Championship Weekend: NFL Betting Recap, News, and Notes
The AFC and NFC Championships of the playoffs are in the books, and here at Bang the Book, we have all of the most important news and notes from across the league from the biggest weekend that the NFL betting campaign has had to date.
Quarterback Woes Crush Chicago: It’s not often that you see three quarterbacks that have to take snaps in any NFL betting battle, especially in the NFC Championship Game. However, the poor Chicago Bears had to resort to that on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. QB Jay Cutler started off the game, but he really had no luck against the Green Bay defense, going just 6-of-14 for 80 yards and an INT on the day before injuring his knee and getting pulled for the second half. Backup QB Todd Collins was probably heard from for the last time in his career, as he went 0-for-4 in relief and looked absolutely atrocious calling plays. That prompted Head Coach Lovie Smith to put in QB Caleb Hanie, who only had thrown 14 passes in his three year career prior to this point. Hanie played his heart out, going 13-of-20 for 153 yards and a TD, and he had the verge of bringing Chicago all the way back from down 14-0 and 21-7 to tie the score, but in the end, two INTs were his undoing.
Chicago’s Forte: It was amazing to think that RB Matt Forte really had this good of a game in a Chicago defeat. Had you told any Bears fan that their running back was going to account for 160 yards on 27 touches of the pigskin against the Packers, each and every one of them would have thought that their team was going to the Super Bowl. In an otherwise dismal effort for the Bears’ offense, Forte had 17 carries for 70 yards and 10 receptions for 90 yards. The only TD scorers were RB Chester Taylor and WR Earl Bennett, but no one else really did anything of note for this team.
Raji Rumble Sends Packers to Super Bowl: We’re not so sure of this, but we’re wondering if there has ever been a man bigger than DT BJ Raji that has scored a TD in the NFC Championship Game. The big fella had never had a pick in his career, nor had he ever scored a TD even though he was used quite a bit in goal line packages this year on offense. However, he drifted back into a zone with just over six minutes to play in the game, intercepted Hanie, and returned it 18 yards for his first career score.
Converted DB Shields the Savior: The story of DB Sam Shields is an amazing one. He was a wide receiver that was converted over to defensive back in his final year at the University of Miami. Now, all of a sudden, the undrafted rookie is a hero. Shields not only had the first sack of his career, but he also intercepted two passes, including the one with very little time left in the game that sent the Packers to the Super Bowl.
Rodgers, Offense Start Hot, End Frozen in Chicago: At the outset of the NFC Championship Game, it really had to look like QB Aaron Rodgers and company were going to just run away and hide from the Bears. Rodgers went 5-for-5 on his first drive of the game and capped it off with a TD plunge from a yard away. The Pack got back on the board a second time just a few minutes into the second quarter as well when rookie RB James Starks scored. However, after that, the Green Bay offense was really just shut down. Rodgers finished the day with 244 yards and two picks, and Starks only had 74 yards and that score on 22 carries. WR Greg Jennings did have a nice day, catching eight passes for 130 yards.
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Jets Historic Comeback Attempt Falls Just Short: The New York Jets gave everything that they had to try to claw out of their 24-0 hole against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, and had they pulled it off, it would’ve been the second biggest comeback in the history of the NFL playoffs and the biggest in the history of Championship Games. However, failing to score a TD from 2nd and goal at the Pittsburgh 1 yard line probably proved to be New York’s undoing. It did score nine more points to cut the margin to 24-19, but it never had that one last chance on offense to beat the AFC Championship odds.
Big Ben Iffy in Victory: If QB Ben Roethlisberger plays like this in Super Bowl XLV, the Steelers are going to be in a heck of a lot of trouble. Big Ben only went 10-of-19 on 133 yards on the day, but he was incredibly sloppy with the football in the second half. He was picked off by LB Bryan Thomas early in the third quarter, and then again by DB Brodney Pool in the fourth, and he also fumbled a snap following that goal line stand that resulted in a safety. Roethlisberger has now been sacked eight times and has four turnovers and that safety to his credit in the second season, numbers which cannot get much worse for Pittsburgh to win its seventh title.
Steelers Nearly Sink After Big Lead: In fairness to the Steelers, this is why it is important to score as many points as you can early on. RB Rashard Mendenhall nearly had 100 yards on the stat sheet in the first half in a dominating effort by the black and gold. The defense allowed absolutely nothing to the Jets during this stretch, and DB William Gay had a fumble recovery for a TD that stretched the lead out to 24-0, a lead that ended up proving to be decisive, but should have clearly been a lot easier to hold onto. Mendenhall finished the day as the offensive star of the show, rushing for 121 yards and a TD on 27 carries. This was the second time this year in which he made it to the century mark on the ground against the Jets, who hadn’t allowed a 100+ yard rusher in 19 straight games before letting Mendenhall do it against them a month ago.
Historic Showdown Set for Super Bowl: Here at Bang the Book, we are going to have all of the coverage for Super Bowl XLV that you could ask for, posting an article every day in what arguably could amount to be the biggest game in the history of the league. The Green Bay Packers, who already have three Super Bowls and 11 NFL Championships (two of which were won in the same years as their Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II triumphs) will take on the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have a Super Bowl record six rings to their credit and will be making their NFL tying eighth appearance in the Super Bowl on February 6th. Kickoff is set for 6:25 two Sundays from now. The Packers opened up as slender 2.5 point favorites, while the ‘total’ has risen from an opener of 45 to 46.
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