As Super Bowl Sunday approaches, the top 12 teams in the NFL battle it out for a chance to go to Houston and compete for the 51st Lombardi trophy.
This year, the top 12 teams are the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers, Houston Texans, Oakland Raiders, Miami Dolphins, Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, and the Detroit Lions.
The opening odds for all teams in the playoffs were: Miami 75/1, Detroit 66/1, Houston 66/1, Oakland 66/1, Seattle 12/1, New York 12/1, Kansas City 19/2, Atlanta 8/1, Pittsburgh 8/1, Green Bay 29/4, Dallas 17/4, and the favorite to win it all: New England at 19/10.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Steelers handled the Dolphins with ease, the Texans defense locked down the quarterbackless Raiders, Aaron Rodgers led the Packers to a big win at Lambeau over the Giants, and the Seahawks beat the Lions. There were no surprises when the better seeds were victorious in these “play in” games. In the second round, the red hot Green Bay Packers were able to upset the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was able to outshine Dallas’ rookie Dak Prescott. The Atlanta Falcons impressively beat the Seattle Seahawks and proved that they were no joke this year. In the AFC, the New England Patriots were able to out last the offensiveless Texans and the Steelers’ “Killer Bees” had record setting days in Kansas City. In the NFC championship Atlanta once again stunned the NFL when they pounded the Packers 44-21. In the AFC, the Patriots showed their dominance as well beating the Steelers 36-17.
Finally, the New England Patriots made history by completing the biggest come back in a Super Bowl. After trailing by 25 midway through the third quarter, Tom Brady led his high power offense to a 34-28 victory in overtime. In the first over time Super Bowl game ever, MVP Tom Brady won his fifth championship and threw for 466 yards and two touchdowns. “It was one hell of a football game,” Brady said. The Atlanta Falcons dominated the first half and it semmed nearly impossible for the Patriots to not only score twice with less than six minutes left, but to also get both two point conversions. “That’s a tough loss. Obviously very disappointed, very close to getting done what we wanted to get done, but it’s hard to find words tonight,” said Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.
I hate to say it as a Bears fan, but I predicted that the Green Bay Packers would play against the New England Patriots at the Super Bowl.
The Packers were one of the hottest teams in the NFL and after watching Aaron Rodgers pick apart what I thought was one of the best defenses in the league, the New York Giants, I thought that they would be able to ride their momentum all the way to another Super Bowl championship. Aaron Rodgers certainly has playoff experience with a Super Bowl MVP under his belt and knows what it takes to go all the way. I think that the injury to star wide reciever, Jordy Nelson, was the only thing holding back the Packers from making another Super Bowl appearance.