And Then There Were Four - CAN'T WAIT!

The divisional round of the playoffs, particularly in the AFC, provided the most action, drama, and thrills that a football fan could possibly expect out of one weekend of NFL playoff football. In the NFC, the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears made defining statements, with exclamation points, about which two teams deserved to advance to the league's semifinal round in the 2010 NFC Championship Game. In the AFC, fans were offered two marquis matchups between bitter divisional foes with no love lost for the other, though clearly respectful of the abilities of their opponents.

So, what happened? In spite of a slough of injuries resulting in a challenging number of man-games lost due to injury, particularly in the offensive backfield, the Packers rallied late in the season to reach the playoffs as the sixth and final seed in the NFC. Their opponent, the Atlanta Falcons, coasted to the NFC's best record at 13-3 behind the signal calling of Matt Ryan, the hard nosed running of Michael Turner, swift, efficient defense, and the leadership of head coach Mike Smith.

Cheesehead (Inflatable) - Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers lived up to the lofty expectations many fans and media analysts expressed for them in the preseason. They completely dismantled the Falcons and dominated on offense, defense, and special teams. Green Bay cornerback Tramon Williams added two more notches under his belt and continued to evolve into a household name. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers continued to further silence his critics.

Packers vs Bears Part III - for all the tundra! 2

Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler quickly identified and exploited weaknesses in the Seattle Seahawks secondary. The Bears jumped to an early 21-0 lead and never looked back. The Seahawks played hard, physical football and Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck played like the playoff tested, veteran leader that one would expect him to. However, the outcome of this game was never in doubt and the Bears shut the door on a Seahawks season that, in all candor, should have been slammed shut at the conclusion of the regular season.

In the AFC, the four teams that each, at one point or another during the season, could have staked a claim to being the best team in the conference played for the right to prove that claim. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens gave football fans the hard hitting, no holds barred battle that was expected, with the Steelers having the intestinal fortitude to come back from an early deficit and pull out a close win at home.

The New York Jets and New England Patriots built up heavyweight championship prizefighting hype in the media all week leading up to a titanic matchup between AFC East division arch rivals. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was mostly effective, but not flawless and not at the superlative level at which he had played all season. Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez was very efficient and did not attempt to play above the level needed from him for his team to win. The Jets made some mistakes but the Patriots made bigger mistakes, something rarely seen out of a Bill Belichick coached team. The result was an unlikely, unforeseen, shocking upset at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.

Jets coach Rex Ryan (left) and Patriots coach Bill Belichick (right): SETTLED in FOXBORO 3

This leads us to two of the better conference championship matchups on the menu over the past decade. The Jets and Steelers offer bone crushing, precision, heavy blitzing, squeezing, clutching defenses that make opponents feel pain and pay dearly for even the smallest miscue. The Packers and Bears are the NFL's oldest rivalry. Both teams feature quarterbacks who are trying to prove that they belong among the NFL's new generation of elite passers. Both teams feature tough defenses, the Packers with quickness and deception, the Bears with strength and discipline, and both with some degree of their opponents strongest traits.

Settled 4

The signature season in every professional sport is the postseason. The cliches that have emerged over years - separating the men from the boys, playing for all the marbles, all the chips are down, there is no tomorrow, etc. - have emerged for a reason: because they are true! NBA and NHL gradually build up the drama and theater of their postseasons with successively stronger survivors over a period of two months. The Major League Baseball postseason, with its relative brevity compared to the length of its regular season, offers fans a traditional classic fall gala in which the uber elite among its stars rise to the top and, seemingly every autumn, the most unlikely of heroes rise in the most clutch, game-breaking situations.

Settled 5

Unlike those three sports, the NFL, because of the physically taxing nature of football, can only offer a maximum or three to four playoff games per team, and a total of 11 contests per postseason (four Wild Card round games, four Divisional round games, two conference championship games and the Super Bowl). In many years past, even the most fanatic football fan could only expect the zenith of an NFL postseason to be so high. Some postseasons are loaded with predictable mismatches. This postseason has offered anything but that. Between the shocking upset of a defending Super Bowl champion by a cast of regular season losers, dramatic endings to games in the final minutes, the rise of young stars in convincing fashion, or the tension of bitter division rivals fighting tooth and nail for not only the right to advance, but for their dignity, respect and manhood, and a possible changing of the guard among the NFL's powers, the 2010 NFL playoffs have been a story for the ages.

CAN'T WAIT 1

Don't forget to vote in the fan polls!

For sponsorship opportunities, please contact the editor at eric@thedailyhattrick.info .

1) Image from ESPN via YouTube

2) Image from espn.com

3,4) Image from newyorkjets.com

5) Image from nytimes.com