NFL Playoffs - Conference Championships

First, I must apologize for the absence of my column last week.  I wrote it, and clicked the Publish Post button, but for some reason it did not appear on the blog.  Suffice it to say I picked all the home teams, so I went 2-2.  That meanst I still have a losing record for the playoffs, going 3-5.  I need to win the Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl to end the postseason with a winning record.  OUCH!

First, let's review the Divisional Round games:
Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers:  This one progressed much like we thought.  It was pretty close throughout, even if Baltimore took a ten-point lead in the first half.  The defenses weren't quite as stifling as I figured, but it was a physical game.  There were even a couple of fights!  In the end, the Steelers' defense stuffed the Ravens, giving Big Ben and the offense a chance to come back.  Still, it took a couple of crazy third and very long conversions for the Steelers to take the lead.

Green Bay Packers at Atlanta Falcons:  The Pack went into overdrive!  They took an early lead and never looked back.  The Falcons couldn't stop them, so they never gave Matty Ice a chance to lead a comeback.  For the last five weeks, no quarterback has been as outstanding as Aaron Rodgers, and this game proved that.

Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears:  This game wasn't as close as the score indicates.  The Bears got conservative in the fourth quarter, when they led by over twenty points, and the Seahawks were given a touchdown on an invalid pass interference call.  I'll never know why Lovie Smith didn't challenge that call, but it didn't matter anyway.  The Bears won with ease, and Jay Cutler looked very comfortable.  He passed for two touchdowns and ran for two touchdowns.  While he used tight end Greg Olsen often in the first half, he spread the wealth more in the second half, keeping the Seahawks secondary on edge.  Rodgers may have been more productive, but Cutler had the best overall personal performance.

New York Jets at New England Patriots:  The Jets proved they had some talent to back up their bluster.  The defense frustrated the powerful Patriots' offense for most of the game.  However, Belichick began to figure them out.  They had an 18-point lead midway in the third quarter, yet the Patriots almost came back to win.  What's more impressive about that is that the Patriots attempted three onside kicks and failed to recover all three.  Despite that, the Pats defense held back the Jets and the offense scored quickly enough to give Brady and company enough time to tie the game.  A couple of dropped passes propelled the Jets into the AFC Conference game.

Speaking of that AFC Conference Game, that's the first one to pick.  The Jets near loss in theit Divisional Round game makes me think Big Ben could successfully engineer another comeback, but I have one concern.  As we learned in their game against the Ravens, their offensive line is beaten up.  The Jets defense will take advantage of that, rushing the QB and pushing against the line.  That could hamper Rashad Mendelhall, too.  Pitt could win, but I think the Jets are simply in better physical shape, an important aspect to the type of physical game these teams will play.  JETS, 20-16

NFC Championship - #6 Green Bay Packers (12-6) at #2 Chicago Bears:  This is the second championship game with the sixth and second seeds.  It's extremely rare for the same seeds in both conferences to play in the conference championship, and we've never had both sixth seeds play both two seeds since the new playoff system began.  Aaron Rodgers has been the hottest QB in the league for the past few weeks, and the Pack are excited about returning to the Super Bowl.  They could do it, but I'm skeptical.  The Pack is physically banged up on defense, which opens the door for some the Bears' offense, who showed great versatility last week.  The Pack beat them 10-3 to close the season, but the starters weren't playing in the second half.  Those ten points were the fewest points scored by the Pack all season, which shows the power of the Bears defense.  I think they'll score more than that, and keep the game close, but the Bears will prevail.  BEARS, 27-24