I know Major League Baseball has some of these people do well in their front offices, but I’ve heard that the only successful ones are those who don’t insist that their way is the only way.

I’ll agree that analytics can be a great tool for making decisions, but from what I learned when I attended Michigan Tech, crunching numbers isn’t really what higher math is about anyway.

You might want crazy numerical talent to design the computers or the programs to churn through the data to come up with what you should do when you have fourth down and one yard to go.

But if you’ve seen calculus, differential equations or stuff beyond what I ever saw, like game theory — yes, stuff Sheldon Cooper talks about on “The Big Bang Theory” — you see it’s a bunch of theoretical work where numbers are basically an afterthought.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in action in the first half of a game against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday in Baltimore. (AP photo)

Kind of like what football strategy should be.

In calculus, they might look at the relationship between the distance some object travels and how it’s related to velocity, then how that’s related to acceleration.

Velocity along with the time traveled tells you pretty quickly how far something has traveled — going 55 mph for two hours nets you 110 miles — while acceleration tells you how much and how quickly the velocity is going up — or down — again with time dictating where that velocity is at a particular moment.

They all have relationships with each other, and it’s pretty important stuff when working with concepts like gravity.

Applied to sports, I hear things like Baltimore coach John Harbaugh thinking he should go for a 2-point conversion to take the lead — notice I don’t say “win” — instead of settling for a tie near the end of the fourth quarter.

Sure, it’s always better to take the lead than settle for a tie, but at what risk?

It’s what happened Sunday when the Ravens hosted Green Bay. I bet if you remembered when the Packers beat San Francisco back on Sept. 26, you were saying when Harbaugh called the timeout before the conversion try, “Go ahead! Go for two!”

There were 42 seconds left and if Baltimore had made the 2-pointer, the Ravens would’ve led 32-31.

Back in Week 3, the 49ers didn’t have to go for two, as they trailed only 27-21 when they scored their tying TD and go-ahead PAT kick with 37 seconds left — five seconds fewer than vs. Baltimore.

Versus San Fran, Aaron Rodgers engineered the game-winning drive and got Mason Crosby close enough for the game winner on the final play for a 30-28 win.

This time, from what I remember, the Packers had one timeout left. l like those odds for a future Hall of Famer.

If it had been the Lions’ Jared Goff or the Bears’ Justin Fields — heck, even the Vikings’ Kirk Cousins — a successful 2-point conversion would’ve looked like a genius move as those quarterbacks probably couldn’t move the ball far enough with that little time.

But by trailing instead of being tied, as I’ve mentioned here before, Rodgers and Co. would’ve had nothing to lose trying to move into field goal position.

If instead the game was tied, it would make you pause, as you’d never go for it on fourth down or even push the ball downfield too hard in case a fumble or interception could be returned for a TD or even just get your opponent into field goal position.

I don’t have the space here to even consider the five fourth-down tries the Los Angeles Chargers attempted a week ago against Kansas City. Let’s just say that if each situation is considered separately, there’s a good chance many coaches would go for the first down at least once. But it seems highly doubtful all five times.

Enough about this, let’s look at my “analytics” of picking winners (also a bad proposition quite often):

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Today, 8:20 p.m.

San Francisco at Tennessee — No use trying to overanalyze these games. I like San Fran right now, and even more considering their quality defense should force the Titans into plenty of mistakes. 49ers, 29-20.

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Saturday, 4:30 p.m.

Cleveland at Green Bay — Bad timing for the Browns, since even if they get a lot of their COVID-19 players back, how can this plodding offense compete with Rodgers? Packers, 30-24.

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Saturday, 8:15 p.m.

Indianapolis at Arizona — Wow, three fairly even matchups to start the week. It’s almost as if it’s Christmas or something. Wait …

All right, seriously, I tend to doubt my reverse momentum theory of picking this late in the season. By this time, you is what you is, as Popeye would say. I’ll take the team with the momentum of beating New England last weekend over the dud of the Cardinals doubling the Lions’ win total. Colts, 34-26.

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Sunday, 1 p.m.

Detroit at Atlanta — The Falcons have stated that they think they still have a chance to make the playoffs. Something I don’t think Arizona was thinking about a week ago with Detroit on the horizon. Falcons, 38-27.

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Tampa Bay at Carolina — Tom Brady must want at least one home game in the playoffs. Winning this one would go a long way to making that happen. Buccaneers, 28-19.

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Baltimore at Cincinnati — With Cincy at home, the Bengals could get an early lead and force Baltimore’s QB — whether it’s Lamar Jackson or Tyler Huntley — to throw more than they’d like to. And don’t you especially like a hungry defense when it’s at home? Bengals, 24-20.

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Los Angeles Chargers at Houston — The Chargers can’t play run defense, but I just saw that the Texans are dead last in the NFL with 77.4 yards rushing per game.

They’re so bad that Mark Ingram is Houston’s leading rusher this season — and he was traded to New Orleans two months ago. Chargers, 27-17.

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Los Angeles Rams at Minnesota — An odd five-day week doesn’t help the Rams, especially on the road. Plus, every time it looks like the Rams are getting on a roll, they come back to earth with a thud. Vikings, 31-23.

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Buffalo at New England — The Bills aren’t playing well enough to challenge Bill Belichick when the latter is at home. If it isn’t the wind, it’ll be the rain or the snow or the sun is shining in my eyes! Patriots, 20-13.

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Jacksonville at New York Jets — Lions fans, I hope you’re paying attention to this game, though I wouldn’t go so far as to actually watch it. The Jags have taken over the No. 1 draft pick position, and the Jets are only a half-game better than Detroit. I like home field advantage when nothing else is an advantage, with a bonus part of this prediction — it’ll be five field goals and a pair of safeties beating four FGs and two safeties. Jets, 19-16.

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New York Giants at Philadelphia — I don’t trust Philly much, but even a bad game might be enough. Eagles, 19-17.

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Sunday, 4 p.m.

Chicago at Seattle — A battle of the latest also-rans, each playing on a short week. I like the Bears offense making the Seahawks defense look good, rather than Seattle’s offense making Chicago’s “D” look great. If you don’t understand that, don’t worry, neither do I. Seahawks, 24-17.

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Pittsburgh at Kansas City — With the sudden emergence of KC’s defense, I’m counting on Patrick Mahomes just playing game manager, as weird as all that sounds. Chiefs, 21-16.

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Denver at Las Vegas — Looking at all the 8-6, 7-6-1 and 7-7 teams in the AFC — that’s 10 of the 16 — I harken back to the NFC North in the ’70s when the Lions reliably had one of those records year in and year out in those 14-game seasons. I see Denver resembling one of those Detroit teams of the era — a quarterback that’s competent but nothing dazzling, with a defense that plays just well enough to lose half the time.

The Broncos’ point differential is plus-42 despite a 7-7 record, while Las Vegas’ differential is minus-75 with the same 7-7 record. With no logic, I’ll take the Raiders, 34-30.

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Sunday, 8:20 p.m.

Washington at Dallas — The Cowboys won their first matchup with the WFT with ease, and now they come to Dallas, which isn’t always a good thing for Jerry’s kids. Cowboys, 24-15.

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Monday, 8:15 p.m.

Miami at New Orleans — The Dolphins got what they needed last weekend — a tough challenge from the crummy Jets and its attendant wake-up call — all without losing. Dolphins, 17-13.

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Last week — 10-6, 63 percent. Season — 137-86-1, 61 percent.

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Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252.

His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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