The SportsLine Projection Model simulates the entire NFL season 10,000 times. That's helped it become an authority at the Survivor Pool format, which calls for picking one team to win each week, but never picking the same team twice. 

It's not how much you win by in a Survivor Pool. Simply, it's about picking a winner and moving on. and sometimes saving the biggest favorite for a future week.

This model is up over $7,000 for $100 players on its top-rated NFL picks since its inception four years ago. It absolutely nailed its top-rated NFL picks in 2018-19, finishing the season on a sizzling 16-6 run. For the year, it went 30-15 on all top-rated picks (20-8 against the spread), extending its two-year run to a strong 78-49. 

The model ranked inside the Top 10 on NFLPickWatch for the third straight year on straight-up NFL picks and beat over 96 percent of CBS Sports office pool players. Anyone who has followed it is WAY UP. 

Now, it's revealing the optimal Survivor Pool pick for Week 1 of the NFL regular season.

This week, we can tell you it's not going with the Seahawks, even though they're the second-biggest favorites of the week. The Bengals are 6-1 straight-up in their last seven games against NFC West opponents and beat the Seahawks in their last meeting. Seattle wins in 74 percent of simulations, but the model is saving the Seahawks for a future week.

There's a better team worth backing in Week 1 that you're probably not considering. You ABSOLUTELY need to see who it is before locking in any survivor picks.

So which team is a must-back in your Week 1 survivor pool? ... Join SportsLine right now to see the optimal Survivor Pool pick for Week 1, all from the computer model that has ranked in the top 10 in straight-up picks three years running!