Conference Championship Picks: Feeling Pretty Smart

According to handy Pickwatch chart, I was one of only nine observers to correctly predict all four playoff game outcomes last weekend. Additionally, the two winners and two losers in the AFC matched my pre-season predictions—although in different matchups. So we end up with a championship round in which three of the four teams I had being here are still alive, and the one I didn't pick is probably the team I'm leaning most heavily toward winning the Super Bowl next month.

Once again, the biggest story to come out of last week was another controversial call. And maybe because I'm a Bears fan who remembered that infamous Calvin Johnson catch that wasn't in 2010, I immediately thought back to that terrible call as soon as I saw the Dez Bryant play this past weekend. Thus, it couldn't have been less surprising when referees made the correct call as far as the dumb rule is written. Of course, the outrage in the Lions-Bears opener was nowhere near what it was in the Twitterverse following a critical play late in an NFL playoff game. So maybe this off-season, the league will actually do something about the rule. But I'm not holding my breath.

I will cross my fingers and hope that we can get through these final three games without any more officiating concerns dominating the discussion afterward. That would be nice since there seems to be good reason to believe that we could get some fairly entertaining contests to conclude this season.

I don't think the order of confidence matters much this week, but take it how ever you'd like:

Seattle Seahawks over Green Bay Packers

The Pack will be the biggest challenge Seattle's had in some number of weeks, maybe the biggest of the season. Still, I am just not prepared to pick against the defending champions yet. In fact, while Aaron Rodgers is capable of powering a Green Bay victory, his nagging injury against this Seahawks defense is a major concern. I am not going to be surprised if he's forced to leave the game and, thus, leave the Packers in a lot of trouble. Seattle at home will get big performances from their biggest stars, which basically means Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch, and the entire defense. 

New England Patriots over Indianapolis Colts

I'll stay with what I had at the beginning of the year, as Andrew Luck certainly continues to progress and I could very easily see him having another whale of a game on the biggest stage he's been on yet. That said, I'm still confident that New England's more capable of winning a shutout because Luck strikes me as being the one more prone to a costly turnover late in a close game. This probably doesn't help Indy either.