Championship Sunday Preview and Picks!

At the start of the season, I picked the Packers over the Steelers in Super Bowl LI in Houston. Now here I am with both of those teams alive and well in the Conference Championship Games this weekend. We had two classic games on Sunday and two road teams winning on Sunday to give us quite an entertaining final four in the NFL. Both games should be really good and you have three teams with historic Super Bowl tradition and one team trying to get to only their second Super Bowl in franchise history. The Steelers are looking for their 9th Super Bowl appearance (6-2), the Patriots are looking for their 9th Super Bowl appearance (4-4), and the Packers are looking for their 6th appearance. The Falcons only appearance was in Super Bowl XXXIII in the loss to the Broncos 34-19. Before I make my predictions, here are the best possible Super Bowl matchups in order from best to worst:

1) New England vs. Green Bay (Aaron Rodgers vs. Tom Brady)

2) Pittsburgh vs. Green Bay (Two hottest teams in the league, tradition-rich franchises, and a rematch of Super Bowl XLV)

3) New England vs. Atlanta (Falcons big-time offense tries to pull off the huge upset as most of America roots for the underdog to take down the hated Patriots)

4) Pittsburgh vs. Atlanta (Not too many storylines available for this one)

Now, onto the picks for Championship Sunday in the NFL.....

Last Week's Record: 3-1
Overall Playoff Record: 5-3
Regular Season Record: 141-99-14
(HOME TEAM IN CAPS)

NFC Championship

4) Green Bay at 2) Atlanta

A Case for the Packers: Did you see what Aaron Rodgers has done over the last two months? Did you see how he pulled that game out with his clutch throw to Jared Cook in final seconds to set up Mason Crosby's FG to stick a knife in the hearts of the Cowboys? Rodgers is playing on another level and with last week's throw to Cook and all the Hail Mary throws in the last two years, you CAN'T COUNT RODGERS OUT EVER IN A GAME!!! There is no way you can think you have him beat. Rodgers is also playing with that look. It is the same look that Montana had in 1989, the same look that Eli had in 2011, and the same look that Flacco had in 2012. Rodgers is on such a roll that he can't be stopped. I know the Packers defense can't stop anyone, and they will get carved up at times by Atlanta, but I'm not betting against Rodgers because he is the best QB on the planet right now, and you can just see it in his eyes. He is like a Jedi right now. I'm not going against a Jedi in the NFC Championship Game.

A Case for the Falcons: How are the Packers and their defense going to slow down the Falcons offense? They sliced and diced the Seattle defense last week, and Matt Ryan had so many weapons to go to that I was losing track. Tevin Coleman and Devonta Freeman can run the ball on GB and then they can catch balls out of the backfield. You have Julio Jones and Mohammed Sanu each grabbing a TD last week in the win as well. Did you see the Cowboys come back from a 21-3 deficit and a 28-13 deficit on this Packers defense? You could make the case that the Falcons might just come out of the gates and just ambush the Packers from the get go and this game is something like 24-7 early in the 2nd quarter or something like that. Aren't the Falcons due for another Super Bowl appearance as well?

Prediction: Green Bay (+5) over ATLANTA: I'm not going against Aaron Rodgers again, and I see this being a high-scoring, back and forth game, that comes down to one of the final drives in the 4th quarter. I see Rodgers making one more drive than Ryan, winning the game, and sending the Packers to Super Bowl LI.

Final Score: Packers-36 Falcons-31

AFC Championship

3) Pittsburgh at 1) New England

A Case for the Steelers: They have three of the best five players on the field in this game, and all of them are on offense. Big Ben won't be intimidated by heading to Foxboro for this game with the Pats. New England's defense has faced the easiest slate of opposing QBs any team has faced in like the last 15 years. They finally have to deal Ben, LeVeon Bell, and Antonio Brown. They simply haven't faced an offense like this all year long. I have felt all year that the Steelers were the only team that had a chance to knock off the Pats in the AFC, and I haven't changed one bit. They are red-hot (9 wins in a row), and they have played in countless big games in the Mike Tomlin era. I might be the only one who thinks that their defense can make plays on the NE offense. Plus, they KNOW they can win this game, and I'm shocked they are almost six point underdogs going into this game.

A Case for the Patriots: The Patriots offense really struggled at times against the Texans last week, and Tom Brady admitted that it was a tough game for them. Expect Bill Belichick to use their performance last week as motivation for this week's game. They will work their tails off to be ready to go this Sunday. I think if you get Brady and company with a chip on their shoulder, then that could be trouble for the Steelers. Also, I think the same will apply to their defense. All week they will hear that they haven't faced any good QBs and quality offenses, and now they have to deal the Ben/Bell/Brown trifecta. I can see their defense taking pride in that and Belichick somehow devising a plan to stop those guys from having a big game.

Prediction: Pittsburgh (+5.5) over NEW ENGLAND: The Patriots finally get a quality opponent with a big-time QB, and I don't think they will be up to the task-even at home. I see the Steelers grabbing a big lead and then holding on for dear life at the end, but since I picked Pittsburgh to represent the AFC back in August, I have to stick with them here.

Final Score: Steelers-27 Patriots-24