Conference Championship weekend! Who is going to Superbowl XLVI?

It’s almost time for someone to be crowned the new NFL champion, as Superbowl XLVI is right around the corner.

You sat on the edge of your couches all season long, hoping that your team will be there, in the final match. For most of you, that dream was crushed long ago, some of you just lived that deception these last two weeks as the Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers, Cincinnati Bengals,  Houston Texans, Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos were eliminated in the playoffs.

Every single one of these teams had the talent and a very big chance in making it to the Superbowl but losses like the Packers to the Giants and the Saints to the 49ers were just unfortunate.

The Packers came out of a championship year at full throttle knocking their opponents completely out of their path. Aaron Rodgers completed pass after pass and scored 45 touchdowns with only 6 interceptions and let’s not forget the receivers who only dropped and/or fumbled the ball about 2% of the time. The Green Bay Packers were picked to win the Superbowl again.

The New Orleans Saints, as usual, stumbled in the beginning losing in a shootout to the Packers in the opening game of the season. However, they bounced back and finished the regular season with an impressive 13-3. Drew Brees completed 71% of his total passes and threw for an average of 335 yards per game, he also had 46 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, and set 6 different NFL records.

Tom Brady and The Patriots are playing at their highest level once again, Brady’s front five has protected him to the maximum, which allowed him to throw for more yards this season (5,235 yards) than any of his previous seasons. He is definitely the reason why they were so successful in 2011. But let’s not forget his offensive squad, Wes Welker, Deion Branch, Aaron Hernandez and Ron Gronkowski who combined for a little over 4,500 receiving yards.

That being said, Ray Lewis and The Baltimore Ravens are hungry for a second Superbowl ring but they’ve got their hands full with the almost perfect protection that Tom Brady has. Last week versus the Broncos, Brady was only hit twice in about 34 pass attempts; however, the Ravens defense is much more aggressive than the Broncos and they have had a lot of success getting to Brady in the past. If they use outside linebacker Terrel Suggs the way they always have, the Ravens will for sure limit the Patriots offense to short runs and passes.

Eli Manning and The New York Giants are on a roll as they have won their last four games with a very big exclamation point. Their latest milestone was beating the almost unbeaten Green Bay Packers in their house. The defense came out big and put a stop to incredible Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers had an average passer rating of 122.5 before his last meeting against The Giants in the postseason, which kept his passer rating below 79 in that same game.

Jim Harbaugh was named the 18th Head coach of The San Francisco 49ers history in January of 2011. He has orchestrated a very impressive defense and that’s how they have been winning games. Although Alex Smith had a very good show of skills and heart against Drew Brees and The Saints last week in the postseason, it was mostly the defense that guaranteed that win.

At the end, there can be only one. So who is it going to be?

Let me know what you think in the comments below!