The football season comes down to this: Super Bowl 45. Green Bay Packers. Pittsburgh Steelers. As Commissioner Roger Goodell said on Friday, "This is football." So, after the game kicks off at 4:29 p.m., which team will come out on top hours later?
Our own Jon Woods has already selected the Steelers to defeat the Packers, 23-17. A look at whom 18 SB Nation bloggers are picking shows us that it is split 9-9 between the two teams. The bloggers picking the Steelers see a very close game with the team winning by no more than a touchdown. Most of the bloggers selecting the Packers also see a close game, but two guys pick the Pack to win by at least two scores (one of them is a Ravens blogger and doesn't want a 38-17 victory for the Pack to come off as "sour grapes").
Prediction: Steelers 24, Packers 21
These are two evenly matched teams that feature strong defenses (the Steelers have AP Defensive Player of the Year Troy Polamalu and the Packers' Clay Matthews finished second in that voting). Packers quarterback is hottest quarterback right now, but Ben Roethlisberger is playing in his third Super Bowl. With Roethlisberger and others, the Steelers have the veteran experiences of playing in the Super Bowl.
The Steelers will hoist the Lombardi Trophy for the seventh time for the Rooneys and the city of Pittsburgh.