Am I the only person who feels entirely ho-hum about the upcoming Super Bowl? Sure, there are excited fans in Green Bay and Pittsburgh, but something remains to be desired about this Super Bowl, at least for this sports fan.

It is probably an irrational feeling -after all, the Packers and the Steelers are two of football’s most historically rich teams. The Packers won the first two Super Bowls, and the Steelers have won the most Super Bowls -yet the two storied franchises have never met for the title.

Still, after the team I grew up rooting for, the Kansas City Chiefs, was rightfully bounced from the playoffs in the wild card round, an air of indifference fell over me. This weekend, I was hoping for the Packers and the Jets to win, just so the Super Bowl champion would be one of the teams Brett Favre recently spurned -a last “screw you” to a legend that lost his luster somewhere inside of his swollen ego. The trouble is Favre might have enjoyed that Super Bowl, because his name would stay in the news even though he wouldn’t be playing (yes, I know I am perpetuating exactly what I am railing against).

This is all without mentioning two weeks of Rex Ryan sound bites leading up to the game…oh well.

I guess instead I will have to settle for Packers-Steelers -a matchup between Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback that made everybody in Green Bay forget about Favre, and Ben Roethlisberger, the only quarterback who may be more of an (alleged) creep than Favre off the field. Good-guy points go to Rodgers in that matchup (despite the fact that he went to Cal).

So now that I have gotten Brett Favre out of the way, onto the game.

In all seriousness, this is a showdown between two of the game’s best quarterbacks. Rodgers may fly a bit under the radar for whatever reason – he wasn’t originally selected to this year’s NFC Pro Bowl team, despite having a fantastic season -but is just as talented as any quarterback in the league. If you watched Rodgers pick apart the Falcons in Atlanta in the NFC divisional round, you may have been watching one of the best individual performances by a quarterback in years.

Roethlisberger, on the other hand, isn’t your prototypical precision pocket passer. Despite appearing unorthodox, the man is a load to tackle and makes plays outside the pocket with his arm and his legs. This is his shot at a third Super Bowl title in just seven seasons, making him a proven winner (a term I dislike and don’t quite understand).

While Rodgers vs. Roethlisberger may get all the headlines, the matchup of the two defenses is equally, if not more, compelling. Pittsburgh, or should I say Blitzburgh, is perennially known for its defense, especially recently under coordinator Dick LeBeau. The Packers, however, have a very impressive defensive unit of their own, anchored by NFL sack leader Clay Matthews and 175-year-old Charles Woodson in the secondary.

People will talk a lot about the quarterbacks, but I see this game being low-scoring -if one team scores 20 points, it will probably win.

There is one aspect of the game where Pittsburgh has a decided advantage -the running game. Sure, Green Bay has discovered a bit of a rushing attack in the playoffs with James Starks, but it is still a pass-first, pass-second, pass-third offense. The Steelers, on the other hand, have a very capable running game led by Rashard Mendenhall, who, as the Jets learned today, is quite adept at bouncing would-be losses outside and gaining positive yardage.

So who is going to win? My heart first tells me to pick the Steelers, because I tend to root for AFC teams. It then reminds me, however, that I am sick and tired of the Steelers winning Super Bowls -it is getting boring, so maybe some new blood would be a good thing. My head also first tells me to go with the Steelers. They are the better team on paper. But then I am reminded that the Super Bowl is not played on paper, and that Green Bay has looked white-hot recently.

A prediction: Green Bay 20, Pittsburgh 17.

Daniel Bohm’s head and heart say the Steelers will win the Super Bowl, but his gut is going with the Packers. Tell him your prediction at [email protected].