NFC Championship Game Preview

What: Brett Favre's return to the NFC Championship!
Who: Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints
Where: Louisiana Superdome
When: 6:40 PM ET
What Channel: Fox
Announcers: Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, SR: Pam Oliver and Chris Myers

We saw him 2 years ago in this game in this time slot throw what many thought would be his last pass: an interception into the hands of Corey Webster that ultimately resulted in the Giants kicking a game-winning field goal in overtime sending them to the Super Bowl. But after contemplating retirement and retiring and unretiring 33 times, he is back in the NFC and he is back in the championship game, only this time, Brett Favre is a Viking.

From Undefeated To Not Undefeated: As the year went on and on, the Saints had become the favorite to go a perfect 16-0 in the regular season. However, after a 13-0 start, they would go on to drop their next 3 games and they went from the team to beat, to the team everyone was questioning heading into the postseason. The New Orleans Saints dispatched of the Arizona Cardinals last week, turning it into a romp the second that Kurt Warner got hurt. That Cardinal defense was not meant to defend the kind of offense the Saints use (come to think of it...is the Cardinals defense designed to stop any offense?) and they took advantage of it. The scored at will, Reggie Bush was on FIYAH!, and the final score indicated the ugliness of the blowout, but the question is, was that game a product of Saints resurgency, or a product of dreadful Cardinal defense combined with no offense when Warner got hurt?

OMGWTF Favre!: I brought it up earlier, but in case you have not heard yet, Brett Favre is back in the NFC Championship game! He will get what will most likely be his last and best shot at returning to the Super Bowl. However, the big key to the game for the Vikings may not be Favre, but rather, the running game. The Vikings easily dispatched of the Cowboys last week, but one fact remains and that is they did most of it without the benefit of Adrian Peterson tearing up the Cowboys. If the Saints can continue the streak and force a bad game on Peterson and thus force Favre to throw passes in a championship game, you can expect ye olde gun slinger to be making throws to guys in black jerseys.

Defense wins championships: And in a game that is sure to be filled with offense, the winner of this game will come down to the team that can play the best defense. It sounds cliche and rather basic, but if you think about it, that is what this game really could come down to. Who can make that final defensive stop? Just like you can expect special teams to make a big difference in Indy, the team that makes the most big plays on defense in this offensive game, will be going to Sun Life Stadium and will be playing in Super Bowl XLIV.

Prediction: With no drama shortage in this game, you can expect an offensive shootout with lots of points scored and teams seemingly scoring at will. However, I like the match-up of Brees and his WRs versus the Vikings secondary then I do Favre and his WRs versus the Saints secondary. Basically what I am saying is that Brees will heave and connect on deep bombs at will and while the Vikings will get quite a few points themselves this game, the defense of the Saints will step up when they need them the most and give the Saints and the fans of New Orleans something to celebrate 4 and a half years after Hurricane Katrina. 38-27 Saints