SI picks Patriots for Super Bowl

Posted January 04, 2011 10:00 pm

Daily Herald Report

Sports Illustrated has some good news and bad news for Bears fans.

The good news is the Bears avoided the SI Cover jinx, which now belongs to the top-rated New England Patriots.

And in its NFL Playoff Preview issue on newsstands today, SI is picking the Bears to advance to the NFC Championship game after defeating the New Orleans Saints, the defending Super Bowl champion, in a potential second-round matchup at Soldier Field.

The bad news is SI's football experts see the Green Bay Packers defeating the Bears in the NFC title game and advance to Super Bowl XLV in Dallas.

SI's predicts the Patriots will beat the Packers 30–24 in Super Bowl XLV on Feb. 6

Sports Illustrated editors, however, also point out the history is not on the side of the Patriots. The top seed in the NFC has won seven of the last 20 Super Bowls, which is by far the most of any seed from any conference—while the AFC top seed has won only two. The Bears are the No. 2 seed in the NFC.

The other Super Bowl victories by seed include AFC No. 2 and NFC No. 2 — three each

AFC No. 1 and No. 4 — two each

AFC No. 3 and No. 6, NFC No. 5 — one each

AFC No. 5 and NFC No. 3, 4 and 6 — zero each

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