chicago won't make it out of the mid 20s. Thankfully a decent amount of sunshine will show up to go along with fairly light winds. The Jags looked pretty poor on Monday night and showed that their underachieving defense has almost given up for the year. Most successful teams in the Midwest turn to a strong running game in December. If the Bears don't rely solely on Kyle Orton's arm and give Matt Forte 20-25 carries they should get a win. Painter's prediction: Bears by 9.

Now to the Green Bay Packers. Another warm climate team visits the NFC North and in this case it is the Houston Texans (5-7). This squad will face even colder conditions at Lambeau Field. Highs will only make it into the upper teens despite ample sunshine and light winds. The Texans are coming off of two wins and have had some tough losses, so they may be a tougher matchup than what their record indicates. After being a favorite to win the division about a month ago, the Pack have lost 4 of their last 5 games. The Texans offense should be able to move the chains fairly well against a Packers defense that has looked weak the past two contests, and they also own one of the premier pass rushers in the league in Mario Williams who should be able to add a few grass stains to Aaron Rodger's jersey. This game is a tough one to pick. In order to appease Packers fans who may be sad that Brett Favre is on a team with a much better record I will side with Green Bay... but not by much. Painter's prediction: Packers by 2.