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Back on September 9th, I made a few crazy predictions about the upcoming NFL season. Let us review, in parentheses and italics.

Teams that will be worse than everybody thinks:
Carolina (I was correct. A fashionable Super Bowl pick, the Panthers struggled to finish at 8-8.)
Philadelphia (Things were looking good for me until Jeff Garcia came off the bench and saved the season. The 10-6 Eagles won their division and a playoff game.)
Seattle (While they limped into the playoffs, the Seahawks were not the elite team many expected, even in the weak NFC.)
Miami (Sucked as predicted. 6-10.)

Teams that will be better than everybody thinks:
Tampa Bay (This section hurts my psychic credibility. Tampa Bay was 4-12.)
Detroit (Terrible, terrible team. Terrible, terrible pick. 3-13.)
Buffalo (We’ll call this a push at 7-9.)
Cleveland (I’ve been predicting big things for the Browns for years. Another disappointing 4-12 season.)

Conference Championship Games:
AFC: Indianapolis 31, New England 27
NFC: Dallas 20, Chicago 10

(Not bad, picking three of the final four. If my office had held an NFL pool, I’d still be in contention.)

Super Bowl XLI
Indianapolis 38, Dallas 13
Super Bowl MVP: Peyton Manning

As for tomorrow, I’ll stick with my original conference championship game picks. The Colts win and the Bears lose, setting up an Indianapolis-New Orleans Super Bowl.

This wasn’t easy. I’m torn between Brady and Manning. As a Yankees fan, I like dynasties. The Patriots are the only one we’ve got right now, unless the Spurs manage to win another title. But I also like to see the perennial loser slide on the ring, a role Manning has perfected. Even though he seems like he’d keep his own stats in pick-up basketball – and be happy out-rebounding you in a loss – he has my support.

Colts 31, Pats 27
Saints 20, Bears 17