Battle for the Best

This is it, the biggest game of the season. And what a matchup we have lined up. Gang Green, winner of only five games in the regular season, are in the Super Bowl for the third time in their franchise's history. At their first appearance, in Super Bowl IV, they lost by one point. Then after a name change (from Green Team), they tied and became co-champs in Super Bowl VII. Will this be the year they capture a title outright? There's going to be a huge hurdle in their way though, as the Chunky Monkeys are heavily favored.

The Monkeys are also in the big game for the third time. They won in Super Bowl VI, lost last year in VIII, and will now face a huge underdog this weekend. In a season that featured quite a bit of league parity, the Monkeys were the highest scoring team, won the Inscrutable Drama Kings division (again) and seem to poised for a huge win that could secure their place in the CTDB pantheon. Only two teams have ever won two titles (Buffy and Dirty Birds) and one of these franchises win join that coveted club and actually leapfrog both Buffy and Dirty Birds as "Team of the Decade" because the Monkeys and Gang Green have the top two records in the league. Really, look it up. Through our first ten years together as a league, the Monkeys have a winning percentage of 66.4% (74-37-2) while Gang Green has the second best overall with a 56.3% (62-48-1)

Last week the Monkeys crushed the Dirty Birds, 119-97, in a matchup that was never very close. Behind Peyton Manning's 38 points and four TDs, along with Jamaal Charles' 23 points, the Monkeys cruised from the beginning. In the other divisional final, Gang Green snuck by defending champs Battle Angels by a narrow margin (86-78) as Drew Brees collapsed with only 14 points, and got outplayed by Matt Schaub, who had twenty two. That sets up this week's game, with the Greenies versus the Monkeys for bragging rights and potential Team of the Decade status. It does seem like Gang Green has the Chunky Monkey's number. While the Monkeys have winning records against every other franchise in the league, they've only managed to beat Greg's team three times (out of ten tries). That bodes well for the underdog. What doesn't bode well is Evan's talent edge and regular season track record. However, should Gang Green win, this would be an upset of Giants vs Pats 2008 proportions. Let's look at the matchups.

Quarterback: Shockingly, Evan is starting Vince Young instead of Peyton Manning. It's not surprising since Peyton will likely play very little as the Colts wrap up a dominant regular season, but it is kind of crazy that the leader of the Monkeys' franchise will be on the bench. In fact, what's actually crazy is that Vince wasn't even on the roster last week, as he was a waiver wire pickup just three days ago. Young has been on a tear recently, with games of 25, 23, and 29 in the last four weeks, so don't be surprised if he provides 90% of Peyton's value.

Greg will be playing Matt Schaub, who has been a top five QB this year, and only averages half a point less per week than Peyton. Despite Ben Roethlisberger's 44 points last week (in reserve), Greg wasn't tempted to go with Big Ben. Smooth move because Schaub is the leader of this team and is going up against a weak Dolphins' defense. It's hard to sit down a franchise player but Evan has done it, showing that he won't let emotion overcome his rationale. Due to this, we like his Vince move and think he'll make up well with Schaub. Edge: Even

Running Backs: We could make this a very short paragraph. In fact, we will. Last week Jamaal Charles and Charles Johnson combined for 37 points, and that's with Johnson "only" getting 160 yards rushing/receiving combined. Greg's backfield of Brandon Jacobs and Thomas Jones had ten points total. While the disparity won't likely be that large, it's clear that Evan's team is completely stacked at RB. So stacked that it looks like Greg will throw in a wrinkle of his own. Because his run game has been largely ineffective, he's going run and shoot, sitting down Brandon Jacobs. Might he regret that move, or even have made a mistake in having Jerome Harrison (last week's record setting Brown) sitting on his bench? Time will tell. Edge: Chunky Monkeys

Wide Receivers: It's a real toss up here because while Greg has big names, his four wides might struggle to all get on the same page. It's a good bet that either Vincent Jackson or Randy Moss will have a good game, but probably not both. Sidney Rice is going to put up double digits, but he's cooled off recently. Placing Hines Ward in for Brandon Jacbos will probably be a wash, but at least Ward will get a few points due to his receptions. We're thinking Gang Green's WRs will need to score three TDs between the four of them to have a great week.

On the other side of the ball, Evan's got Anquan Boldin coming off a nice showing last week, and Mike Sims-Walker has been an underrated receiver all year long. They should both catch touchdowns and combine for 25+ points. The question is if TE Jermichael Finely will replace any of Percy Harvin's production. It's interesting that Evan is going with such untested players (Vince and Finley, and Jamaal Charles to an extent), but that just shows his flexibility and willingness to gamble for gold. Edge: Gang Green

Defense and Kicker: While Shayne Graham and Giants Defense are both rated hot for Gang Green, there's not enough evidence here that either team has an edge for Def or K. The Monkeys have Nate Kaeding and the Cowboys and really, will either make the difference here? Probably not. Edge: Even

If I had told you that Peyton Manning, Matt Forte, and LaDainian Tomlinson would be sitting during championship week for the Monkeys, would you have believed me? Would you have said that the Monkeys were going to have a overwhelming talent edge and be an absolute juggernaut? Then again, if I had told you that a team led by Matt Schaub and um, Thomas Jones and Randy Moss, would upset their way to the Super Bowl, you wouldn't have believed it either right? So here we are, with pretty much a toss up for who will win. History tells us the Monkeys tend to collapse under pressure, while Gang Green capitalizes on their chances. History also tells us that a strong running game will lead to a championship, and the Monkeys clearly have the best RBs in this matchup. So here we go, Super Bowl X, and a chance to become the Best Franchise of the Decade!