The Brady Bowl

The permutations and combinations that will clinch playoff berths for NFL teams are just too exhausting to contemplate.

Besides, the real question is, Oakland or Detroit?

Yes, sports fans, The Quest for Brady Quinn is coming to an exciting conclusion with the Raiders and the Lions as our two finalists.

Here are the scenarios for each team to end up with first pick in the draft next year (we strongly recommend taking two aspirin before reading this):

"The easiest way for Oakland to get the top pick would be by losing to the New York Jets while Detroit beats the Dallas Cowboys.

"If both Detroit and Oakland have the same result this week, it goes to the tiebreaker. The teams on Detroit's schedule have 127 victories so far, while the Raiders' opponents have 131.

"If both Detroit and Oakland lose, the gap would narrow by one win based on Dallas beating the Lions. Since the Jets would have played both teams, that game would have no impact on the tiebreaker.

"There are eight other games that will play into the strength of schedule tiebreaker. The Lions would be assured of winning it if two of Oakland's AFC West rivals win this week. Kansas City hosts Jacksonville, Denver hosts San Francisco, and San Diego hosts Arizona.

"If one AFC West team wins, the Raiders would get the edge in the tiebreaker with wins by Miami, New England, Atlanta, Buffalo and Minnesota. If all three AFC West teams lose, Oakland's chances would increase a little more."

Detroit or California in November?

Not hard to guess what Brady's likely hoping for.

Despite Art Shell's protestations to the contrary, you can be sure what Oakland's hoping for.

And we're guessing a lot of San Francisco fans are hoping for it too.


(I wipe the floor with your Tara Conner.)