Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the 2006 NFC and AFC Champions - the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts. As is known throughout the world, the Colts (as predicted by myself) won the ensuing Super Bowl. What is not known is that the matchup was accurately predicted by yours truly. This column was written back in January, but was not posted due to Senior Bowl coverage. I have decided to set the record straight and show that I did indeed make the correct predictions. Enjoy the read!
New Orleans @ Chicago
I don’t want to get into any debates with anybody, but to root for New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina is nuts, okay? So can we stop trumping it up all the time, FOX commentators, news reporters, and pretty much any media outlet beside myself? I’m not even sure if I count, come to think of it. I refuse to root for New Orleans because of Katrina, and if you want to ask me why, visit the PantherCoalition Forums and post to RingLeader. Now, that said, New Orleans has played fairly well this season, finished with a decent 10-6 record, beaten the Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round of the playoffs, and is now preparing to face Chicago. Drew Brees has had a great year, as I’ve mentioned before in this space. Reggie Bush has proven to be the ultimate decoy. I have not heard if Joe Horn will play in the game this weekend or not, but from what I recall I don’t think they expected him back yet. The problem with picking this game is that I do not wish to pick New Orleans but I do not like Chicago either. Rex Grossman had a pretty good outing against Seattle last week, but Seattle was not exactly playing with a loaded secondary. Then again, New Orleans doesn’t have a good secondary either. They aren’t too great at stopping the run also. I do not know if it is just me or not, but the playoffs have seemed somewhat boring to me this season. There have not really been many “Did you see THAT?” moments aside from Tony Romo’s infamous fumble. Guess I am just still frustrated after watching the Panthers this year. Anyway, I don’t know who I expressly like in this game, but because I REALLY do not want to be hearing any more Katrina talk, I am going with Chicago to win this baby.
New England @ Indianapolis
Well gee; doesn’t this seem like a great match-up for the AFC Championship Game? Let’s have New England travel to Indianapolis now, instead of Indianapolis traveling to Foxboro. Between the two, I would rather go to Foxboro now, but then I love winter. Peyton Manning has not exactly been electric this postseason, but that defense has sure shown up to play. Wow. I would say, “who’d ‘a’thunk?” but I am not going to because honestly, it seems to me we have this sort of storyline every year: so and so stinks at doing such and such, and then all of a sudden it is the playoffs and so and so is now rocking the Casbah. I guess I have to admit I am not too surprised with the Colts defense. I also said last week that I didn’t buy into them yet. Well, I think I will buy into that defense at the moment. Of course, now I’ve all but sealed their doom. Now Tom Brady will pass for 300 yards and 4 TDs whilst Laurence Maroney and Corey Dillon chew up huge chunks of yardage. Then again, I’m sure a lot of people are getting a little sick of the Patriots winning all the time. Except, of course, Patriots fans -- who are most certainly in a state of euphoria. You know what? I am not the type of guy to give all of you readers loads of in-depth commentary and position-by-position breakdowns of match-ups and so on and so forth. I just like to offer some basic stuff coupled with my own unique perspective on said stuff. That said, by golly I love all the kicker-oriented side-stories in this game. Not only is there the whole Stephen Gostkowski kicks game-winner whilst Adam Vinatieri looks on, the Adam Vinatieri kicks game-winner whilst Stephen Gostkowski looks on, the Stephen Gostkowski misses game-winner whilst Vinatieri snorts derisively on the sideline, the Vinatieri misses game-winner whilst Bob Kraft laughs, but there is also the Vinatieri and Gostkowski both miss game-winners storyline, I mean geez, this stuff is Days of Our Lives-esque! Moreover, I am proud to say I called this back in the preseason. I cannot prove it to anybody but one or two friends of mine, but I did call it. Unfortunately, I do not really know whom to go with in this game either, but I am going to hop on Indy’s bandwagon for a game at least. Indianapolis to win in unexpected manner and get Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl. Oh, I forgot one of the other storylines I’ve come up with: Manning Benched in Favor of Sorgi, Colts Unexpectedly Win Super Bowl!
By Robert "RingLeader" Gilbert
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