The Microsoft Engine That Nailed The World Cup Is Predicting Every NFL Game - Here Are Its Picks For Week 5

Week 4 was a dismal week for Microsoft's Cortana, the Windows phone virtual assistant that's picking every NFL game this year.

Cortana went 5-8 in its worst week of the year.

It's now 34-27 on the year.

That's much worse than Nate Silver's ELO model, which is now 41-20 after going 10-3 in Week 3. It's also worse than Vegas favorites, which have a 35-26 win-loss record on the year.

The Cortana model is powered by Bing Predicts, and uses a public sentiment metric (along with traditional advanced statistics) to make its predictions. It picks games straight up, not against the point spread, so that 34-27 record is pretty rough.

Cortana caught fire in the World Cup group stage, correctly picking 15 of the tournament's last 16 games. Maybe we'll see a similar comeback in its NFL picks.

Here are Cortana's picks for Week 5 as of Wednesday morning (betting lines in parentheses):

• Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers - Packers win, 70.2% chance (Packers -9)
• Chicago Bears vs. Carolina Panthers - Panthers win, 55% chance (Panthers -2.5)
• Cleveland Browns vs. Tennessee Titans - Titans win, 53.3% chance (Titans -1.5)
• St. Louis Rams vs. Philadelphia Eagles - Eagles win, 77.8% chance (Eagles -7)
• Atlanta Falcons vs. New York Giants - Giants win, 59.8% chance (Giants -4)
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. New Orleans Saints - Saints win, 77.8% chance (Saints -10.5)
• Houston Texans vs. Dallas Cowboys - Cowboys win, 72.9% chance (Cowboys-4)
• Buffalo Bills vs. Detroit Lions - Lions win, 59.8% chance (Lions -7)
• Baltimore Ravens vs. Indianapolis Colts - Colts win, 62.9% chance (Colts -3.5)
• Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Jacksonville Jaguars - Steelers win, 78.9% chance (Steelers -6.5)
• Arizona Cardinals vs. Denver Broncos - Broncos win, 64.4% chance (Broncos -7)
• Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Francisco 49ers - 49ers win, 53.3% (49ers -6.5)
• New York Jets vs. San Diego Chargers - Chargers win, 74.2% chance (Chargers -6.5)
• Cincinnati Bengals vs. New England Patriots - Bengals win, 55% chance (Bengals -1)
• Seattle Seahawks vs. Washington Redskins - Seahawks win, 67.4% chance (Seahawks -7.5)

Cortana and Vegas only agre on every game.

Here are Cortana's results so far this year:

• Week 1 - 10-6
• Week 2 - 9-7
• Week 3 - 10-6
• Week 4 - 5-8
• Total - 34-27