Watch out for those Texans. New Orleans is going back. Just watch, San Francisco is going to get it done this year.

These are just a few of the preseason convictions of sports writers and football fans around the nation before the NFL’s 90th season got underway in September.

And now, after all of the analysis, the fines and the fantasy points. After all of the underestimating, and overrating, like it or not, there are just four teams left to compete for a chance to represent their conferences in the Super Bowl: New York, Pittsburgh, Green Bay and Chicago.

Starting with the AFC, Saturday’s championship matchup between the Jets and the Steelers sort of resembles one of those random “To Catch a Predator” reruns that MSNBC so graciously airs at the expense of those disturbing 30- and 40-somethings who believe that age is just a number and love has no boundaries.

On Dec. 22 Deadspin, the sporting news website famous for outing Brett Farve’s “sext” messages to Jenn Sterger, unleashed a video of Jets coach Rex Ryan directing his wife (mainly her feet) in a bizzare fetish video. And Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s “romantic” misconduct, which earned the pro-bowler a four-game suspension, surfaced at the end of the ‘09 season and was sufficiently scandalous enough to fill the void of a sans- football sports world until this season’s start.

These two perverts will face off in what should be a defensive chess match/drunken brawl. Neither team is capable of playing with much explosive, finesse- and neither team seems to mind.

The Steelers defense, a unit that only gave up a league-leading 91.0 yards a game throughout the regular season, stayed true to form in their 31-24 Divisional playoff victory against the Ravens. Joe Flacco and company were held to just 127 total yards on offense, and lost control of a 21-7 lead at halftime because of two big turnovers forced by Steelers safety Ryan Clark.

As for the Jets, what can be said about them that hasn’t been said… about them already. They have been in the media spotlight for swearing, not playing, playing bad, playing good and more swearing. The Jets were favored to win the Super Bowl at the start of the season and, despite losing their footing (wink, wink) at times, their shocking 28-21 defeat of New England puts them in position to attempt to do just that. Figure Jets 17, Steelers 13 on a game-winning catch from Santonio Holmes.

And now, presented for your reading pleasure. The NFC.

Enter the hero: Aaron Rodgers. He’s young, he’s smart, he’s fast and athletic. He’s more than Green Bay’s post-Farve rebound guy. He’s the golden child who played for the Golden Bears in the “Golden State”. And he’s leading a talented, high-flying core of receivers from “Cheese-land” into the NFC Championship Game for the good of all humanity, and puppies and sunny days everywhere, forever!

And, now. The villain.

He’s scruffy. He looks hungover kind of. He’s got attitude and diabetes. You can’t trust ‘em or, even worse, interview ‘em. He’s Jay Cutler. And he and his rag-tag group of overachievers should thank their lucky stars they have even made this far- or should they?

Sunday’s NFC Championship will be the biggest, most important game ever played… between the Bears and Packers.

Sure this is one of the NFL’s most storied rivalries and the stakes most certainly add to the allure. After all, these are division foes going at it for a Super Bowl birth. What could be more exciting?

For anyone outside of Illinois and Wisconsin, a lot.

No fairy tale ending or performance should be expected from either team. The Bears and the Packers have solid defenses that don’t allow many big plays or points. Cutler has adapted to making running for his life look good and even manages to produce points out of it. Rodgers is a sharp passer, but his receivers have trouble holding on to the ball. Cutler and the Bears prevail, 14-10. Take that generic Hollywood endings!