Superbowl Bound

Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Both teams are well deserving of that trip to Arlington.  The Pittsburgh Steelers finally silenced the Jets.  I don't mean to take anything away from the Jets.  They beat the 2 best quarterbacks in the league and almost beat the 3rd.  They played all 3 games on the road, in hostile environments.  That is quite a gauntlet.  They did it very convincingly.  The first half of the game the Pittsburgh Steelers dominated.  There is no other word to describe it, complete dominance.  Most teams going into halftime after a half like that would fold.  Instead, like their counterparts on the other sideline the previous week against Baltimore, they came out in the second half and almost pulled off a miracle comeback.  It was a very impressive performance by the entire team.  I am very impressed with Mark Sanchez.  After watching that play and the way he landed on his elbow, I thought he dislocated his shoulder.  I am not sure the extent of his injury and it may have been nothing, but he shook it off and fought on.  It was a very gutsy performance.  He proved in this run in the playoffs that he belongs on that field.  On the other sideline, Big Ben at the beginning of the game took a knee to the thigh, something that hurts more some people realize.  A bruised thigh was the "excuse" for the reason Vick played like crap against the Vikings in week 16.  When it came down to it, the Pittsburgh Steelers made the plays they had to at the end of the game.  Both teams deserve to be playing in the Superbowl, but there can only be one winner.  It was a very good game and came down to the wire and that's what everyone likes to see.  Me personally, I'd rather see my team win 40-3, but that's not good for ratings.  On the other side of the league was a different story.  I thought this game was a little boring myself.  The Green Bay Packers were clearly the better team on that day.  And as the Jets proved the week before, that's all that matters.  The Bears defense performed very well, as I expected them to.  The offense just forgot to show up.  They kept the damage to a minimum and kept it close enough that the Bears did end up making a game of it.  I will get to the story of the game in a minute.  Jay Cutler left the game with a knee injury early in the third quarter.  Todd Collins came in and just made matters worse.  So they turn to third string quarterback Caleb Hanie.  For barely having any playing time he performed very well and almost brought the Bears back.  There are 2 plays that won the game for the Green Bay Packers.  The pick 6 and the interception with the Bears driving late to clinch the game.  The same can be said as with the Steelers.  They made the plays they had to to win the game.  They earned the trip to the big game and deserve to be there.  The story of the day goes to Jay Cutler.  I have never been a Jay Cutler fan.  From the first snap he took for the Denver Broncos, I have never believed in him.  I believe he is a FAR less talented John Elway.  I heard a comment on ESPNRadio yesterday that the Cutler trade to the Bears will go down as the biggest bust of all time.  I said that the day they made that trade.  The Broncos were the clear winners in that trade.  I said it then and still believe it now.  Jay Cutler is no different that Rex Grossman.  When he shows up, he's ok, but when he doesn't........  I've waited to address this issue because I knew there was more to it than we knew Sunday evening and I didn't want to jump to conclusions.  It has been confirmed that he had a sprained MCL and from what doctors say is that it is just like a tear and would be very painful and difficult to continue.  As far as him going out of the game, it was the doctors call to sit him down.  As Tony Dungy said, the doctors make the call.  If they said a player was done, they were done, end of story.  The doctors make the final call.  Let's say for arguement sake that it was a head injury.  He went out and played and took several more hits.  All the attention given to players safety and injuries, you can not afford to take chances with players health and well being.  This story is because the Bears were getting beat, and the offense was ineffective.  If the Bears were up by 2 touchdowns when that happened, he would be a hero and we would not be giving this story any attention at all.  I am still not a Cutler fan or believer, but I think this has been blown way out of proportion and people need to back off and leave this alone.
I believe both the Steelers and Packers are deserving of a trip to the Superbowl.  But how would you rank the top teams in the NFL.  Throughout the season there were 3 teams that I thought were a class above the rest, and that was the Jets, Patriots, and the Steelers.  I have no problem with the playoff setup in the NFL and don't think it needs to be changed at all.  But if the playoffs were intermingled I believe the final 4 teams left standing would all be out of the AFC.  The AFC has the 4 best teams.  But that's not the way things work.
This should be a very good game.  These are 2 of the stingiest defenses in the NFL.  That means we will see a shootout.  Usually when it's supposed to be a defensive game such as this one is, that's usually how it turns out.  Those defenses forget to show up.  The Packers lack of a running game could be a big setback.  I don't think this will be an issue.  Good teams find a way to win.  They haven't had a running game most of the season, yet are in the Superbowl.  They've been doing something right.  I do believe the Steelers are the better team.  I think the determining factor in this game is going to be the experience factor.  The Steelers have been in more close games, have been to the superbowl for the 3rd time in 6 years, and in those close games have been clutch.  They have sealed the deal.  I think the Steelers will win in a shootout.  I am looking forward to the battle of the Titletown's.