Can Big Ben Ground the Jets? Can the Pack Hibernate the Bears?

Listening to the Herd with Colin Cowherd this morning, ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd challenged his listeners to come up with two different 12-words (or less) headlines for the outcomes of Sunday's AFC and NFC Championship games. Some headlines included "Jets Flight To Dallas Grounded By Winter Blitz in Pittsburgh" and "Mister Rodgers' Neighborhood Is In Dallas". On Sunday, six months of training camp, pre-season, and regular season games have all come to this- the right to play in Super Bowl XLV in Texas on February 6.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP
6) Green Bay Packers (12-6) at 2) Chicago Bears (12-5)- Sunday @ 3PM EST at Soldier Field (Chicago, IL) on Fox

The oldest rivalry in the National Football League will represent one-half of the Super Bowl XLV ticket. The last time the Packers and Bears met in the playoffs, Franklin D. Roosevelt was in his third term in office, our Nation was at war (one week to the day of the horrific attack on Pearl Harbor), radio was our form of home entertainment, and Big Band jazz invaded the top charts. Fast forward 69 years, one month, and nine days- our Nation is still at war (in Iraq and Afghanistan), we can download apps for our favorite programs, and those Glee-sters keep on spinning out hits on the Billboard charts. Both teams have won Super Bowls before (The Packers won the first two Super Bowls and won again in 1997, and the Bears defense coasted to victory in Super Bowl XX in 1986), but neither have big-name field generals. For the Bears, Jay Cutler played his first postseason game since his senior year of high school back in Indiana (at Vanderbilt, Cutler went through four losing seasons), as Cutler scored three touchdowns in a 35-24 win over Seattle. Their reward....

The Green Bay Packers. They had the Atlanta Falcons seeing gangrene last Saturday night, as the Pack forced turnover after turnover in a 48-21 rout of the NFC's best team during the regular season. With a win in the Windy City, the Packers will be the next Wildcard team to knock off all three top seeds and advance to the Super Bowl.

Here is what will happen, the Packers defense will be in Cutler's face like they were three weeks ago in the Regular Season finale. Green Bay shut Atlanta down hard last week, and this week, the Packers defense will send the Monsters of the Midway back into hibernation.

Pick: Packers 38-8

AMERICAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP
6) New York Jets (13-5) at 3) Pittsburgh Steelers (13-4)- Sunday @ 6:30PM EST at Heinz Field (Pittsburgh, PA) on CBS

The New York Jets, in four wins out of five playoff games under Rex Ryan have grounded many of the league's elite quarterbacks- Carson Palmer, Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning, and last week, Tom Brady. Can they shut down Ben Roethlisberger? Well...um...I am NOT a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, never have been, and never will be. But, I think the Steelers will win, because (1) they are a DANGEROUS team in the Playoffs, especially in the last five years. For example- They knocked out Carson Palmer in a cheap shot, on their way to winning Super Bowl XL. (2) They have won more Super Bowls than any other team in the history of the Super Bowl. (3) Big Name Recognitions. Every one knows who Ben Roethlisberger is (for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with football- I'll just leave it at that). Everyone knew who Jerome Bettis was. Who Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann are. Et cetera, et cetera. (4) The Steelers defense is lethal to an opposing team's offense, especially that hit-happy number 92, what's-his-name, I think it's Harrison, but yeah. However, if the J-E-T-S, Jets do win, Mark Sanchez will be the first Hispanic-American quarterback to start a Super Bowl. But until then,

Pick: SteAlers 27-6

DJBC SPORTS CORNER SUPER BOWL XLV PROJECTIONS:
Green Bay Packers (13-6) vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (14-4)

On "The Herd (with Colin Cowherd)", Colin Cowherd, again this morning explained that two of the top four NFL niches are in Green Bay and Pittsburgh, which aren't Top 40 markets at all, but they have two of the top four NFL fanbases (out of the 32 teams). Steelers fans are everywhere, not just in Western Pennsylvania or West Virginia, or even the Ohio Governor's Office, but all over the country, as former steel mill workers spread out across the country when all of the steel mills in western Pennsylvania closed in the 1960s and 1970s. Cities like New York and Chicago, two of the top markets with NFL franchises, don't have huge fan bases, like they do with other sports (New York- The Yankees, Chicago- The Blackhawks). Cowherd, today, also projected the NFL coming to Los Angeles by 2015, with one of four teams (Chargers, Rams, Vikings, or Jaguars) possibly re-locating to the City of Angels.

Next time, the picks for Super Bowl XLV.