NFL Conf. Championships: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

And then there were two.

Being one of them was the prize this week. The early game saw two teams play pretty well, with the game taking two distinct characters. The first 28 or so minutes was played much to the Jets’ liking, and the scoreboard bore that out. The final 32 minutes were played at a pace much more to the Colts’ liking, and the scoreboard reflected that. Ultimately, the better team took control and advanced.

The late game was not nearly as tidy. The Vikings and Saints traded blows in the first half fairly evenly. The dying minute of the second quarter proved to be an omen, with the Vikings squandering a golden opportunity to take a lead into halftime and seize momentum. Minnesota then controlled most of the second half after a big Saints opening kickoff return. But a funny thing happened on the way to the ball: The Vikings kept losing control of the football. They dropped it, tossed it to the Saints and then, with victory almost at hand, buffooned their way to a penalty that would jeopardize their shot at victory, and then threw that shot away for good with an ill-advised pass. Thus the Saints advance.

Thanks for reading this season. My goal was to keep this going through the playoffs, and thanks to Team Ugly we achieved that. We may do a year-end wrap up after the Super Bowl depending on the material available and everybody’s time. If not, this is probably the last GBU for the 2009 season, since doing one for one game seems somewhat pointless.

As for me, I can’t say enough how having the amount of help I had was appreciated. Reading and critiquing your own stuff gets old after a very short while. To Arj, Hannah, Any, Stig, Ben, Ward and Goldie, your contributions helped me immensely and also made me laugh more than once.

The Good
Indianapolis – The Colts found themselves down by 11 to a scrappy Jets team late in the second quarter in a game played to the pace the New Yorkers had to like. Indy then charged down the field to the tune of 80 yards in 4 plays in less than a minute to cut the gap to 4 by halftime. This kicked off a 24-0 run the rest of the way, where the Colts scored on 4 of 5 drives. The Jets were not inert during this stretch, but could not turn their possessions into points and were not able to slow down the Colt offense. During this stretch, the Colts proved they could slice up a strong defense and proved themselves worthy AFC Champions.

The Bad
Minnesota – The Vikings did a lot right. They amassed over 450 yards, their defense looked strong and held the Saints to under 225 yards and about 23 minutes of possession during regulation time. This would have easily warranted a Good. The problem was five turnovers. The first robbed the Vikings of a golden opportunity near the Saints goal line in the waning seconds of the first half after a gift Bush fumble on a punt return. The other four occurred in the final 17:06 of a very close game. One fumble turned the ball over to the Saints on the Viking 6. The others occurred inside the Saints 30, the crowning jewel an interception on the 25 in the dying seconds of a tie game with the Vikes driving for a FG. Add a too-many-men in the huddle penalty on the prior play and you have something that was Keystone Kops Ugly. When you average a Good and an Ugly, then factor in a loss in OT after squandering an opportunity to set up the game winning FG attempt, you wind up with a Bad. It was an infinitely winnable game, but the Vikes shot themselves in the feet.

Honorable Mention
NY Jets – It was tempting to award the Jets a Good despite the loss, which is not unprecedented. The Jets established a pace to their liking for much of the first half and created enough big plays on both sides of the ball to establish a surprising 17-6 lead near the end of the first half. Manning and company then kicked it into another gear and the Jets simply could not slow them down or keep up that pace. This was not a game the Jets lost. It was a game they forced Indy to win.

Tagged as: afc, conference championships, gbu, nfc, nfl