Well, congrats to the Bolts for making the run to get into the tournament. That's more than Dallas and Denver and the Jets and the Pats and the Bucs, the Bears, the Redskins, etc. can say. All of them were capable, but noone but the Chargers pulled it off. That's quite an accomplishment, and I thought they had the potential to pull off what the Steelers did in 2005.

Unfortunate for them, they ran into the best all around team in the league. I had predicted 31-13, and had they not had a brain fart and let Sproles take that last past for a 62 yd scamper untouched, it would've ended up 35-17, the same 18 pt margin I had predicted. In anycase, my Steelers look solid, Parker is healthy at last, and Ben played a great game and could have easily had 300 yds passing and 3 TD's with a couple of balls to a wide open Santonio Holmes that he misfired on and the interference on Nate Washington in the endzone.

As for the Chargers, I don't think they ever should've fired Marty, and I agree that Turner is not the best head coach, but I think yesterday had more to do with the Steelers Defense making plays, and the Steelers offense imposing it's will. When you hold the ball for 14 min and 43 seconds of a 15 minute quarter like the Steelers did, that takes more than just the luck of the bounce off of a guys head on a punt.

It will be interesting to see if they sign LT and Sproles in the off season, as with both of them, Gates and Merriman all healthy, it is a better team than played yesterday. HOWEVER, that's making excuses for them, as the Steelers were missing their starting left tackle and starting right guard all season, and lost their pro-bowl guard Faneca in the offseason, not to mention missing Willie Parker for half the year, and various players missing time in the secondary. Injuries are part of the deal, and as Coach Tomlin says, the performance standard and expectation don't change, just because someone else has to step in at any position.

Next week should be one of the nastiest games you'll ever see. The Steelers will be hard pressed to win a third game against the Ravens, but THEY WILL! They've done it twice, and the last time, they were statistically dominant even though the scoreboard reflected a much closer game. Also, in that game, Flacco had a 22.2 qb rating throwing 2 picks, and getting sacked twice. So I think as long as Ben plays well, it's unlikely that Flacco can outplay him against the Steelers defense, and the Steelers offense is simply better than the Ravens, so I expect a win. However, even though he's played pretty well against them in both games this year, that Ravens defense is capable of causing problems for Ben, so I expect a bloodbath with the Steelers as the last team standing in the AFC. I think Flacco will finally be forced into some errors and that will be the difference.

Hoping for a Cardinals Steelers Superbowl, as my buddy is a Cardinal season ticket holder and we can probably get tickets to go. More likely though, it will be Philly from the NFC, and a battered AFC representative, whomever wins, though you know who I think that will be.