Conference championships

My woeful record last week isn't going to stop me from making predictions about this week's conference championship games! However, for those of you who are in a betting mood, you may want to bet against the teams I pick. :-)

The AFC championship is almost a toss up. Talent-wise, the Broncos and Steelers match up about evenly. However, given Denver's home field advantage, I'll pick the Broncos in a close game.

In theory, the NFC championship shouldn't be as close. Seattle has been the superior team all season, and with DeShaun Foster out, Carolina will have to depend on Steve Smith even more. The problem is, Seattle knows that, and I'm sure they will defend Smith better than Chicago did.

So I'm picking Denver and Seattle in the Super Bowl, which likely means a Pittsburgh-Carolina Super Bowl in a couple of weeks.