In case you missed the NFL Conference Championships last Sunday, here are the scores:

Green Bay Packers 21 – Chicago Bears 14

Pittsburgh Steelers 24 – New York Jets 19

As a consequence the protagonists in Super Bowl XVL (for those of you not familiar with Roman numerals, that’s 45) are the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

They will meet next week in Cowboy stadium in Texas to decide the overall champion. Super Bowls can be anti climatic, especially after a good Conference Championship round which was the case in point last Sunday. That notwithstanding, I have a strong feeling that next week’s contest is going to be good for reasons which I will delve into later. Suffice to say it is my humble opinion that the two most deserving teams made it to the big dance.

Speaking of ‘the big dance’ — and you may want to throw in a song or two — that’s what’s happening this week. Lots of hoopla, hype and the perfunctory parties. On Sunday, there is the NFL’s Annual All-star game, called the PRO BOWL, over in Honolulu, Hawaii. It used to be that this game was held after the Super Bowl, but that was changed last year and now the game is scheduled in the bye week prior to the Super Bowl. Am I interested in this All Star game? No, not really. Out of sheer curiosity I watched one recently and those guys were having a wonderful time faking it and making sure no one was hit hard. It is great to be selected to be an All Star by your peers, the media and the public and let’s face it, it looks good on your resume and it’s handy come contract negotiating time. But the game itself? Ho hum.

Both games in the Conference Championships went the way I wanted them to go. The Green Bay Packers are arguably the most dangerous team in the play-offs. They were a Wildcard team and played all their post season games on the road. That did not faze them as, in good order, they took care of Atlanta in the Divisional Play-offs and you saw what they did to the Bears last Sunday. There was a time during that game where I thought they let their guard down and eased up a bit.

The momentum shifted, albeit briefly, to the Bears, who were being led by third string QB Caleb Haine. The kid looked good at the helm and to the Bears’ credit they never quit. There was a lot of controversy though, when starting QB Jay Cutler, who had a terrible first half, left the field with an injury (which after the game, turned out to be a torn ligament), and never returned. He was blasted by media, fans, and players, for being too “soft”, for not toughing it out and returning to the game, and for not looking “disappointed” or “angry” enough while he sat on the sidelines watching his team get eliminated. Guess you can’t please everyone — but that’s life in the NFL.

Over in the AFC, the outcome of that contest was never in any doubt and it was a pleasure to see loud mouth head coach Rex Ryan rip his headset off at the end of the game. They certainly talked the talk but came up short of walking the walk with what is a well rounded and veteran Pittsburgh team.

The Pittsburgh defence is what it is, a latter day version of ‘the steel curtain’ and their offence is formidable. More importantly, they are led by a guy who has been to the big dance twice and has two rings to show for it. I’m not a big fan of Ben Roethlisberger, but one has to admit that he is a very good quarterback and he is big and tough and not easily rattled. It’s going to be difficult to beat those guys. Difficult but not impossible. Do you see where I’m going?

JUSTBET’s betting handicap for the Super Bowl is already out, and the Green Bay Packers, everyone’s hot team, is the favourite. They are favoured by two and a half (2.5) points over the Steelers, while the over/under for the game (the total points expected to be scored in the game), is forty five and a half (45.5).

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