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NFC Championship Game Rooting Interests: Bears Or Packers?

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Unlike the AFC Championship Game, the NFC’s title match doesn’t afford the Georgia sports fan an obvious favorite. Sure, the Packers’ logo inspired the Georgia Bulldogs’, so there’s that, and an eventual Super Bowl win by the Pack would take a measure of embarrassment out of Atlanta’s divisional round loss. And Green Bay would present both a more watchable Super Bowl and a better chance for the NFC to win. OK, I’m showing my bias here.

Let’s analyze this with pure science:

Former state players

Packers, four (Jarius Wynn, Georgia; Morgan Burnett, Georgia Tech; Erik Walden, Dublin, GA; Josh Gordy, Warthen, GA)
Bears, two (Tim Jennings, Georgia; Patrick Mannelly, Atlanta, GA)

A clear advantage for Green Bay. Though Burnett was injured early in the season, he was also a high draft pick.

Former Falcons

Bears, one (Roberto Garza)
Packers, one (Dmitri Nance)

Unless I missed somebody, each team only has one former Falcon. Garza was a Bird for four years to Nance’s practice squad visit, so the Bears get the edge here.

Former SEC players

Bears, 13 (including FIVE Vanderbilt Commodores)
Packers, 12 (including three LSU Tigers)

Chicago gets the sheer numerical edge, but we really should only give half credit for each Dore.

Former ACC players

Bears, seven (including a Dukie!)
Packers, four (including two Boston College Eagles)

Five players from Vandy and one from Duke? I think this is actually working against Chicago.

The choice is clear. Unless you root for every ACC team besides Georgia Tech or for Duke football (ha!), you’re enjoying cheese for lunch on Sunday.

Photographs by coka_koehler used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.