Championship Day Thoughts

And then there were two. It's the Seattle Seahawks vs New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX in two weeks.

I suppose that it's fitting that it's the Seahawks. They are the defending champs and were probably the best team in the league over the last couple of months. It's just that the Green Bay Packers were the better team yesterday. Actually it wasn't so much that the Packers were so great yesterday as it was the Seahawks offense was mostly terrible. Russell Wilson and the boys only did anything of substance for about 44 seconds of the 60 minutes of regulation time. None of that would have mattered much if the Packers had simply caught the football on the Seahawks desperation onside kick attempt with about two minutes to go. It was an easy, unchallenged catch that simply has to be made. That Packers gaff made the Seahawks go-ahead touchdown possible. That gaff will be the talk of Packers players, coaches, and fans for decades. So will the 2-point conversion that the Seahawks scored following that go-ahead score. A desperation heave by Wilson. There was a  lot of Seahawks desperation in those last two minutes of regulation. 15 points in 44 seconds. All of that frantic Seahawks action left Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers enough time to tie the score at 22 to force overtime. An overtime that never should have been. The Seahawks were the only team to possess the ball in overtime. 28-22 Seahawks.

It was only fitting Seahawks receiver Jermaine Kearse caught the winning touchdown in overtime. He was targeted four times in regulation and each resulted in a Packers interception.

The Packers should never have been in position to lose their lead at the end. They could have been ahead 21-0 early. Instead, they only had a 6-0 lead. Twice, they had the ball inside the Seahawks 5-yard line. Twice, they had to settle for field goals. If the Seahawks did anything right outside of those frantic 44 seconds at the end it was keeping the Packers out of the endzone on those early scoring chances. Rodgers threw an interception in the endzone on the Packers first great scoring opportunity.

The only thing that matters in football games is the scoreboard. No matter how poorly they played for nearly every second of the game, the Seahawks had the greater score at the end.

It the AFC Championship, the New England Patriots were simply too much for the Indianapolis Colts. 45-7. As a Minnesota Vikings fan, this game gave me unfortunate flashbacks to the 2000 NFC Championship game. 41-0 Giants. Sometimes games just get away from a team. Nothing they do goes right. The harder they try, the worse it gets. These two teams play again next week. It's a closer score. A better game. But, it doesn't work that way. The only game that counts is the one that's scheduled. The biggest difference between this Colts team and that Vikings team is that this Colts team is headed in the right direction. This just wasn't their year.

So, it's Seahawks-Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX. I'm hoping for a better game than either of the games yesterday.