NFL Picks Week 5: Bears and Steelers Will Be Dealt Week 5 Blow

This has not been a banner year for Super Bowl contenders. Most preseason favorites are stumbling and fumbling out of the gate. The Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers will continue in that vein in Week 5. 

If you want a league that exudes parity from every pore, you can't do better than the NFL. Two teams that were expected to steamroll to the postseason have been hit with middling efforts. 

This week, they will be hit again by teams with far more momentum at the present moment. If you were hoping for a bounceback game and are wearing Bears or Steelers replicas, avert your eyes. 

The frustration continues this weekend, making the season far more intriguing than we ever could have hoped for. 

1. Tennessee at Pittsburgh

  The Tennessee Titans head to Heinz Field to take on a much different Steelers squad than the one we have grown accustomed to. 

Before the year started, we may have seen this game against one stout defense against a soft opponent. We may be right in that assessment, but we got the teams incorrect. 

The Steelers are crippled at the moment. They are missing their star linebacker, James Harrison, who has a fractured orbital bone. And their two key cogs on offense are banged-up. The Steelers will be gripping after the Titans deliver them yet another loss.

Prediction: Titans 24, Steelers 17

2. Chicago at Detroit

  Finally, a Monday Night Football game with a great deal at stake. This is going to be an emotional affair, as the Lions try to prove they are for real and the Bears prove they are not a mediocre squad. 

Alas, there is a changing of the guard in the NFC North. The Lions will maintain control of the division with a win on Monday. 

The Bears allowed far too many yards to Cam Newton and the Panthers last week, very nearly losing that game. I will take an equally potent Matthew Stafford putting up great numbers. 

I also have confidence the Lions pass rush will keep Jay Cutler on his toes. And if not his toes, his back.  

Prediction: Lions 27, Bears 24