Football picks

I can't believe I completely forgot about doing football playoff picks this season, until there's only 3 games left. Shit. Oh well, better late than never, I suppose.

If you had asked me to pick the Divisional games, I would have said Colts over Ravens, Patriots over Chargers, Bears over Seahawks, and Saints over Eagles. Yes, I know that's exactly how it turned out, but it doesn't change the fact those were my picks. I can't prove it, though, so we'll just have to go forward to next week's Conference Championship games.

First up, the New Orleans Saints at the Chicago Bears. You can't get much better than the 2 seed at the 1 seed, even if it is the NFC. The key matchup in this game is the Saints offense versus the Bears defense. The Saints have been the sentimental favorite this entire season, if only because of the destruction of their home city a year and a half ago. The Bears have been dogged by questions about their starting QB, who can look great one game and fall apart the next. Ultimately, I think Drew Brees, Reggie Bush, Marques Colston, and the rest of the Saints will be too much for Brian Urlacher and the Bears to handle. Saints win handily.

The second game of the day is the New England Patriots at the Indianapolis Colts. Who says the AFC isn't the better conference? When you have the 3 and 4 seeds knock off the 2 and 1 seeds, respectively, I'd say it's a conference where any of the top teams have a legitimate shot at winning any game on any given Sunday. Not only that, but this game pits 3-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady and his Patriots against 2-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning and his Colts. They've met in the playoffs many times before, with the Patriots always coming out on top. However, they've never played a postseason game against each other in Indianapolis, and the Colts now have clutch-kicker Adam Vinatieri (formerly of the Patriots) on their roster. Colts win a barn-burner.

I'll wait until after the games next week to make my Super Bowl pick, but assuming both of my picks go on to win, wouldn't Colts-Saints be a hell of a Super Bowl?