NFL's FARCE Ratings and Week 15 Predictions

So close, yet so far. The Detroit Lions lost again Sunday, this time a four-point loss to the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings lost Gus Frerotte just before the half and Jared Allen seemed to have injured himself in the second quarter, yet the Lions still could not eke one out. Down by four with 5:48 left and one timeout on the Vikings' 21-yard line, the Lions elected to kick the field goal and hope to stop the Vikings with enough time to go for the win. The Lions did get the ball back—with 16 seconds left and after the Vikings themselves had kicked a field goal to go back up by four. That said, the Lions did show some signs of confidence early on. Twice in the second half the Lions went for it on fourth-and-one, on the Vikings' 30 and inside the 10. Might the coaches have realized their mistake of twice kicking a field goal inside the 10 on their first two drives? The Lions have such a bad FARCE rating that in each of the past five weeks their expected win score using the W-L ratings ... (link)