Ok everyone, I was wrong. No, I was dead wrong. There is wrong, and then there is what I was. I boldly stated that I would be betting on Brett Favre and the Packers this past weekend, because I “just had a feeling” about the Packers. Well, you know what that “feeling” was?

Insanity, apparently…

That is all I can chalk that one up to. But even with my Brett Favre aberration, this weekend was one of the best NFL playoff weekends that I can remember. So with that, let’s move to SuperZim’s Divisional Top Five…

Number 5

I chastised the Bears early in the season, touting them as pretenders, and ripping those who referred to them as the “New Monsters of the Midway”. Then, as the season went on, I said that the Bears were a good defensive team, and may not be the pretenders I labeled them as. But all along, I have said that the Bears are “more lucky than good”, and I kept waiting for Lady Luck to turn her back on the Bears, and this weekend she did more than turn her back on the Bears, she mooned the Bears while she was at it.

When Jim Miller got “power-bombed” by Hugh Douglas and injured his shoulder, I thought to myself, “uh-oh, cue the Shane Matthews band, the Bears are done-for now.” You could practically see the wheels coming off the Bears bandwagon at that point; they should have just called the game right there. Is it just me, or did the Bears look as though the genuinely did NOT deserve to be out there that day? They looked like they were just happy to be where they were and didn’t want to spoil the party. Whatever the case was, the Bears were not ready to play that day, at all.

On the other hand, the Eagles WERE ready to play, they looked hungry, determined and out for blood. Money McNabb played a superb game, dancing around in the pocket like Baryshnikov, making the Bears pass rushers look silly. When they did get a hand on him, he just brushed them off and slung a pass to an open receiver somewhere. Seeing McNabb brush people away like that reminded me of the classic Nintendo game, TECMO SuperBowl (yeah, the one I ALWAYS talk about). When playing that game, if you had a guy in “excellent condition” he would just make would-be tacklers bounce off him and land 5 yards away. And yes, it is as awesome as it sounds.

Anyway, the Eagles are on a serious roll right now and their next stop is St. Louis to play the Rams, which should be a great game, as the Eagles haven’t been to the NFC Championship game since I was a toddler and the Rams are hungry to get another ring.

Number 4

(This point goes out to my buddy Trent, who lives in Chicago.)

A couple weeks ago, I get an email from Trent where he proceeded to rip into me for excluding the Bears in my Top Ten, saying that they are a great story and I should be ashamed of myself… blah, blah, blah…

Of course, I tell him what I have said all year, I say that they are more lucky than good and their luck is going to run out. So after a few points back and forth, I decide to put some money where my mouth is, and I challenged Trent to do the same. He accepted.

Here is the best part, I bet Trent 10 AMERICAN dollars that the Eagles would win in Chicago on Saturday, and I told him that whoever lost had to send the 10 dollar bill in a greeting card to the other guy telling him how great and smart he is.

Well, I gladly emailed Trent this morning telling him that I was expecting my greeting card and I was sure to include my full mailing address just so there would be no mistakes.

Now, you may ask, “10 dollars? What’s the big deal?”

Well remember, I live in Canada and I bet Trent 10 AMERICAN dollars, which means that I am roughly 517 Canadian dollars richer this morning! (Give or take a few cents…)

(By the way, Trent, when you read this, take the fact that out bet earned its own spot in my column as another slap in the face… ok?)

Number 3

What in the world happened to the Packers on Sunday? Since when does Brett Favre toss up 6 picks in the playoffs? Since when does a defensive team outscore an offensive team 21-17?

The answer? Not too often… In fact, almost never…

I said this about the game between the Niners and Rams during the regular season, when the Niners crapped the bed and got blown out, and it seems to fit here as well…

“What a time to lay an egg…”

Or six, I guess, in Favre’s case. Watching that game, I was more shocked than anything. I honestly thought Favre would bring it in a serious way to the Rams D, as he did to the Niners the week before, I thought we would see him elude rushers and will the ball into spots only a microscope could see. But in this game, Brett looked like he had feet of cement and his throws were not as accurate as we have seen this year. Granted, not all of the picks were his fault, because you can’t blame the guy for the ball getting tipped into Aneaus Williams open arms, but had those balls been in the receiver’s body and not out around the arms, they wouldn’t have been tipped in the first place.

(People will ask “how can a guy throw six picks in a game?” Well, when you are behind by a large margin, you have to throw a lot, and you have to take chances with the ball to try to get your team back in it, and when you are bit off when taking those chances, interceptions happen, that’s just the way it is.)

