The beginning of the NFL playoffs is only days away. 16 teams enter, 1 team leaves as the Super Bowl Champion. Everyone is making their NFL playoffs brackets guessing which teams will win each week, and eventually come out on top.

I'm no different, and in my fantasy football blog I'll be posting my weekly game predictions along with my Super Bowl picks before the games begin. But our Power Lineup Analyzer has already broken down all the games and ran the simulations for each game and produced a complete layout of the NFL playoffs along with an eventual Super Bowl Champion. Let's go week by week and game by game:
 

WILDCARD WEEKEND

In the Wildcard Weekend round, there are 4 games. Here's a brief synopsis of each by the Lineup Analyzer:


New York Jets at Indianapolis

Rex Ryan may be predicting the Jets will be in the Super Bowl, but the Lineup Analyzer isn't. The Jets will try to run the ball a lot against the Colts historically poor run defense, but in the last 3 games of the regular season the Colts have allowed a total of just 198 rushing yards (66 per game) and no rushing touchdowns. Shonn Greene and LaDainian Tomlinson will only combine for 82 total and neither will find the end zone. Mark Sanchez will have 1 TD pass, and although the Jets defense will pick off Peyton Manning twice, Manning will toss 3 touchdown passes and the Colts will pull away from the Jets and win 27-16.


Baltimore at Kansas City

The Ravens haven't allowed a rushing TD in 8 straight games and have held opponents to 90 rush yards or fewer in 5 of the last 8 games. While the Chiefs combo of Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones, along with QB Matt Cassel and rookie Dexter McCluster will combine for 112 rushing yards, they will fail to get into the end zone. Cassel will toss 2 touchdown passes (1 to Dwayne Bowe and 1 to a tight end, most likely Leonard Pope and not Tony Moeaki) but it will be the connection of Joe Flacco to Derrick Mason and Todd Heap that leads to a Ravens win. Billy Cundiff will get 2 FG's and the Ravens will win, 20-17.

 
New Orleans at Seattle

Seattle plays better at home and despite having a 7-9 record will host the 11-5 Saints. Usually the Seahawks home field advantage helps lead to a win, but not this week as Drew Brees is going to shred them for 267 passing yards and 3-4 touchdowns. Marshawn Lynch will get 56 rushing yards a TD, but it won't be near enough as the Saints come out on top 31-17.

 
Green Bay at Philadelphia

Much has been made about what would have happened in the first game of the season between the Packers and Eagles if Michael Vick had been the QB week 1. Vick will have some success throwing for 241 yards and a TD to Jeremy Maclin, along with chipping in 63 rushing yards, but in this rematch it won't be enough. Aaron Rodgers is slated to throw 3 touchdown passes and lead Green Bay to a victory over Philadelphia 30-19.

 
DIVISIONAL ROUND

So, the Lineup Analyzer is predicting that in the second round (the Divisional playoff round) that the matchups will then be:

Indianapolis at Pittsburgh
Baltimore at New England
Green Bay at Atlanta
New Orleans at Chicago


In this round, here are the predictions from the Lineup Analyzer:


Indianapolis at Pittsburgh

The outdoor conditions in Pittsburgh aren't the same as playing in a comfy dome and it's reflected here. Ben Roethlisberger will be on his game and have over 300 passing yards and a TD while Rashard Mendenhall pitches in a rushing TD as well. Shaun Suisham figures to be a busy kicker in this game with 3-4 FG's. On the other side, Peyton Manning won't have the same success against the Steelers defense he enjoyed the week before against the Jets. Manning will get a touchdown, but otherwise the Colts get shut down by Pittsburgh. Steelers 23, Colts 10.

 
Baltimore at New England

After barely getting by the Chiefs in round one, Joe Flacco and Ray Rice go to New England and take on a Patriots defense that has been much improved of late allowing only 5 offensive touchdowns to opponents in the last 5 games (3 of those in one week against the Packers). Baltimore's run defense is vaunted, but their pass defense has allowed 8 passing TD's the last 4 games of the regular season. No quarterback has been hotter than likely MVP Tom Brady. Brady gets 3-4 TD's in this game and the Patriots will win by double digits, 30-10.

