Two games yesterday and two outstanding stories. The first game - which was hugely entertaining - was highlighted by Baltimore's somewhat epic collapse. That's the only way to explain a 14 point halftime lead diminishing in a matter of minutes courtesy of three third quarter turnovers. Their offense was inept yesterday, allowing the Steelers to pull off the comeback.
In the night cap, Aaron Rodgers just made Atlanta's secondary look ridiculous - as I somewhat expected (I never expected to them to look that bad). Now Green Bay will await the winner of today's NFC game to see where they will head for the Championship game.
Bears vs Seahawks, 1:00 pm, FOX
I'm well aware of what Seattle did in Chicago back in the regular season. I'm also aware that these Seahawks are coming off of a very impressive win against the Saints. But Chicago's defense is far superior to New Orleans' and Jay Cutler isn't making dumb decisions the past few games. Seattle's only chance today is to limit Matt Forte's effectiveness as they did back in their previous meeting and create some turnovers. Otherwise this will be a comfortable win for the Bears, setting up a Packers/Bears NFC Title Game - a classic NFL rivalry.
Pick: Bears 24-13
Patriots vs Jets, 4:30 pm, CBS
It's finally time for the talk to end. The Jets have been as mouthy as ever this past week while the Patriots do what they always do - await their opportunity to make their statements on the field. I'm not going to say the Jets have no chance. They could very well steal this game up in Foxboro. But to do so, they have to play a perfect game. They have to get the ground game going early, protect the football, and take away the middle of the field from Tom Brady - easier said than done. New England just has too much firepower. Their tight ends are going to exploit NY's defense. Danny Woodhead is going to be a factor out of the backfield. And the Jets season is (hopefully) going to come to a close.
Pick: Patriots 27-17
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