What a day. Interesting that both home teams won today's AFC and NFC Championship games, and we're surprised. Also interesting since midway through the season, these two teams [Bears and Colts] were clearly the best in their conferences. Still, we don't know a lick about anything.
PEYTON MANNING CAN'T WIN THE BIG ONE: That was a valid gripe coming into this game....and for 35 minutes, it looked as if Manning was going down in postseason flames again. But Manning hung tough in the pocket as the Patriots pressured him hard. He hung tough as he stared at an 18 point deficit. He hung tough despite hurting the thumb on his throwing hand. And it was Manning that orchestrated the game winning drive in the AFC Championship game.
PATRIOTS NEVER FOLD: Conventional wisdom is that to beat the Patriots, you must jump on them early. If not, they will slowly kill you. Today, New England jumped to a 21-3 lead and looked like a buzzsaw. All of the sudden, their defense looked bad, took too many chances and they choked away that lead.
TOM BRADY MAKES GOOD ON FINAL DRIVES: When the Pats took the field with a minute left and down by 4 points, I thought to myself, "can Tom Brady do it again." Then, I thought to myself, "but, he's never had to do this!" We all remember the big game winning drives against Oakland in 2002, and in Super Bowls XXXVI and XXXVIII...and even last week against the Chargers. But in those games, Tom Brady took the ball when the score was tied. If he failed, no big deal...the game was going to overtime [aside from the Oakland game, which was already in OT]. Brady just had to drive the team into FG range and then the kicker took it over. Not this time. Down by 4 points and having to go 80 yards is no easy task for any QB. But this is Tom Brady...the modern day Joe Montana. And Montana made the same drive nearly 20 years ago in a Super Bowl. Brady couldn't do it...and unceremoniously threw an interception to end their season.
BEARS OFFENSE SUCKS: They do! Rex Grossman blows. The receivers aren't really special. The running backs are okay, but both have issues. Oh, and they can put up 39 points in the NFC title game in the freezing cold.
SAINTS OFFENSE IS UNSTOPPABLE: I am a Redskins fan, and I know that the Saints offense can be slowed up a bit. I have no idea how we did that...but we did. Aside from that long run by Reggie Bush, the Saints really couldn't break up the Bears defense.
BELIEVE IN FATE: When anything unpredictable happens in sports, we always say that it was fate. George Mason getting to the Final Four?? Fate. That's why many people felt the Saints would go to the Super Bowl. It was too good of a story and made us feel warm inside to see this bastard team of 2005 blaze a path to the Super Bowl the very next year. I'll admit that I wanted to see New Orleans in the Super Bowl for a ton of reasons....including the "well, they deserve it." But sports also tells the tale of scoreboard....meaning that sometimes the good guys who fought so hard don't get the biggest glory.
YOU CAN'T CROWN A CHAMPION IN OCTOBER: Last year, the Super Bowl champion Steelers were 7-5 and needed a winning streak just to make the playoffs. We all know that usually the team that fires out of the gate ends up flaming out before we get to February. Not this year. The Bears were 7-0 at one point....and the Colts were 9-0. Around mid-November, these two were clearly the best teams in their conferences. Since then, both flamed a bit. But both are here now to bask in the glory for a couple of weeks.
NFL GAMES DON'T MEAN AS MUCH AS COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES DO: College football loves to seethat "every week counts". I think that's a lie. It only counts for a select few teams. Once you are out of the BCS loop, it really doesn't matter anymore. Check out the NFL. The fact that the Colts beat the Patriots about 4 months ago brought a huge baring on this game, eh? If New England won that game, this AFC Championship game would've been held in Foxboro. Heck, if New England had won that game, the Colts would've faced the Jets in the first round....then the Chargers. The Pats would've had the Chiefs then Ravens. That AFC Championship game could've been totally different. And even if that Colts-Pats game stayed the same...how big were those New England losses at home to Miami or NY Jets?? If they won one of those games, the playoff bracket would've been totally flipped around. Or if San Diego didn't make that great comeback in Seattle in Week 16...Baltimore would've been the #1 seed. The point is, the games all mean something in a domino effecting way.
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