2011 Conf. Finals What I Learned

• I'm still alive!  I can earn a season tie if Jason picks the Super Bowl incorrectly.  How fitting it would be that in our 1st year of blogging our picks, and in celebration of our 1st year ever making picks in 1989 being a tie, we wind up tied again.
• "Whatta game, huh?" Jason asked me immediately after the Packers' 7-point win over the Bears that started us both off wrong ATS on Sunday.  "Yeah," I mumbled, trying to hide how drained I was.  "Had a little bit of everything."  Let's establish that 1st--I got totally invested in that game, more than I ever thought I would.  I tried to watch it as objectively as possible, but I'm still a Bears fan, and the loss crushed me.  So I admit that my fandom could be coloring my opinion of the Jay Cutler "controversy" when I say the following:  Anyone who questioned how hurt Cutler was or his heart or his toughness, please go walk in front of traffic and die now.  Thank you.  To sit there on your couch or bar stool (or studio chair, in the case of these "analysts," most of whom never graduated college and barely made it out of high school) and judge how hurt someone else is based on absolutely no information or knowledge makes you a grunting Neanderthal.  "He ain't tough!  He shoulda tried harder to get back in the game!  He ain't got no heart!"  Eat a dick, each and every one of you.  I'd like to think I'd feel just this strongly about any other team's QB getting killed in the media and social networks, but again, I admit that my Bears fandom may be clouding my judgment a bit.  Plus, what other team's QB would be getting crushed like this?  Is there any other QB who would be getting killed for having to leave a conference title game with a knee injury and making the horrible choice of standing up and watching the rest of the game instead of lying on the ground acting like his knee had been shot?  The judging of Cutler's heart and character based on him having a mopey face and not looking interested has to stop.  It's really, really stupid.  As for the rest of the game, I'm puzzled how the Packers could come out with such a great game plan to attack a banged-up safety Chris Harris and shitty CB Tim Jennings and rack up chunks of yards at will and still only wind up with 14 offensive points.  The Bears actually could have won that game.  The D stepped up in the 2nd half and rattled Aaron Rodgers, not to mention the Brian Urlacher INT in the 2nd quarter that almost gave Chicago its 1st TD of the game if not for Rodgers tripping up Urlacher on his way to the end zone.  But the Bears made a horrible coaching decision by making Todd Collins the backup QB instead of Caleb Hanie.  Collins had to step in and prove he blows in order to prove to Lovie Smith that Hanie had to be given a chance.  And dammit, Hanie almost became the next Chicago sports hero.  All credit to B.J. Raji for his pick-6, but Hanie came right back out and scored immediately on the next possession, with a little help from Charles Woodson.  And by a little help, I mean he completely quit on the Earl Bennett catch, assuming someone else would make the tackle, and watched Bennett turn around and run to the end zone.  Woodson is great, possibly a Hall of Famer.  He should have been cut immediately and banned from the NFL.  I think the entire GB team quit after the Raji TD gave them a 2-TD lead again, leaving the Bears to bust ass trying to pull off a miracle comeback.  The Bears can now take away whatever positive feelings they can from that great effort.  But I think they know that the Pack should have routed them, and they're not very good.  As for Green Bay, that's the top 3 NFC seeds on the road that they took out.  They can beat anyone at any time.
• On the AFC side, another strange game between the Jets and Steelers left me with a cover by one whole point.  A tale of two halves played out in another tense, tight finish.  The Steelers stunned me and everyone watching by running the ball down New York's throats en route to building a 24-0 lead.  And then, just as stunning, the Jets came roaring back behind big runs by Shonn Greene and slant throws-a-plenty by Mark Sanchez.  Needing to win this pick, and hating Sanchez, I found myself begging for someone to stop the Jets slant patterns, the only routes that seemed to be working for Sanchez.  Then a CB fell, he hit Santonio Holmes for a long TD, and I started to get nauseous.  The goal-line stand to stop the Jets from getting to within a TD felt like the end of Gang Green, but then a bad QB-center exchange led to the 2nd straight game at Pittsburgh where the Jets got a safety.  More slant patterns eventually gave the Jets another TD, but they made a curious decision that gave me the win instead of a push--they took the PAT instead of going for 2 and making it a 4-point game.  Going for 2 would have given the Jets a 3-point lead if they would have scored another TD instead of a 2-point lead, so it could be argued that they should have gone for 2.  Thank the heavens Rex Ryan was dreaming about feet and didn't think to go for it.  Another gutsy call was the call for the Steelers to throw on 3rd down with less than 2 minutes left and the Jets having no timeouts.  A run allows Pitt to run the clock down and punt, leaving the Jets with under a minute and having to drive the length of the field.  But a 1st down ended the game.  I can't say I would have thrown, but I admire the guts of the call.  Ben Roethlisberger completed the pass after scrambling right, converting for a 1st down and letting Pittsburgh kneel and run out the clock.  It was one of the few times Big Ben had to make something happen with his arm.  That's what happens when you let a team run like fucking hell all over you.  Pittsburgh didn't have to challenge the Jets secondary in order to build their big lead.  Rashard Mendenhall kept moving the sticks with his legs.  It was a shocking domination of New York's #3 rush defense, and it will haunt the Jets all offseason.  As for the Steelers, that's the #10 (Baltimore) and #3 (New York Jets) total defense that they eliminated this playoff season, and they were #2.  They can beat anyone at any time.