NFL Conference Championship Games

In both games, I could easily imagine either team winning. Both match-ups are pretty even, with one team’s weaknesses balanced out by the other’s weaknesses.

The Saints are obviously un-accustomed to playing in snow and cold, but as long as Rex Grossman is in the game New Orleans will be right in it. The Bears had a very good defense, but injuries have hurt them. Plus, the Saints have a solid ground game that may not be hurt as much by the weather as people think. Chicago obviously will go to their own running attack, but the Saints have an above-average defense of their own to counter it. In this game I am picking the Saints, but that is clearly a biased choice.

If I were drafting a fantasy team, I would pick Peyton Manning to be my QB in a heartbeat. If I were an NFL GM putting together an actual team of flesh and blood players to win the Super Bowl, I would take Tom Brady. The Pats will be playing today in the loud RCA Dome, but until Peyton actually wins The Big Game I have a hard time picking him over Bellichick and Brady, who always step up when it really matters. Plus, I don’t think the Colts have really fixed their run defense. Indy beat New England in the regular season, but I don’t see it happening again today. So, I am guessing it will be New England vs. New Orleans (!) in the Super Bowl.

Did I actually just say I believe the NEW ORLEANS !@#$%^& SAINTS are going to the Super Bowl?!?!?!?

The Saint’s offense is a tough match up for the Bears defense. I suspect you’ll see the Saints run a lot of a spread offense today, and most likely run out of that formation as well. Doing so will force the Bears to not “load the box” in order to stop the run. It also will at times force the Bears to try to cover Bush with a LB on passing plays, which is suicide waiting to happen. By spreading the defense, the Saints should be able to run between the tackles with McAllister since Tommy Harris isn’t in there to help stop the run. Urlacher is a great pursuit tackler running sideline to sideline, but isn’t very formidable as a run stopper when you put a blocker on him and run straight at him. I think you’ll see McAllister run over him more than a few times today. The Bears defense while being pretty good, isn’t the same defense that they fielded the first half of the season, and has shown a weakness to the passing game as of late, and the Saints have the #1 passing offense in the NFC.

Seattle managed to move the ball last week and score plenty of points, and the Saints will do the same. Their offense is better than Seattle’s, and their defense is better as well. Brees is a much better QB than Grossman also, plus is a more seasoned veteran.

Saints 27
Bears 17

i think the saints defense is getting way too much credit from everybody. they are ranked No. 22 against the run, their secondary is one of the oldest and slowest in the nfl, and they gave up more than 30 points in four games this year.
and dont forget the saints lost 6 games this year, so a good offense doesnt overcome everything.
i think it will be a high scoring game. the bears should be able to run on the saints and hit some big plays off play action. the saints are going to put points on the board, but its up to briggs and urlacher to slow down mcalister and dont let bush bust too many big plays on all those short routes under the cover 2. and the bears d line has to play a lot better than they did last week. they really miss harris. when he was doubled other guys got free to make plays. and they need to put some heat on brees.
all things considered, if grossman has a solid game like last week, i say bears 27-21.