Originally published September 17, 2010
Green Bay Packers
February 6, 2011 is over five months away, but it is never too early to discuss who will be hoisting the Lombardi trophy in Dallas as winners of Super Bowl XLV.
The NFC is loaded with contenders this season. Dallas, Green Bay, New Orleans, Minnesota and the New York Giants all have a legitimate shot to win it all.
The AFC isn’t as strong with Indianapolis, Baltimore, New England and the New York Jets having a chance for Super Bowl immortality.
But only one team can be crowned champion at the end of the year. This year, there will be cheese heads all across Wisconsin saying “Brett who?”
The Packers will end its 13-year Super Bowl drought this season.
They have all the ingredients of a great team.
Aaron Rodgers is the best quarterback in the NFL not named Peyton Manning, and the Packers have surrounded him with a multitude of weapons.
The Packers defense is led by one of the best corners in the league and reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Charles Woodson.
Green Bay will have a tough road going through what looks to be a stacked NFC this season.
However, if the Packers can claim home field advantage in the playoffs, there isn’t a team in the league that could beat Green Bay at Lambeau Field in January.
The Green Bay Packers will be Super Bowl XLV champions.
-Alex Ross
Dallas Cowboys
One may think it would be impossible to take this stance after a loss to the mighty, mighty Redskins, but I still believe the Dallas Cowboys will party in Jerry Jones’s Cathedral to Capitalism in Arlington, Tx., this February.
While everyone thinks of Romolicous and “I Can See For” Miles Austin first when the Cowboys are brought up, the real strength of the Cowboys is their DeMarcus Ware-led defense.
The final 10 games of last season, the defense held the opposition to an average of 13 points a game. For all of you non-math majors, that’s not even two touchdowns. Son-of-a-Bum Wade Phillips might be the most maligned head coach in the league, but he was in charge of a defense that became a league-leading unit.
The offense is by far the flashier side of the Cowboys. Led by the dimple-faced Eastern Illinois grad Tony Romo, his arsenal includes the best collection of RBs in the league, one of the best TEs in Jason Witten and a WR core with Austin and college stud Dez Bryant.
These are the most weapons Romo has ever had, and with Jessica Simpson in the rearview mirror, Romo and the Cowboys will step up and win it all.
But if they do fail to raise the Lombardi trophy this February and you wish to mock me for such a stupid pick, you’ll find me on the quad with my Romo jersey, screaming “THERE’S ALWAYS NEXT YEAR” like all my Chicago Cub brethren.
-Zach Berg