Super Bowl Predictions 2012: Why NFC Championship Is Real Title Game

The 2011-2012 AFC champion has no hope of winning Super Bowl XLVI. 

That means the winner of this year's Lombardi Trophy is going to be determined two weeks before the title game is played. 

The AFC was a faceless and flawed conference this season. 

There are no true power teams in the AFC.  If this wasn't evident in the regular season, it has became abundantly clear following the first week of the playoffs. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers, along with the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots, were one of the three favorites to win the AFC, and Pittsburgh was unceremoniously dumped by a Denver Broncos team that had lost three straight games coming into the playoffs. 

This is a conference of parity, with no team prepared to handle the best the NFC has to offer. 

AFC's Lackluster Members

With the Steelers out, all eyes turn towards New England and Baltimore.  Both teams were resting comfortably this weekend with first-round byes.

The Patriots enter the playoffs having won eight straight games.  However, they only have one win against a playoff team all season.  That win happens to be against a Denver team they will face next weekend. 

During the regular season, the Patriots only had two other games against teams that made the postseason, and they lost both of those.  Those losses came at the hands of the New York Giants and Pittsburgh.  Making things worse, they were at home against the Giants.

The reason for New England's struggles against playoff teams is simple: it's a horrible defensive team.  The Patriots finished the regular season ranked next-to-last on defense. 

Meanwhile, Baltimore enters the playoffs having won six of its last seven games—although the team has not been overly impressive during that stretch, and the Ravens are not hitting their stride for the playoffs. 

In its last three games, Baltimore was destroyed by San Diego by 34-14, and then limped to one-score victories over the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals. 

Baltimore has a very solid defense, but at some point the team is going to need quarterback Joe Flacco to make plays, and Flacco is way too inconsistent to be counted on.  The erratic QB finished with a rating of just 80.9.

This is not going to cut it when Baltimore runs into offenses that are capable of carving up its defense just as San Diego did. 

NFC's Dominance 

With all due respect to the San Francisco 49ers, the race for the NFC comes down to two teams: the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints.

These high-powered teams are too much for Baltimore to stop, and they are better equipped to win a shootout than New England.  

On paper, the Patriots' offense is very similar to the Saints' and the Packers' offenses.  New England, however, has put up its numbers against weaker teams, and has had far less success against playoff teams. 

In contrast to New England's paltry 1-2 record against playoff teams this season, Green Bay is 6-0 against playoff teams, and New Orleans is 4-1. 

Stack all of this up, and it is clear that the Super Bowl is going to be a super letdown this year.