Microsoft Cortana — the virtual assistant that's predicting the outright winner of every NFL game this season — enjoyed a bountiful Thanksgiving, correctly picking ten of the Week 12 NFL games, including three of four on Thursday.
Cortana's first miss of the week came by way of the Green Bay Packers, who were upset by the Chicago Bears and continue to aggravate fans and bettors everywhere. Elsewhere, it also incorrectly picked the Falcons, Jaguars, and Giants, and rounded out the week with misses during the Sunday and Monday night games.
In all, Cortana moves to 112-64 on the season (63%). Of the 135 experts and algorithms that are compared over at NFL Pick Watch, Cortana moves into ninth place. FiveThirtyEight's Elo model, which we've put up against Cortana most weeks to see how it's fared, moved into first place overall with an impressive tally of 118-58 (67%). As always, Elo doesn't always predict an outright winner, which helps its overall score.
This week, Cortana thinks that the Panthers will keep on their winning ways, and that the Packers, Patriots, and Giants will all bounce back after losses. In a possible wild card round preview between the Seahawks and the Vikings (the two would play if the playoffs started this weekend), Cortana gives the Vikings the slightest of edges at home.
As always, you can access Cortana's picks — and the reasoning behind each pick — over at Cortana's Bing Blog. Remember: Cortana only picks the outright winner of each game, and the Vegas point spread, in parentheses, are only for reference. All lines via Vegas Insider.
Week 13 picks:
- Green Bay Packers (-3) @ Detroit Lions — Packers 58% chance to win
- San Francisco 49ers (+7) @ Chicago Bears — Bears 64%
- Cincinnati Bengals (-9.5) @ Cleveland Browns — Bengals 74%
- Jacksonville Jaguars (+2.5) @ Tennessee Titans — Jaguars 53%
- Houston Texans (+3) @ Buffalo Bills — Bills 55%
- Baltimore Ravens (+4) @ Miami Dolphins — Dolphins 61%
- Carolina Panthers (-7) @ New Orleans Saints — Panthers 66%
- Seattle Seahawks (PK) @ Minnesota Vikings — Vikings 52%
- Arizona Cardinals (-5.5) @ St. Louis Rams — Cardinals 57%
- Atlanta Falcons (+2) @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Buccaneers 52%
- New York Jets (+2) @ New York Giants — Giants 55%
- Denver Broncos (-4) @ San Diego Chargers — Broncos 66%
- Kansas City Chiefs (-3) @ Oakland Raiders — Chiefs 60%
- Philadelphia Eagles (+9.5) @ New England Patriots — Patriots 84%
- Indianapolis Colts (+7) @ Pittsburgh Steelers — Steelers 67%
- Dallas Cowboys (+4) @ Washington Redskins — Redskins 53%
