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Week 17 NFL Picks: Expecting Rodgers to Lead Packers to Victory, Playoffs

APC's authors take one final crack at picking regular-season games, and their pick for the Packers-Bears game is unanimous.

By Evan "Tex" Western
Benny Sieu-US PRESSWIRE

Welcome to week 17, everyone. Everything is on the line for several NFL teams, including our beloved Green Bay Packers. Meanwhile, virtually nothing is on the line for our season-long NFL picks competition, but bragging rights will be determined on Sunday.

For the Packers-Bears matchup, the deciding factor for many of us is Aaron Rodgers' return. For me personally, it's Eddie Lacy's availability, as his 150 yards on the ground against the Bears in Week 9 was his career-high. I think the Packers' offense can sustain drives and put up points even without Rodgers, but his presence should make the offense even more dangerous.

Here are our final picks of the 2013 regular season, and head over to the FanPosts to make your final picks as well.

Game Tex Jason Josh Tony Dan Eric VCF Consensus
BAL @ CIN CIN CIN CIN BAL CIN CIN CIN CIN
CLE @ PIT CLE PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT
CAR @ ATL CAR CAR CAR CAR CAR CAR CAR CAR
DET @ MIN MIN DET MIN DET MIN MIN MIN MIN
HOU @ TEN TEN TEN TEN HOU TEN TEN TEN TEN
JAX @ IND IND IND IND IND IND IND IND IND
NYJ @ MIA MIA MIA MIA NYJ MIA MIA MIA MIA
WAS @ NYG NYG NYG NYG NYG NYG NYG NYG NYG
BUF @ NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE
GB @ CHI GB GB GB GB GB GB GB GB
DEN @ OAK DEN DEN DEN DEN DEN DEN DEN DEN
KC @ SD SD KC SD KC KC SD KC KC
TB @ NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
SF @ ARI ARI SF SF SF SF SF SF SF
STL @ SEA SEA SEA SEA SEA SEA SEA SEA SEA
PHI @ DAL PHI PHI PHI DAL PHI PHI PHI PHI

There you have it, a unanimous selection of the Packers to defeat the Bears in Chicago and return to the playoffs as the NFC North champion. We also are picking the Eagles to make the playoffs as the NFC East winner and the third seed. Most of our picks are fairly consistent this week - only the Kansas City-San Diego matchup has a lot of disagreement among the writing staff.

Based on our consensus picks, the NFC Playoffs would look like this:

1: Seahawks; 2: Panthers; 3: Eagles; 4: Packers; 5: 49ers; 6: Saints

Obviously, this would give the Packers a wild-card matchup with last year's playoff nemesis, the 49ers. The Packers would at least have the benefit of playing at home, though.

Here's our overall standings for this season. Based on the similarity of everyone's picks, it is virtually impossible for anyone to catch Eric for the overall lead.

Author Overall Week 16
Eric 159-80-1 10-6
Jason 154-85-1 10-6
VCF 153-86-1 10-6
Tex 149-90-1 11-5
Dan 148-91-1 7-9
Josh 147-92-1 10-6
Tony 141-98-1 7-9
Consensus 153-86-1 11-5

Enjoy week 17, everyone!

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