Even though there are three games left to be played before we officially close out this NFL season, it feels like the end. That’s probably because of the amount of hurdles over which we have had to leap in the last few months, as well as the field of teams that will be in-play on Sunday.
Throughout the course of this season, there has been no question that the Kansas City Chiefs are the class of the AFC — including the times when Pittsburgh held the best, undefeated record. The Buffalo Bills may not have solidified themselves as the clear second-seed until the later weeks, but the team was slowly building momentum in its eventual strike.
On the NFC side of the equation, the Green Bay Packers were never out of the conversation. Other teams, like Seattle and New Orleans, entered, but no one evicted Green Bay. Another Divisional Round victory later, and we have the Packers in the NFC Championship Game for the second consecutive season. They will face a player who has made a living in such high-stakes contests when Tom Brady, now of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, takes the field.
This is why I write that it “feels” like we have reached the end. Through the tumultuous offseason to the shuffling of schedules, we have seen teams from both conferences rise-and-fall accordingly. In the end, both top seeds of their conferences will host the most worthy next-in-line combatants.
People may have doubted the odds that we would reach this point of the season but, with these four teams alive at the end, no one will doubt the eventual champion.
Below are predictions for each game against the spread. Spreads have been taken from various websites and are subject to change. The spread in parenthesis denotes the selected team. An asterisk denotes a confidence pick.
*Confidence Picks – 2020 Season: 53-42-3 (Last Week: 1-0)
(2019 Season: 57-43-3) (2018 Season: 63-48-4) (2017 Season: 53-48-4) (2016 Season: 53-67-3) (2015 Season: 69-45-2) (2014 Season: 61-46-2) (6-Year Total: 356-297-18)
All Picks Against Spread – 2020 Season: 131-126-7 (Last Week: 1-1)
(2019 Season: 142-118-7) (2018 Season: 137-118-12) (2017 Season: 137-119-11) (2016 Season: 123-136-8) (2015 Season: 143-117-7) (2014 Season: 149-114-4) (6-Year Total: 831-722-49)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Green Bay Packers
I find it truly amazing how the National Football League never fails to deliver drama. In a conference in which a handful of teams were truly good enough to reach the Championship Game, the two that will play on Sunday carry incredible storylines with them. Both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Green Bay Packers feature All-Time Great quarterbacks, and each is battling Father Time en route to this matchup.
That’s only the beginning, though. The bigger storyline doesn’t involve the quarterbacks. It involves the two teams and the remarkable comparisons we find when looking at their recent history.
All season, I have written the same thing about the Packers on a nearly-weekly basis. That is,