Super Bowl Sunday is one of the most-hyped days in American culture. People all over the country gather for parties to watch the big game and enjoy a slice of what makes America great. For true NFL fans, however, conference championship Sunday is the greatest day of the season. On that day, there are not one but two games, giving fans seven straight hours of football. The broadcasts are focused on football - no corny halftime shows or hype about commercials.
This season, the two championship games match the San Francisco 49ers and the Atlanta Falcons in the National Football Conference (NFC), and the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots in the American Football Conference (AFC).
The 49ers’ path to the championship gave has been one of dramatic dominance. Very few teams can switch quarterbacks midseason, play to a sloppy tie, and still pull out an 11-4-1 overall record. San Francisco has been pegged as a Super Bowl favorite since their rise to relevance last year, and opened the year with a road win over the Green Bay Packers, a 15-2 team from a year ago.
The 49ers’ first game after their bye was the game that shifted their season. Starting quarterback Alex Smith went down with an injury in the first half of a game against the St. Louis Rams. He was replaced by Colin Kaepernick, a second-year player who led the 49ers to the NFL’s first tie since 2008 in that game.
Kaepernick played well enough to keep the starting quarterback job for the remainder of the season, one that included road wins over the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints and home triumph over Green Bay. In that second Green Bay game, last week in the divisional playoffs, Kaepernick accounted for 444 yards of total offense, running and passing for two touchdowns each.
On the flip side, the Atlanta Falcons were the NFL’s last unbeaten team. The “Dirty Birds” ran their record to 8-0 before losing three games down the stretch to New Orleans, the Carolina Panthers, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Fifth-year quarterback Matt Ryan has passed for 4,719 yards and 32 touchdowns for Atlanta, a team that thrives on its passing game with wide receivers Roddy White and Julio Jones.
Since Ryan became a Falcon in 2008, the team has made three playoff appearances, losing all of them. Eager to get the monkey off his back, Ryan engineered a comeback win over the Seattle Seahawks last week, 30-28. Now, Atlanta appears poised to finally make their run at greatness.
In this game, the biggest key will be the ability Atlanta’s defense to contain Kaepernick. Russell Wilson, Seattle’s quarterback, has a similar dual-threat style and wound up passing for 385 yards while rushing for only 60. Atlanta is a “hungry” team and finally seems to have some momentum on their side. Pass defense is not a strength of San Francisco, so Ryan and his targets should be able to have a good game.
My Prediction: Atlanta 34, San Francisco 24
On the other half of the bracket, the Baltimore Ravens will travel to face the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game for the second year in a row. Last year, then-Raven kicker Billy Cundiff missed a last second field goal that would have sent Baltimore to its first Super Bowl since 2000. Now, the two teams meet once more with just as much on the line and similar backstories to the 2011 season.
New England suffered three early hiccups, including a controversial loss in Baltimore and two upsets at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks. Since then, quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick have been clicking and New England has only lost one game, at home to the 49ers. Some have argued that Brady’s 4,827 passing yards and 34 passing touchdowns are good enough for another MVP. This is just a classic New England team- playing hard and winning games in dominant fashion.
Baltimore has spent five years trying to prove they are an elite team. The Ravens have qualified for five straight postseasons, won a game in each, only to fall short of the Super Bowl each time. This season, the Ravens went 10-6 after losing four of their final five games, yet still won the AFC North division.
The most recent “stay alive” trick for Baltimore was a double overtime classic in Denver last Saturday against the heavily favored Broncos, 38-35. Now, Baltimore, playing like a team on a mission in linebacker Ray Lewis’ final season, gets the ultimate shot at redemption. Their red hot defense has carried them to this point, and now Baltimore gets their shot at stopping Brady. With the momentum on their side, I think Baltimore does just that.
My Prediction: Baltimore 23, New England 17