NFL Playoff Bracket 2015: Complete Guide to the NFC Championship Game

It's all come down to this.

Where once there were 32 teams, now there are only four vying for conference championships. On the NFC side of things, it's a Week 1 rematch of two teams that are starting to dislike each other very much, and for good reason.

The Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks may not quite be polar opposites, but they're still wildly different teams with drastically different approaches to the game. The Packers, with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, are primarily considered an offensive team with an underrated and improving defense, while the Seahawks and the "Legion of Boom" are a defensive powerhouse with a number of offensive stars who can take over a game.

The Packers, too, are considered a more composed and stoic team. Rodgers can be a card, but he's more apt to tell fans and teammates to R-E-L-A-X than he is to do much bragging or boasting. The Seahawks let their play do a lot of the talking, but their lips will do plenty as well. They've walked the walk more than enough and can cash just about any check their mouths write for them.

That's where they're different.

Here's where they're similar: They've spent 2014 as a couple of the absolute best teams in football.

Now it's time to settle up.

Tale of the Tape

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Seahawks QB Russell Wilson

Who: Green Bay Packers vs. Seattle Seahawks

When: 3:05 p.m. ET on Fox

Where: CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington

When these two teams met in Week 1, both of them were completely different animals than they are now.

The Packers lost that day 36-16 but have a lot more figured out not only on an offense that seemed to need a few weeks to really hit its stride this season, but more importantly on defense. Defensive coordinator Dom Capers has found many more moving parts and greater flexibility late in the season. If the Seahawks somehow believe they'll be able to beat the Packers with the same sort of game plan and effort, they'll be sorely mistaken.

At the same time, the Seahawks have improved as well.

Between injuries, new players at key positions and a general midseason malaise due to the previous two reasons, the Seahawks defense underwent a sort of baptism by fire this season. Call it a Super Bowl hangover if you want, or just an underscoring of the importance of guys like safety Kam Chancellor and linebacker Bobby Wagner, but whatever it was, the Seahawks defense was not playing as impeccably as it is now.

The more one looks at this game, the more it appears we'll be getting something entirely different from last time around.

Second-Screen Swag

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Seattle's Legion of Boom

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Must-Follow Tweeters

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• Sports Illustrated Analyst Aaron Nagler
• Field Gulls Editor-in-Chief Danny Kelly
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Biggest Questions

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Packers LB Julius Peppers

How Is Aaron Rodgers' Leg, and Can the Packers Win without Him at His Best?

The Packers' biggest issue is Rodgers' torn calf muscle, and that he needed about a half of football and a bucket full of ibuprofen against the Cowboys before he started looking like anything that resembles "normal"—when "normal" is an MVP level of play.

If Rodgers is still at 60 percent, or 75...whatever his state, the Packers will need every ounce of 100 percent from every other player on that offense. Against the Seahawks defense, that's not an easy task.

Where Do the Seattle Seahawks Get Their Points From?

Against the Carolina Panthers, the Seahawks offense came alive. Against the Packers, it will need to stay that way. If not, there's a good chance this is a closer game than the Seahawks would like, and early signs of weakness could take the crowd out of the game—more on that later.

Russell Wilson and the passing game need to continue clicking, and the Packers defense will be bringing the heat.

Can the Pack Keep Beast Mode from Happening?

Of course, the best way for the Seahawks to score and keep the Packers from ever really getting into this game is that little ol' running back named Marshawn Lynch. He isn't just a capable back. He's not even just an elite back. He's a force of nature who can smother an opponent if it doesn't commit every available resource to stopping him; sometimes, even that doesn't help.

Last weekend, Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly was able to keep Lynch looking human. Can the Packers defense do the same?

Will We See (Hear?) a New Decibel Record out of the Seahawks' 12th Man?

When the playoffs started, it was difficult not to go "chalk" in both conferences because the Seahawks (and other top teams in both the NFC and AFC) had such strong home-field advantages—none greater than Seattle, where the crowd is loud and proud enough to rattle even the most experienced teams.

The Packers fit into that category, but it won't matter how prepared they are if the Seahawks crowd shows them a whole new level of stadium-rocking madness.

Important Matchups

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Packers RB Eddie Lacy

When the Packers Have the Ball

The Seahawks' Cover 3 defense is tailor-made to stop the Packers passing attack, and their ability to stop the run is going to make life about as difficult as possible for running back Eddie Lacy as well.

I'm looking at Lacy against the in-the-box run defenders like linebacker Bobby Wagner and safety Kam Chancellor. It's one thing to stop Lacy, but it's another thing to stop him in his tracks. He's one of the best at getting an extra yard or two, and those could be huge in this game of inches.

To make matters worse for the Packers, Lacy is dealing with a knee injury.

In the passing game, Rodgers will need help from similarly named Richard Rodgers at tight end. If the Seahawks are vulnerable anywhere in the passing attack, it's when they're pressing outside and a tight end is able to slip away from the talented safety tandem. It's not foolproof, but the Seahawks were middle of the road when it came to covering tight ends this year and top-notch covering just about anyone else.

When the Seahawks Have the Ball

Center Max Unger's return has been an underrated and underreported boon for the Seahawks offense. Unger will have a pretty juicy matchup against a Packers interior run defense that hasn't exactly been top-notch this season.

The Seahawks do not want to put this game in the hands of their pass protectors against Packers linebackers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers. Nor do they want to force quarterback Russell Wilson into having to scramble around every single play. (I mean, they'll be fine if he does, but it's not much of a plan.) No, they want to establish the run, and that means a good day not only for Unger but across the line.

More on Matchups This Weekend

• Bleacher Report's Eric Mack on matchups to watch
• Matt Bowen's film study for Conference Championship Weekend

Injury Report

Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch

Seattle Seahawks

Paul Richardson (WR)—Out, Knee

Tony Moeaki (TE)—Probable, Calf

Green Bay Packers

Aaron Rodgers (QB)—Questionable, Calf

Eddie Lacy (RB)—Questionable, Knee

Bleacher Report Consensus Predictions and Links

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Packers WR Jordy Nelson

• Expert Conference Championship Weekend picks
• Expert Conference Championship Weekend projections
• Dan Levy ranks the possible Super Bowl matchups
• Zach Kruse on Pack needing Superman Rodgers again
• Zach Kruse on wrinkles in Packers D giving them a boost
• Matt Bowen on hobbled Aaron Rodgers attacking Seahawks D
• TSNow on X-factor of the game
• TSNow Chalk Talk

Michael Schottey is an NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report and an award-winning member of the Pro Football Writers of America. Find more of his stuff on his archive page and follow him on Twitter.