Conference championship previews

Two games this weekend, both on Sunday:

New Orleans Saints at Chicago Bears, 1 p.m., FOX

New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts, 4:30 p.m., CBS

At this point I'm pretty much sick of all teams left in the postseason, so I'll keep this brief.

On the NFC side, you have America's Team heading into Chicago to face the Bears in what could be a very close game. Both teams won 27-24 last weekend, scores indicative of both teams' goodness-but-not-greatness.

I'm going with the Saints for three reasons. For one, it's time I pick a road team. For two, I would love to see the Saints make the Super Bowl. And for three, I like the Saints' offensive depth more than I like Chicago's supposed defensive prowess. It's not that Chicago can't stop anyone, but the defense has been short of dominant for several weeks. With Grossman's Jekyll-and-Hyde tendencies, the Bears will need more than they're getting from the defense.

Do I even need to talk about the AFC title game? Many folks around the blogosphere have complained that they're sick of the Colts and Patriots drama. I understand where they're coming from. But the Colts' pathetic excuse* for many years was that they didn't get to host New England in such a crucial game. Well, now's their chance. And they're going to blow it again. Maybe Peyton Manning will have a good game. Maybe Tom Brady will be as pick-prone as he was last week. Maybe Tony Dungy's pushing all the right buttons now. But definitely the Patriots are going to win.

 

* = It's not that crazy of a reason–home field advantage does exist. But if you want to host a playoff game, you have to have a better regular-season record than your opponent, or at least win your division. So if you were actually better in the first place, shouldn't you have been at home in the playoffs to begin with? That's what makes this the loser's lament, in my mind.