Conference Championship Panel Picks
It’s been a very exciting year for the panel. We watched Jackson’s brutal struggle to open the season, a record-breaking week by Ray, George’s historically good season, huge upsets that have shaken up the standings, constant trash talk, and yet another last-place campaign out of Josh.
Last week was exciting, too. The Chiefs paid off the refs in a game that had hardly any panel implications, I rocked the world with a gutsy Commanders pick, the Eagles nearly spoiled George’s slender lead, and the Bills spoiled everyone but Rahul’s fun in an upset of the Ravens. The standings last week were as follows.
Rahul: 7-2
Webb: 6-3
Theo: 4-5
Josh: 4-5
Ben: 4-5
George: 4-5
Ray: 3-6
Jackson: 2-7
Here are the full playoff standings.
Webb: 17-5
Rahul: 16-6
Theo: 13-9
Josh: 13-9
Ray: 12-10
Jackson: 11-11
Ben: 10-12
George: 9-13
And of course, here are the full season standings.
It’s been a fun season, but now, all that matters are the these picks.
What’s At Stake?
The NFL champion won’t be decided for another 14 days, but the panel has a chance to crown a champion today. George’s magic number is officially down to one.
As you can see from the full standings, George holds a three-game lead on Ray. Last week, the gap was two games which led Ray to pick to Rams to beat the Eagles in an attempt to tie George at the top. Matthew Stafford almost did it for him. With under a minute left, down by six, the Rams were driving for the win, but repeated offensive line errors overcame the comeback, giving George’s Eagles the victory. That would have given George a four-game lead if it weren’t for his lock (the Lions) losing and Ray’s lock (the Chiefs) winning. Thus, the lead is three.
This week, Ray’s looking at Chiefs vs Bills as the game that can keep him alive. He’s got Buffalo who are currently two-point underdogs and George is rolling with the two-time defending champion Chiefs. Both are locking the Eagles, meaning that if Ray gets his Bills upset, he’ll still head into the Super Bowl in second place. From there, he needs to pick the Super Bowl correctly and George to pick it incorrectly. George has made it clear that he is picking the favorites for the remainder of the season after a shaky first two playoff rounds, so Ray will need to pick the underdog in the Super Bowl to win. Now, there is the outside chance that George reads Ray’s mind and fools him by picking the underdog himself, effectively ending the panel race. I suppose Ray could also read George’s mind but let’s not go there. This is just the panel picks.
Assuming no mind-reading occurs on Super Bowl Sunday, these are George and Ray’s paths to victory in simpler terms.
George: Chiefs win OR Super Bowl win
Ray: Bills win AND Super Bowl win
It’d be unfair for me to leave out Rahul’s 0.0001% chance of tying for the win—the kid has put together a nice playoff run. He can’t win, but there is a world in which he ties George and Ray for first.
Bills win today + Super Bowl win + George and Ray Super Bowl loss
On the surface, it doesn’t seem out of the question until you realize that George and Ray will have to pick the same Super Bowl winner for Rahul to have a chance. Ultimately, his chances of winning are not only out of his hands, but out of the teams he’s picking’s hands. They rest on the shoulders of George and Ray.
As for the rest of us, we’re playing for pride. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s been a successful year for almost everybody 1-through-8. Everybody has surpassed their record from last year except for Jackson who currently has the exact same record as last season and Theo who has fallen off slightly from his panel victory in 2024.
Last season, our win percentage was 60.1% and this year, it’s 65.3%. What’s more impressive is that George, Ray, and Rahul all would have won the panel last year with their current records.
That’s all I’ve got for the panel picks today. The next time you hear from me, George might have been crowned the champion of the panel Whether it’s George clinching victory or Ray staving off elimination once again, Eagles vs Commanders and Chiefs vs Bills forecasts to be pure cinema. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I will.