This week, Big Ben Roethlisberger returns to active duty for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he couldn’t have engineered a better way to end his suspension.  The suspension ended two weeks ago, which meant that Roethlisberger got to practice through the bye week and get two full weeks of reps.  Just to make the return even easier, the Steelers face the hapless Cleveland Browns at Heinz Field.  The Browns have lost both of their road games, while the Steelers have managed to go 3-1 without their franchise player, thanks to a mostly-great performance from the Steel Curtain defense and some gut-check play by backup Charlie Batch.  The Steelers should win this one handily, 35-10.

Speaking of hapless, though, I went 2-4 for the second week in a row, bringing my season total to 17-14.  Can I get back to .500 or better?  Let’s see if we can make it happen:

• Cowboys at Vikings – Warren Sapp calls this the “Dead Man’s Bowl,” because whichever 1-3 team loses this game should make plans for watching the playoffs on TV.  The Vikings have a controversy with Brett Favre and his alleged sexting of a New York Jets employee during his tenure there, which will get addressed later this week by the Commish.  Favre will undoubtedly want to have a big game today to put that on the back burner, and Randy Moss returns to the Metrodome for his first home game in years.  I’ll pick the Vikes in this one, 24-17, with lots of sacks for the Minnesota defense.
• Seahawks at Bears – Seattle looks better than expected this year, a good sign for new head coach Pete Carroll, but the Bears are at home and playing pretty well.  The defense will control this game, and that means Chicago at home, especially with Jay Cutler well enough to play again.  23-10, Bears.
• Dolphins at Packers – The Packers may be the best 3-2 team in the league at the moment; they beat Washington in every way except the score last week.  They’re playing at home against a tough Miami team, but … the Pack is playing at home, and they want to make up for last week.  Packers over Dolphins, 28-20.
• Ravens at Patriots – This should be a good indication of how much Tom Brady will really miss Randy Moss.  The Ravens have a great defense, but the Patriots have a good enough defense to contain Baltimore, and enough of an offense to move the ball at home on the Ravens.  If Brady can stretch the field with his other receivers, he should be able to get around Ray Lewis enough to squeeze out a win, 21-17.
• Raiders at 49ers – I hate to admit it, but the Raiders look better than last year.  They beat San Diego in an impressive win last week, doing just enough to get past their divisional rivals.  Mike Singletary’s team, on the other hand, looks good enough to just miss winning every week.  They turn the ball over, make too many mental mistakes, and in general look like the best team without a win in the league … which isn’t hard to do, since they’re the only team without a win.  Raiders will prevail — and that tastes like ashes in my mouth, by the way — 27-14.

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We joke a lot about politics and voting, but in this case, the Chicago Way applies — vote early, vote often, and vote every day! If you don’t want to register for the contest, simply text “103165” to Pepsi (73774) from your cell phone every day.