Thanks largely to Brett Favre, the Packers are off to a 4-0 start and will win their 9th straight game (dating to last season) on Sunday night at home against the Chicago Bears, preseason favorite to repeat as NFC North Division champions. Incredibly, Dr. Z, in his preseason predictions for SI, rated Favre the 113th most valuable player in the NFL, just behind Pacman, who is suspended for the season for violating the Player Conduct policy. dp would also like to point out that Dr. Z's predicted Super Bowl teams, the Saints and the Chargers, are a combined 1-6 through Week 4. Thanks largely to Favre's outstanding play this season (he's currently the 4th best fantasy player in Yahoo leagues, behind only Tony Romo, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady), dp's two X-Country Packbackin squads have accumulated a combined 7-1 record in his two Yahoo fantasy leagues (okay, actually 9-3 in three leagues).
Less importantly, but more relevantly, dp throws some love towards the much-maligned Dr. Z, and picks both the Saints and the Chargers to turn their seasons around with big wins in Week 5. In dp's upset special, the Chargers win will their tough AFC West showdown at Denver. LaDainian Tomlinson will post a monster game, running circles around struggling MLB D.J. Williams. LT will break off consistent gains in piling up yardage against Denver's porous front seven, meaning that QB Phillip Rivers won't have to challenge Denver's shutdown corners Champ Bailey and Dre Bly.
Other picks: Redskins over Lions and Chiefs over Jaguars.
