Championship Sunday!

These playoffs are as exciting as ever, and the viewership reminds us of that fact.  The conference championships will determine who will face one another in the Super Bowl.  Both feature rematches from the regular season as well.

Green Bay at Chicago

This is an excellent game between divisional rivals, both possess a great defense, and both have one part of their offense which is suspect at times.  The Bears greatest weakness is Jay Cutler, who hasn't been very Cutler-like the past few games, as he has a better than 2-1 touchdown to interception ratio in the games the Bears have won, which is very key if the Bears are to win this game.  The key for the Packers is to get a running game going well with James Starks, and allow him to chew up clock time.  Another key for the Packers is to kick it away from Devin Hester, the best return man in the league.  The Bears played very well against a team who really shouldn't have even been in the playoffs, the Seahawks last week, and I don't think that Cutler will be able to get away from the pressure the Green Bay linebackers will impose upon him.  Then, Aaron Rodgers has been so good in each of his three playoff games, garnering over a 100 quarterback rating in each of those games.  Although nobody really knows how a quarterback rating is put together, we all know that over a 100 is good, hence go with the Packers.

Pick:  Green Bay 24-20

New York Jets at Pittsburgh

These two teams met in week 15, with the Jets escaping 22-17.  The key component in that game though is that Pittsburgh didn't have a game changing player, Troy Polamalu.  To give you an idea of how valuable Polamalu is, Pittsburgh has won nearly 70 percent of its games when he is in the lineup, and has only won half when he is absent from the lineup.  That is a game changer.  Polamalu can wreak havoc on a quarterback by lining up in so many different areas of the field and can jump over both lines to get to a quarterback.  The Jets have been keeping quiet this week, which is odd, since they spoke loudly last week against their big rivals, the Patriots, so I don't know what Rex Ryan has planned for his team, but it will be a tough battle.  Expect a game like last week's Steelers-Ravens one, where momentum can shift at the drop of a hat on a turnover, and expect it to be very hard hitting and grind it out football.  This is going to be a game where Ben Roethlisberger will need to carry his team down the field and this time he will make the winning score, unlike week 15.

Pick:  Pittsburgh 28, New York 26