Sports Faceoff: NFC Championship game

By Jimmy Johnson and Chris Dertz

Jimmy Johnson: Chris, I can’t contain the excitement that is flying out of me about this game. I never thought in my lifetime that I’d get to see the Bears and Packers as the two remaining teams in the NFC. I’m guessing you share these sentiments as well?

Chris Dertz: Not yet, I’m not. It’s still too surreal. I won’t believe this game is actually happening until the moment they kickoff. There is no doubt about it; this is the biggest game in the history of the biggest rivalry in sports, and this is the biggest sporting event that I will have ever witnessed in my life. This game is everything.

JJ: I can’t agree with you more, but let’s roll up our sleeves and get down to business: who wins and why?

The Bears’ offense is coming off a balanced performance from their victory over a bad Seahawks team. However, the Packers might be the best sixth seed in NFL history, right behind the Steelers who won it all in 2006, so this won’t be a repeat cakewalk performance. On the other side of the ball, things are running smooth as usual on defense.

CD: All I hear is a Bears fan trying to think logically, which is a mistake in the first place. Listen here: Sports Illustrated picked Green Bay to represent the NFC at the outset of the playoffs, which means the Packers will automatically lose this game, however unfortunate that is.

We could talk all we wanted about how Aaron Rodgers is the best quarterback in the playoffs, and maybe even the NFL as a whole.

We could ramble on about how dominant Green Bay’s defense is, and how susceptible Jay Cutler is to game-ending mistakes.

We could debate all these things that paint why the Bears are losing, but it doesn’t matter. Sports Illustrated has doomed us all to watch another boring Bears team in the Super Bowl.

JJ: Too bad Paul the Octopus isn’t still kicking it because he would have had the winner.

Don’t think you’re going to get out of this argument by arguing the Packers are better than the Bears, but it’s already set in stone that they’ll lose this game no matter what. The Bears don’t have a lot of eye-popping talent, especially when you compare them to the Packers, but they’ve found a way to get this far in the playoffs.

CD: You’re right, they have found a way to get this far! How was that again? Oh yeah, they got to play a sub-.500 team. How impressive.

“But the defense gets so much pressure!” Rodgers escapes pressure like it’s his job, because it’s his job.

“But Brian Urlacher’s had a great comeback year!” Urlacher has had a great year of running backs running between the tackles at him, giving his middle linebacker-self automatic tackles and stat-padding cushier than Al Davis’ hotel room walls.

“Jay Cutler has the strongest arm in the league!” Green Bay has three Pro Bowl-calibur defensive backs who make a habit of picking off stupid passes, which Cutler makes with regularity.

But I’ll grant you this: he throws them to other teams faster and harder than any other quarterback.

JJ: Yes, Chris. Mock the Bears all you want. Because the Packers have done it the right way this year. Mike McCarthy gets the Medal of Honor for coaching a team that has been hit with injury after injury; he’s a true American hero.

Ryan Grant and his eight carries this season have earned him the opportunity to guarantee victory while in the meantime he’s taken over Mark Chmura’s babysitting service.

CD: I know. It’s awesome, isn’t it? Pleasing.