We’ll have some picks on the final week of the NFL season, but I wanted to take some time and provide an overview on what to do–and what *not* to do–when handicapping the trickiest week of the regular season.  Week 17 of the NFL season is where you’ll find teams playing for different reasons.  Some are trying to make the playoffs.  Some are trying to keep other teams from making the playoffs.  Some are trying to just finish the season without injuries.  Some are playing for jobs, either theirs or their coaches.  And some teams flat out just don’t care anymore.  Here’s a few tips:

1. San Diego Chargers (-4) Not only did the Colts give up their perfect season and NFL-record 23-game winning streak on Sunday, they also surrendered the #1 spot in our power rankings. The Chargers mean business, and few teams are playing better than Phillip Rivers’ team is right now. They play Jason Campbell and the struggling 4-11 Redskins next week, which should be a piece of cake.

2. Indianapolis Colts In my humble opinion, the Colts should have kept their starters in the game against the Jets on Sunday at least through most of the fourth quarter and tried to win that game. If I were an Indy fan — in the stands or at home — I’d be super pissed about now. Nevertheless, they’re headed to the playoffs with a first-round bye and are sitting at the #2 spot pretty much only because the Bolts are on fire at this point… and cause the Colts are a bunch of quitters.

This Monday night football matchup between bitter NFC North rivals in Brett Favre’s Minnesota Vikings and Jay Cutler’s Chicago Bears had blowout written all over it, but that was far from the truth as Cutler and company came to play for one of the few times this season and took Favre’s Vikings to the limit at Soldier Field in Chicago.

Coming into this week 16 NFC North showdown on Monday night the Minnesota Vikings had already clinched both the division and a trip back into the playoffs, but with a win over the Chicago Bears on Monday, Brett Favre and company had a shot at being the number one seed in the NFC going into the postseason.

Unfortunately, what was thought to be a just another easy win for head coach Brad Childress’ squad turned out to be anything but as Jay Cutler had one of his few dominant performances of the season with four touchdowns and just one interception.

Guess what? It’s Tuesday! That means we’re back with the hottest cheerleader from this week’s NFL action. Thank you for waiting an entire seven days, I know it’s been rough.

There weren’t so many naughty little elves to choose from this week, so it was a little easier to pick just one. It’s a dirty job people, but someone has got to do it.

Ladies and gentlemen, here she is: the smokin’ hot cheerleader from Week 16: a blonde bombshell from the New Orleans Saints’ cheerleading squad…