As for the Rams, they looked sharp and healthy, which is a very bad sign for Eagles’ fans. Warner was laser accurate, Faulk seemed untouchable, Holt seemed to be twice as fast as any of the Packers’ defensive backs and their defense seemed to be impenetrable. What a dominant performance, truly one that Rams’ fans will remember for ages, and one that Brett Farve would like to quickly forget.

(What is it with Brett Favre and playing indoors? This needs to be looked into by the NFL higher-ups.)

Number 2

Pittsburgh Steelers? Welcome to the NFL’s elite.

What a performance the Steelers put on Sunday, when they out-classed, out-hustled, out-manned, out-gunned, out-coached and out-played the defending chumps, er I mean champs, sending them home to dust off the golf clubs. This game was essentially over when the score was 10-0, because I knew that Baltimore’s hilariously inept offense wouldn’t be able to overcome this small margin.

The Steelers came out on fire, picking off Elvis early and marching the ball with ease down the field, and although they only managed a field goal, the tone was set. The Steelers were not going to be intimidated by Baltimore’s talk or hollow swagger, they were just going to go out and hit them in the mouth till they gave up.

Which didn’t take too long.

Had Jermaine Lewis not returned that punt for a TD, this game would have been a complete laugher, even more than it was to begin with. One thing that worried me about the Steelers’ game on Sunday was the uncomfortable offensive lull that they slipped into during the middle of the game, where they didn’t move the ball at all and seemed a little out of sync. The Steelers most likely did this by design, just trying to control the clock and keep it simple, but I think a better offensive team would use that lull to get back into the game, so the Steelers better be addressing that.

(By the way, is there a bigger threat to score everytime he touches the ball than Jermaine Lewis? I think this guy has like 7 return TD’s in his 6-year career, and that is nothing to sneeze at. My question is, why not use this guy more on offense? Why is it that a lot of good return guys are used so sparingly, if at all, on offense? I don’t get it.)

Does anyone else think it was so great to see Brian Billick get destroyed this weekend? I loved seeing the camera shots of his face when he knew the game was out of reach, and his team was all but done. Those few camera shots will definitely make my NFL 2001-02 All-faces team, along side Red McCombs’ “Al Michaels cought me off guard with that question” face and the Matt Millen “I can’t believe I let Mr. Ford talk me into this job” face.

(Side note here, how tragic was the Jerome Bettis stray needle situation for Steelers fans? That must have put more than a little scare in them. But you have to wonder what kind of quack they had down there administering that needle? That may have been scary for Steelers fans, but it was kind of humorous for the rest of us)

(Another side note, does anyone else think that Chris Fuamatu Ma’Afala looks EXACTLY like former WWF Superstar Jimmy “SuperFly” Snuka? Am I crazy?)

Number 1

The Snow Bowl… What a game that was! New England squeaked out an overtime win on the galoshes of Adam Vinatieri after the most controversial review call of the entire season. I was out with some friends Saturday night and we watched that game with great satisfaction because, as Canadians, we love to see people playing ball in the snow, its just in our genes I think. When I saw those big, fat ol’ quarter sized flakes coming down, I knew it was going to be trouble for the Raiders, who play and practice in the comfortable climate that Oakland offers, but even with that, I still thought the Raiders would win (remember my Raiders – Steelers AFC championship prediction?).

Ok, so Brady obviously fumbles the ball, but by the letter of the rules that is an incomplete pass. At what point does an official have the right to say, “Ok, look at that, he is obviously faking the pass there, he had no intention of throwing it, it’s a fumble”, instead of having to go by the letter of the rulebook? Why can’t referees use common sense once in while? Whatever the case is, you can bet good money that this rule will be looked at during the off-season, and Al Davis is going to sue somebody over this.

Fumble or no fumble, review or no review, the thing is that the Raiders should have won this game anyway. They gave up a 13-3 lead and they should have slammed the door on the Pats earlier in the 4th instead of just sitting on the lead. Oh well, that is a lesson learned for coach Gruden I guess, and now the Raiders will have to wait until next year to get another shot.

So… It looks like I went 2-2 in my predictions this week, but no matter, because that means I would still be batting .500, which would be good enough to get me into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Also, remember that I am 10 AMERICAN dollars richer this morning…

(Here is who I like next week… Steelers 27-13 and Rams 34-31)

Until Next Time…