Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Peter King. . .who I like, really. . .has returned to his Monday Morning Quarterback column after spending time covering the World Cup and other things. In today's column, he spills who he's tabbed for Super Bowl XLV.
It's early, very early, but I haven't backed off a San Diego-Green Bay Super Bowl.
Awesome. . .this should be a load off of the mind of every Viking fan. Why? Well, let's take a look at King's prediction for the NFC's Super Bowl representative for the past couple of years.
Prior to the 2009 season, King tabbed the Chicago Bears as the NFC favorite for the Super Bowl. That's right. . .he got snookered into thinking that Jay Cutler was actually going to lead a team to not just a winning record (which he hasn't done since his senior year. . .of high school), but that he was going to give a team a chance to play for an NFL championship. How hilarious is that? But, as we all know, the Bears not only didn't represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, they didn't even manage to finish over .500. Shocking, I know.
In 2008, King's team of choice was the Dallas Cowboys. And for a while, it looked like a promising choice, as Dallas went into the month of December with an 8-4 record. However, they dropped three of their last four, including a 44-6 throttling at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles in the season finale (a game in which a win would have gotten them to the post-season), to finish 9-7 and out of the playoff picture.
In 2007, King tabbed the New Orleans Saints to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. . .which made sense, with the Saints coming off of an NFC Championship loss to the Bears the previous year. The Saints responded to their status as NFC favorites by dropping their first four games (losing the first three by an average of 21.7 points/game). They wound up finishing the season 7-9 and, yes, missing the post-season.
With a track record like that, King's prediction of a Packers/Chargers Super Bowl should make Viking fans quite a happy bunch. After all, there's plenty of debate. . .in some circles, anyway. . .that the Packers aren't even the best team in their own division. This probably has something to do with the fact that. . .well, they're not the best team in their own division. The Minnesota Vikings are, and will continue to be until somebody else proves otherwise. Frankly, all that's missing right now is for a fish wrapped in newspaper to find its way to Mike McCarthy's front step.
Ahhhhhhhh. . .Training Camp starts Friday, ladies and gentlemen, and not a moment too soon.