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Santa Bonzo delivers a lump of coal to the "experts"
Cold, Hard Football Facts for December 24, 2005

The "experts" continue to climb up the banana tree of pigskin "punditry" in an effort to chase down Bonzo the Idiot Monkey and save themselves the embarrassment of losing out in their season-long NFL picks to a mammal with a cranial cavity half the size of the average human's.
 
Still, it will come down to the wire as Bonzo the Idiot Monkey, our resident coconut-chucking, pigskin prognosticating primate, clings to a narrow, one-game lead over his top competitor from CBS Sportsline's panel of "experts." CBS publishes these picks under the guise of an "Exclusive Feature" on the Web site. Apparently,the heading "Even a Coin-Flipping Monkey Can Do Better than Our Experts" didn't go over too well in a meeting of the editorial board.
 
Here's our suggestion: Find some new "experts."
 
Each week, Bonzo puts his picks up against those of four "pundits" from CBS Sportsline: Minister of Hackery Pete Prisco, Clark Judge, Greg Bromberg and Michael Fabiano.
 
How does each participant in our contest pick their games? Well, the "pundits" at CBS Sportsline have years of experience writing about football, access to the most sophisticated and expensive data out there from every major stat service, a full command of rudimentary stone-chipping tools and, as writers for the official news source of NFL.com, inside access to every NFL locker room.
 
Bonzo blindly flips a coin. And he's a monkey.
 
You would think humans with every imaginable advantage over a lesser species would cruise to victory. But you'd be wrong. Bonzo the Idiot Monkey took over first place in Week 10, pulled away in Weeks 11 and 12, came down from his treetop throne a bit over the last two weeks, but is still more than holding his own against the so-called "experts."
 
The bottom line: If you're turning to CBS Sportsline for guidance in the world of gridiron analsis, you're climbing up the wrong tree. Even a stupid monkey can outdo these donkeys merely by flipping a coin.
 
Here are the results of our competition so far this season, along with this week's picks at the bottom.
 
 
Bonzo
Prisco
Judge
Bromberg
Fabiano
Week 15
8-8
8-8
11-5
10-6
7-9
Overall
118-99-3
115-102-3
114-103-3
110-107-3
117-100-3
 
For the full story on Bonzo, click here. You can check out last week's picks here.
 
Week 16 picks:
 
Favorite
Spread
Underdog
Bonzo
Prisco
Judge
Bromberg
Fabiano
at Cincy
-13.5
Buffalo
Cincy
Cincy
Cincy
Buffalo
Cincy
Pitt
-7
at Cleve
Cleve
Cleve
Pitt
Pitt
Pitt
at KC
-1
SD
SD
KC
KC
SD
SD
at Miami
-5.5
Tenn
Miami
Tenn
Miami
Miami
Miami
Jax
-6
at Hou
Hou
Jax
Hou
Jax
Jax
at NO
-3
Detroit
Det
NO
NO
Detroit
NO
at Carol
-5.5
Dallas
Dallas
Carol
Dallas
Dallas
Dallas
at Wash
-3
NYG
NYG
NYG
Wash
Wash
Wash
at TB
-3
Atlanta
Atl
TB
TB
Atlanta
TB
at St.L
-9
San Fran
St.L
St.L
St.L
St.L
SF
at Ari
-1
Philly
Philly
Ari
Philly
Arizona
Philly
at Sea
-7.5
Indy
Indy
Sea
Indy
Indy
Seattle
at Den
-13
Oakland
Den
Den
Den
Oakland
Denver
Chicago
-6.5
at GB
Chi
GB
Chi
Green Bay
Chicago
at Balt
-2
Minn
Balt
Balt
Minn
Minn
Minn
NE
-4.5
at NYJ
NE
NE
NE
NE
NE


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South
North
West