AFC Championship Game 2011: Why This Game Will Decide the Super Bowl Winner

The AFC Championship Game will be a great battle between one of the best defenses in the league and one of the most unpredictable teams in the league. The winner of this game goes into the Super Bowl with an edge, and it very well could be the winner.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a defense that is one of the stingiest in the league, and it's part of the Steelers' character to have such a tough defense.

The Jets finished the season 11-5, and how they got there is a story on its own, but there were a lot of close games and a lot of crazy finishes. In the end, though, good teams find ways to win games, and that's what the Jets did.

The Steelers are a team that's been there and done that, having retained many players from the Super Bowl-winning 2008 season.

This combination of talent and experience gives the Steelers an edge not only going into this weekend's championship game, but should they advance to the Super Bowl as well. Neither of the NFC teams have been to a Super Bowl recently, so experience becomes a factor.

The Jets are a team with a mix of players. Their quarterback is very young and hasn't really won much of anything yet, although his showing last week against the Patriots probably was the best of his short career.

The Jets have a great defense, and they've adapted to the loss of Jim Leonhard well. With Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie on the corners, they've been able to shut down the passing game for a lot of teams this season, and especially Tom Brady last week.

Santonio Holmes has helped win a Super Bowl, but he did it for the Steelers, not the Jets, and Braylon Edwards is playing like he wants a new contract and hasn't been dropping passes at his usual rate.

Should the Steelers go, they have a defense that can stop Aaron Rodgers or Jay Cutler, and Ben Roethlisberger has "been there, done that" in the Super Bowl, so the scope of the game will be meaningless to him once the whistle blows for the kickoff.

Should the Jets go, Rex Ryan has proven he knows which buttons to push to get his team motivated to beat the best, and he's proven he can put good gameplans together.

The Packers beat the Jets earlier this season on a windy day that featured a very sloppy Jets performance and one of Rodgers' worst outings of the season. Rodgers didn't throw any picks, but he only was 15-of-34 for 170 yards. The 9-0 Green Bay win tells you all you need to know.

Neither team had a good day, and the lessons learned from that game are few. Mark Sanchez definitely has grown as a quarterback since that game, and he's not done developing. Sanchez can get an edge because he can still do things that will surprise the opposition. He's young and fast enough to still do crazy things.

Then there's Ben Roethlisberger, who has made his career on finding ways to make plays when other quarterbacks are eating the sack. Not that Roethlisberger doesn't eat his share of sacks, but he'll make a 30-yard completion when another quarterback is just throwing the ball away.

It's these X-Factors, along with two good defenses, that will be the deciding factors when the Super Bowl begins in Dallas.