Prophesy Fulfilled: Falling One Point Shy Of The Exact Score

Predictions are rarely something I'm invested with personally; often it's based off circumstantial information with too many variables to count (much less accounting for what they actually are). Perhaps it's the basic idea of prevention, such as not sounding like an idiot every week with a lopsided Bengals prediction. Perhaps it's time to change that philosophy. Last week Brian Galliford of Buffalo Rumblings asked for a prediction for Sunday's game.

"The Bills should win this game," began Kirkendall. "The Bengals offense isn't consistent enough, and they've only converted two of their previous 21 third down opportunities. If Cedric Benson gets going and Andy Dalton converts third down passes, the Bengals will try to play ball control, using their defense to hold the Bills just enough.

"Which is what the Bengals will do," concluded Kirkendall, grinning. "Bengals 24, Bills 20."

That's right. While predicting that the Bengals would win, this writer came one point short of predicting the exact score; not to mention the mere keys to the game for a Bengals win (ball control and a strong defense). From now on, while reading predictions crafted from hours of creative formulas (and a little alchemy) that not only solves the meaning of life (42), know that when a prediction is made on these pages, expect it to happen.