9402150077 DETROIT FREE PRESS 941217 Saturday, December 17, 1994 METRO FINAL

SPT

4B MITCH ALBOM The picks Copyright (c) 1994, Detroit Free Press NO PASSION FOR PURPLE; LIONS TO SHOW THEIR COLORS * Lions 26, Vikings 21: Purple is for prunes and Prince. Purple is not a winning color in a blue-collar town like Detroit. * San Francisco 20, Denver 14: Just how many houses did Deion Sanders have? * Green Bay 19, Atlanta 7: Andre Sinkin. * Chicago 28, LA Rams 9: After last week's collapse, the Bears will be happy Sunday just to have three hours without Dave Wandstedt screaming at them. * New England 20, Buffalo 13: Cue the fat lady. * San Diego 28, NY Jets 10: If Wayne Fontes thinks the Detroit media is tough, he ought to consider what happened last week after the Lions beat the Jets: the media in New York wanted Pete Carroll fired. And the guy's in his first year! * Tampa Bay 17, Washington 13: One word: why? * Arizona 20, Cincinnati 7: Buddy Ryan will miss the rest of 1994. The Ghost of Christmas past is showing him the mistakes he has made so far. * Pittsburgh 19, Cleveland 17: The AFC Super Bowl. * Kansas City 17, Houston 2: That's some job Jeff Fisher is doing with the Oilers, huh? * Miami 24, Indianapolis 21: Jim Harbaugh's back. Doesn't equal Dan Marino's arm. * NY Giants 20, Philadelphia 16: Randall Cunningham hits the bench. Actually, he tries to hit the bench, but overthrows and has it intercepted. * LA Raiders 23, Seattle 20: I don't want to say those concussions are taking a toll, but Jeff Hostetler was seen this week reading "The Cat in the Hat." * Dallas 27, New Orleans 10 (Monday night): About the only thing that could motivate Dallas is showing off on Monday Night. * Best pick last week: New Orleans 23, Atlanta 21 (Saints won, 29-20). * Worst pick last week: Chicago 20, Green Bay 17 (Packers won, 40-3). * Record last week: 8-6. * Last week vs. spread: 8-6. * Season record: 115-81. * Season vs. spread: 96-94-6.