Has there ever been this many regular season re-matches in the playoffs before? In the 10 NFL playoffs games of 2011, 8 of them have been regular season re-matches. And if the Packers and Jets face each other in the Super Bowl, it'd be 9 out of 11!
What significance does this have, you ask? None really, just wanted to waste a little time while I think about these picks a little bit more. Aight, let's do it!
Finally, we get to see if Jay Cutler and the Bears can win a playoff game against a playoff team. If the playoffs had a preseason, that's the category last Sunday's game against the Seahawks would've fallen under.
Anyway, why are people trying to make it seem like Aaron Rodgers only had a great game last week because he was playing in a dome? If I'm not mistaken, Rodgers plays his home games in a little place called Green Bay, Wisconsin on Lambeau Field (you may have heard of it). In fact, including last week's game, Rodgers and the Pack have only played in a dome 4 times all season, and one of those times he didn't even make it to halftime. Oh, and in those dome games the Pack was a very unimpressive 2-2. They had to win last week's dome game just to reach .500 in dome games! I don't want to hear any more bullshit about Rodgers being a dome QB.
Over the past week I've heard a lot of people comparing this game to Giants-Pats in Super Bowl 42 because the Bears played their starters against the Packers in Week 17 and felt them out like the Giants did in Week 17 of '07 before they ultimately beating the Pats in the Super Bowl. Also, in Bill Simmons' chat Friday, a commenter at the 3:53 mark compared it to the Saints-Bears NFC Championship game from '06 because the Bears have a great defense and are facing the hot team with the hot QB in Chicago. The won in both scenarios.
Now while I love both comparisons, I'm gonna have to pick against them. Last week I made a prediction for Seahawks-Bears based on a comparison...then an ass kicking ensued. I'll just avoid that altogether this week, and pick the opposite team. Plus, I already said I was riding Green Bay to the Super Bowl a couple weeks back. Packers winners, Bears losers.
At this point in a football season, a lot of times it's not about who's the better football team, it's about who's the healthiest. In this match-up, there's no doubt who's the healthier team. Last week Pittsburgh got down to their last active offensive lineman. Their last! That is scary as fuck, especially when you factor in what the Jets were able to do to Tom Brady last week.
Sounds like I'm leaning towards picking the Jets, right? Not so fast. I just picked the Packers to go to the Super Bowl, and two #6 seeds have never met in the Super Bowl. Hell, only one #6 seed has even made it there by itself in the history of the NFL!
Another factor working against the Jets is the color scheme. Not only have two #6 seeds never made it to the Super Bowl, but 2 teams whose main team color is green have never made it there either. There's been plenty of blue vs. blue, but never a green vs. green. Not to say it can't happen, but it's highly unlikely (in my book).
As much as it pains me to pick against the team that put out Tom Brady and the Pats, I just have to. Steelers winners, Jets losers.
(Side note: The Jets not talking all week kinda scared me off, even though I'd like to see them win a Super Bowl more than any of the other teams left.)
(Side side note: People can say whatever they want about Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez, but those dudes win. They're 4-1 in the playoffs in 2 years! Nobody had Mark Sanchez putting out Peyton AND Tom Brady. Nobody! And now he has a shot to take out Ben Roethlisberger and some still aren't giving him a chance. Long story short, you can consider this my Tom Jackson shit, because despite who I picked, you know who I'm rooting for today. J-E-T-S! Jets, Jets, Jets!)
This Week: 2-0 (1.000)
Playoff Record: 5-5 (.500)
Overall Record: 159-107 (.598)
Last Week: 2-2 (.500)
Regular Season Record: 154-102 (.602)
