NFL Playoff Predictions: Green Bay Packers and Super Bowl Favorites

While we may only be heading into Week 13 of the NFL season, there are a clear few teams in the league that are the cream of the crop. It’s not hard to spot them.

You have to be careful in spotting the elite teams, though. Some teams, like the San Francisco 49ers, will be disguised as a good team with a great record, but they are one playoff game away from being exposed as the fraud they really are.

These following teams are not frauds. Instead, these are the teams that will most likely make it to the Super Bowl.

Green Bay Packers—The Green Bay Packers are coming off a Super Bowl high and no organized offseason training sessions. It doesn’t matter, with an 11-0 start to 2011.

If the Packers have any weakness, it’s the inabilities of the secondary. While they can be absolute ball hawks at times, they are also very susceptible to the big plays.

That’s where the offense comes in. While the defense is working out the kinks in the defense, Aaron Rodgers and the talented Packers passing attack will stack points up left and right.

New Orleans Saints—While Drew Brees was unhappy with how his season went last year, the New Orleans Saints quarterback has to be pumped over the 7-3 record. He can’t be sad about the 3300 yards and 23 touchdowns either.

As good as the Green Bay Packers are, their biggest threat is a team built to play the same style game they do. That’s exactly what the Saints do, but New Orleans has a better run game.

Both defense are mediocre enough to make this a 42-34 shootout like their meeting to start the 2011 season showed, but New Orleans has enough offensive talent to match Green Bay play for play.

Pittsburgh Steelers—As long as the Pittsburgh Steelers have Ben Roethlisberger playing quarterback and as long as that defense playing angry, they are a Super Bowl contender.

The defense has started to regain its form from years past, but the key for a long Steelers playoff run has to be the reinvention of some kind of Pittsburgh run offense.

Big Ben can’t win every game on his own. It’s time for the Steelers to start pounding the rock by giving Rashard Mendenhall the 25 carries a game he deserves and hit Mike Wallace off play-action.

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