LONGSHOT LEDGER
Circa Survivor · 2026 · Private Updated Wed, Sep 2 · 10:36 AM PT
Week 1 · Locks Saturday, Sep 12

Five entries. Twenty weeks. Every prediction graded in public.

One team to win outright each week, each team usable once, ties lose. A ~20,000-entry, $20,000,000 winner-take-most pool — and a model that published its season targets before kickoff. This page is the running scoreboard of how those predictions hold up.

5 / 5
Our entries alive
~20,000
Entries expected in the field
$20M
Guaranteed pool
0%
Chance of a quiet season — massacre weeks are coming

This week

Week 1 — picks shown before Saturday's lock. Spectators only, play nice.

The field walks into a crowded trade

About 45% of the field is projected on the Chargers at home against the Cardinals, 82% favorites. That's a strong pick with a very crowded exit.

Our five entries split across three doors: Chargers ×3, Bengals, Jaguars. Bengals is the leverage play — only 4% of the field is there, so a win buys real separation from the crowd.

Pre-registered prediction №1: 45.1% of the field picks the Chargers this week. Graded the moment Circa publishes the official Week 1 pick report.

Where the field is going

Model-projected share of all 20,000 entries, week 1
Our picks
Rest of the field
LAC
OURS ×3
45.1%
JAX
OURS
30.0%
DET
6.7%
CIN
OURS
3.6%
PHI
3.4%
LV
2.1%
BAL
1.9%

Our entries

Four run by the model. One decided by the group chat — same scoreboard, no mercy.
DOC BROWN 1
LIVE
Week pick
LAC · 82% to win
Teams burned: none yet
DOC BROWN 2
LIVE
Week pick
LAC · 82% to win
Teams burned: none yet
DOC BROWN 3
LIVE
Week pick
CIN · 64% to win
Teams burned: none yet
DOC BROWN 4
LIVE
Week pick
JAX · 78% to win
Teams burned: none yet
MCMAHON & RODGERS
LIVEGROUP-DECIDED
Week pick
LAC · vote closes Sat
Model suggests LAC — the group has the wheel

Season outlook

What the simulator sees from here — thousands of full-season runs, refreshed three times a week.
How this likely ends
~5 entries
out of 20,000 are expected to split the pot when the music stops. That's the game: outlast 19,995 strangers.
Model average across simulated seasons; the swing is enormous by design.

Danger weeks, called in advance

Where the model says the field gets hurt — judge us on these in December
WEEK 5
The Patriots trap. The model projects 48% of the surviving field onto one team — with a 22% chance that team loses. That's how thousands of entries die in one afternoon.
THANKSGIVING
Short menu, forced hands. A restricted holiday slate with everyone's best teams already spent; the model has 20% of the field massing on the Lions. First of two holiday choke points.
CHRISTMAS
The season's biggest crash risk. By Christmas the menus are thin — 36% of the field funnels onto the Bears, and the model gives that favorite a 47% chance of losing. A coin flip carrying a huge slice of the pool.

The machine's record

The scorecard we asked to be judged on — four targets, pre-registered before leg 1, graded all season even after our entries die.
Crowd prediction error
Awaiting wk 1
Target: ≤ 2.65% avg. miss on where the field's picks land
Our survival vs the field
Awaiting wk 1
Target: beat the field's average survival rate, cumulatively
Danger weeks called
3 flagged
Week 5, Thanksgiving & Christmas — called before kickoff
Operations
100%
Every snapshot on time, zero missed locks since go-live