 
Green Bay at Atlanta

Rematch of a great game in week 12 in which Atlanta won 20-17. Aaron Rodgers will find it harder to throw on the Falcons and only one TD and that will be matched by Matt Ryan. Michael Turner will get close to 100 rushing yards, but the Packers have only allowed 2 rushing TD's in the last 9 regular season games so getting into the end zone will be tough for him. John Kuhn appears to be the most likely Packers RB to get into the end zone and this game is going to be close. The Lineup Analyzer has it Green Bay 17, Atlanta 16.

 
New Orleans at Chicago

As if travelling to Seattle wasn't bad enough for the Saints, a trip to Soldier Field in Chicago in January is even worse. Drew Brees will have over 300 passing yards and 2 touchdown passes but Jay Cutler answers for Chicago with 222 yards and 2 TD's of his own. The difference maker in the game will be Bears RB Matt Forte who will have 91 rush yards, 37 receive yards, and a TD. A Robbie Gould FG is the difference and the Bears will send the defending champs home, 24-21.

 
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

So now we move onto the Conference Championship Games. In the AFC the Lineup Analyzer has predicted it will be the top 2 seeds, Pittsburgh at New England, while in the NFC, two division rivals, Green Bay at Chicago will square off.


Pittsburgh at New England

When these two teams met in week 10, the Patriots destroyed the Steelers and it started a run of 8 consecutive games in which the Patriots scored at least 31 points against their opponents. It was also the only game of the season the Steelers allowed an opponent to throw for more than 2 TD passes in any game during the 2010 season and only 1 of two games where they allowed an opponent to rush for over 100 yards. Neither of those things will happen in this game though. Tom Brady will have 252 passing yards and 2 passing TD's, the Patriots as a team will only gain 66 rushing yards total, but the Steelers offense won't be able to generate enough points of their own to offset this "down" game by the Patriots. Ben Roethlisberger throws for 282 yards and a TD, but the Steelers come up short against the Patriots, 20-13.

 
Green Bay at Chicago

These two teams split their regular season matchups 1-1 with one game being decided by 3 points and the other by 7. Both Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler atone for lackluster efforts in the regular season finale with each QB tossing 2 TD passes. Rodgers has the better yardage numbers though 319 passing yards to Cutler's 190. Matt Forte gets some good yards (89 rush, 33 receive) but won't be sniffing the end zone this week. In 4 of the last 5 games of the regular season, the Bears defense allowed over 100 rushing yards to their opponents and allowed 5 rushing TD's (the lone exception being the regular season finale against Green Bay). That particular game meant nothing to Chicago in terms of playoffs positioning, but a win would have avoided this eventual matchup. Not winning that game and knocking the Packers out of the playoffs costs them this game. Green Bay wins 24-17.

 
SUPER BOWL 45

Green Bay Packers vs. New England Patriots

And there we come to the final game of the season, the Super Bowl. A game in which our Lineup Analyzer has predicted that the top seed in the AFC, the New England Patriots, will face the 6th seed in the NFC, the Green Bay Packers in a rematch of the week 15 game where New England held on to beat a Green Bay Packers team that did not have Aaron Rodgers that game by a score of 31-27. That was the only game in the last 5 of the regular season the Patriots did not win by at least 29 points. Were they taking a Packers team without their star QB too lightly that game? Or did the amount of playmakers the Packers have at WR prove to be more than a match for the Patriots secondary? Either way, this game will be different in that the Packers won't throw for 3 touchdown passes. Instead, Aaron Rodgers gets 2 while Tom Brady gets 2-3 and Patriots RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis is a good bet to get 1 rush TD. Wining three road playoff games takes its toll on the Packers and they can't keep up. The Lineup Analyzer, for Super Bowl 45, sees the New England Patriots walking away as the Champions by a score of 24-14.

 
And that's how our Lineup Analyzer's predictive algorithm sees it going forward. Will it be right all the way thru? Only time will tell.