Week 16, Championship Week, Christmas Eve

Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers.

Weren't they 11-0? You're not supposed to lose to the Cincinnati Bungles SO spectacularly. (Honestly, I was OK with it; the Steelers D laid an egg which helped me get into the Finals in another league.)

And that spectacular failure did NOT help Boobies (heh) in his first ever playoff appearance. Big Ben was bad, and JuJu was even worse. Bad JuJu. (Get it?) Those two got Boobies (heh) a combined 6 points, and he couldn't top Regress to the Mean, who advances to his second consecutive Super Bowl.

In the other semi-final....well, we had a manager who stopped paying attention. Zeke was declared out about an hour before kick-off and I-Ry didn't take him out of his lineup. Substitute in the other Cowboys RB for the week, and I-Ry takes the victory. Instead, he took a 0 and an L. Tough way to go out.

So it's Team Provost vs. Regress to the Mean for the Title. At least they don't have to agonize over it with four straight days of football.

In the Pooper Bowl, it's Falco and DVD playing for next year's extra scratchers. Falco took out Hardcore with a Tidwellian performance (which doesn't technically count as a Tidwell), and DVD won a pillow fight with HRG. But hey, a win's a win, and Falco and DVD are each hoping for one more to potentially improve their draft stock for next year.

This year's Worst Bowl features Pickles and Hardcore. Pickles fell to JFE, which triggered some ribbing in the GroupMe. It's kind of both managers season in microcosm: JFE putting up a mediocre number of points most weeks, and Pickles either booming or busting. He busted, and JFE avoids the Worst Bowl, and advances to the only matchup on the year that doesn't mean a damn thing.

So we've come to the end of another year. Perhaps we'll be able to gather in person for the year-end festivities, but likely not. We may have to do another Zoom session, and hopefully we'll be able to gather in person for the draft and other frivolity next season.

I mentioned it on Thanksgiving, but I'll say it again here at Christmas: Thank you. Thank you for another great season of Smarter Than Phil Simms Fantasy Football. I hope this season has been a little bit of a distraction for you in an otherwise trying time. I hope you enjoyed another year of bad beats, and deez Notes, and watching football.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!