AFC and NFC Champions. Bears Down, Pittsburgh's Bound

Hello friends,

Sorry for the post-lunch edition. Let's get right to what you can chat about:

> First the NFC Championship, Chicago Bears vs. the Green Bay Packers. This was a story of two halves, 3 Bears quarterbacks and Green Bay's ability to persevere.

> Green Bay beat the Bears on their home turf.

> They came out and QB Aaron Rodgers stunned the crowd by having the Packers in the end zone within the first 6 minutes.

> On the other side of the ball, Bear's QB Jay Cutler was hurt and pulled from the game. Back up Todd Collins was ineffective but, surprise! Caleb Hanie, the Bear's 3rd string QB, came in in the 3rd quarter nearly pulled off an upset! His interception in the 4th quarter ended the comeback though.

> The question that's floating around today is whether Jay Cutler was hurt badly enough and couldn't re-enter the game. Throw that out topic out and you'll have plenty to talk about besides Hanie, Rodgers and rest.

Now to the AFC with Pittsburgh taking on the hot NY Jets.

> Pittsburgh beat the Jets last night in the 'burgh but this too was a game of halves. The Steelers scored all of their points in the first half, holding the Jets to just 3. The Jets really started to move the ball and score in the 2nd half.

> NY had a chance to pull off the win but it's tough when a veteran QB like Ben Roethlisberger is in the game.

> Roethlisberger has been in these "win or go home games before" and in waning minutes of the 4th quarter, knew he needed 1 final first down. It wasn't easy, but he got it and it showed how clutch = money = reliable he is in the big games.

Get ready for the Super Bowl in 2 weeks. We'll have lots to chat about before hand. It should be a great game.

Talk. It. Up! And enjoy!

NFL Playoffs

Whew! Could you believe the games this past weekend? If you happened to miss them, I'm here to catch you up.

> The heavily favored NE Patriots, seen as an unstoppable team, were soundly beaten by the NY Jets. Yes, the Jets who have driven their fans crazy through the years by not being able to win the big ones. Guess what? This time they did it and it was legit. Gang Green (NY Jets defense) stepped up and so did 2nd year QB Mark Sanchez. They take on the Pittsburgh Steelers next. More on that later.

> The Chicago Bears took the Seattle Seahawks to the woodshed. Jay Cutler was the QB Chicago hoped he'd be: calm in the pocket, nailing his receivers with short and long strikes and even running the ball into the end zone. Seattle was scrappy under Coach Pete Carroll, the most upbeat NFL coach in my opinion. Still, their late scores weren't enough to topple the Bears. Next up for the Bears are the Packers, their arch-rival. You can bet there's more to say on that match-up!

Chat. It. Up. And enjoy!