Wow, you would think the Packers were playing the Bears this week judging by the ruthless comments to this blog. What is up with that? This is just a football game. Yes I want the Packers to win but this is nuts. Calm down folks.

Now for the task at hand. The Green Bay Packers are hosting a divisional playoff game for the first time since the 1997 season and the last two players from that year – Brett Favre and Rob Davis- are trying to emphasize how hard it is to get to this point much less move on. On paper the Packers have a great chance to win this game and move on to the the fourth NFC Championship Game of Favre’s career and a chance at his third Super Bowl appearance. If they are thinking ahead like me, though, they might get their butts kicked.

I just can’t see head coach Mike McCarthy letting them get away with that kind of thinking, however. He hasn’t all year even though everybody points to the Dallas loss an example of poor coaching by McCarthy. Remember Favre got hurt in that game and the plan to attack early may have failed, but had Favre played the rest of the game considering the way backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers picked apart the Cowboys, one has to think the Packers might have won that game. The Packers only lost to two teams all year and I can’t see the Seahawks, who have only beaten two teams with a winning record all year, being the third.

The only thing that is always in the back of my mind is the Holmgren factor. Packers’ fans know how good of a coach Holmgren is and even though he has a losing record against the Packers as Seahawks’ coach, I remember how he fired up the Packers to play against his former team in San Francisco. While Seattle is not exactly a great football team, and I mean that with all due respect, Holmgren would admit it as well, they do have a chance to beat the Packers tomorrow. They have to being thinking like the Packers, win Saturday, a New York win Sunday and the NFC Championship is at home. What a huge game in Lambeau this is going to be.

I think tit will be a slugfest. I know I said earlier in the week the Packers would roll, and on paper, they should, but over the course of the week the intangibles have me worried. So many of the national pundits are picking the Seahawks as their upset of the weekend and based on the Packers losing two of their last three playoff games at home it is hard to argue with that. The Holmgren factor, the Packers’ playoff inexperience, and the perception that Favre starts chucking it up for grabs if the Packers get behind. There is really no reason to think Favre will do that based on his play in the regular season, but you can’t erase the Sherman years from your memory that easily. If only.

I will stick with my pick of a Packers win, but my numbers are Packers 27, Seahawks 20. The defense comes up big in the end.

If you are following the national media this week you must be wondering how the Packers even qualified for the playoffs, much less earned the number two seed. The Packers are too young and inexperienced to face a team with such a quality playoff pedigree as the Seattle Seahawks. While the Packers have Brett Favre, his record in the playoffs since winning the Super Bowl is not good and most think he will resort back to the reckless Favre if the Packers get behind early. Seattle has overtaken Jacksonville as the upset special of the week.

What do I think? I think the Packers will win the game, but if they were to lose, my guess is it will be because of the play of the offensive line. If the Packers have one major question mark going into the game it is the offense line. The guard position has been a revolving door all year and the one position the offense needs continuity in is the o-line. The Packers inconsistent running game is a perfect example. While Ryan Grant has played great it is more his ability to break the long run that makes the Packers’ running game look better. The Packers still cannot grind it out on the ground when they have to as evidenced in Chicago three weeks ago. The best news for the Packers today was that the weather will be perfect for football on Saturday with highs in the 20s and light winds.

Everybody is also talking about the Seahawks’ defense being so good but what seems to be lost in the conversation is the Packers’ defense, which is pretty good itself, in fact the Packers were ranked 11th in the NFL during the regular season to the Seahawks 15th. In points given up the two teams were tied at sixth. The Seahawks have had the pleasure of playing against an unbelievable number of backup quarterbacks which certainly pads your stats a little, but they are solid at defensive end and have a pretty good secondary that put the game on ice last week in the win over the Redskins. I’m still more worried about the Seahawks’ offense, though, than I am their defense. Maybe that is my downfall.

The Packers are relatively healthy, the losses of Colin Cole and Johnny Jolly not included, and are chomping at the bit to play a game while the Seahawks are coming off a fairly hard-fought game and a short week. Here I go again, I can’t find any negatives. I’m sorry, I know I am setting the Packers up to be knocked off, much like I did before Michael Vick and company put a beat-down on the Packers a few years ago. I guess I just think that head coach Mike McCarthy will not be like Mike Sherman and let the Packers step on the field unprepared for their opponent and  not ready to play football. We do know that the coach on the other sidelines will have his team ready to play and I believe McCarthy will have his squad ready, it sure sounded like it today during his press conference.

I’m still leaning toward the Pack, but I’m getting more nervous by the minute. What do all these talking heads see that I don’t see?

Prediction coming tomorrow.

(By the way, Al Harris might be my new favorite Packer just based off his press conference of Jan. 7. You have to watch it at www.packers.com. The guy is hilarious.)

I know this is not going to sit well with my regular readers but I think the Green Bay Packers might have their easiest time in a playoff game since their 37-0 win over the Giants in 1961. Everything matches up in the Packers’ favor – the Seahawks’ strength on offense goes against the Packers’ strength on defense. The Packers’ strength on offense goes against the Seahawks’ weakness on defense. The Seahawks can’t run the ball and like the Packers they admit it. The difference however, is that the Packers really can run the ball. When only LT gains more yards over the last nine games of the year than your starting running back, you can run the ball.

I keep trying to think of ways the Seahawks can beat the Packers and they are reaches at best. The Packers’ defense would have to fold and Seahawks’ quarterback Matt Hasselbeck would have to have the game of a lifetime combined with a meltdown by the Packers’ offense. I just don’t see it. Believe me folks, I’m trying to come up negatives. I would like to play the old Mike Holmgren knows Brett Favre lead, but Favre is 5-2 against his former coach I think. The Seahawks defense looked awesome last week, but shutting down Todd Collins and shutting down Brett Favre tend to present a different degree of difficulty for most teams.

I suppose the Packers could choke in their first playoff game under Mike McCarthy and McCarthy’s only other really big game was the loss at Dallas earlier this year. That or maybe turnovers all of a sudden rear their ugly head in the Seahawks’ favor, but the Packers have generally won that battle this year. I don’ t know. Five days before game time and I feel like it should be a lock. I promise you I will come up with some negatives before the week is out. I would hate to jinx them in the playoffs, especially when I also fully expect the Giants to beat Dallas Sunday.

Please bear with me. Any help would be much obliged.