Sunday February 6. 2011 will be a day remembered by all sports betting handicappers of the NFL, as that was the first time in the history of the league that the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers were able to battle over the Vince Lombardi Trophy. While the Packers walked away as an online betting legend, both teams emerged with elite status. Here is a recap of the game.

The 2010-11 NFL seasons, Championship Game was played at the new Cowboy’s Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with over 100,000 spectators taking the game in person, while over 100 million spectators watched the game on television. Entering this year’s playoffs, the Green Bay Packers, were narrowly able to get in, with a 10 to three victory over the rival Chicago Bears. However, once getting into the playoffs, the Green Bay Packers under the guidance of quarterback Aaron Rodgers and defensive Captain Clay Matthews were able to elevate their game to a whole new level.

On the contrary, the Pittsburgh Steelers were able to get into the playoffs as one of two teams with a bye. However, in their first game against Baltimore they narrowly escaped with a come from behind win. Meanwhile in the Steelers second game of the playoffs the AFC Championship game against the New York Jets, the Steelers jumped out to a giant lead before almost losing the game in the final minute. Fans around the league speculated that this may be the year, that the Steelers failed to win the biggest prize of them all.

Entering the Super Bowl game, the Green Bay Packers had a ton of momentum on their side, and the Pittsburgh Steelers looked to be on their last legs. Before the game was half way old, the Steelers were down 21 to 10. By the time the game concluded, it was evident, that the Packers momentum was far too much for the Steelers to handle.

In a matter of days the Super Bowl 45 betting lines have been some of the closest in recent memory, as the spread between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers is only two and a half points. Two of the most storied franchises in NFL betting history, the 2010-11 edition of the Packers and Steelers are almost carbon copies of each other. Here are two factors that will be on full display come game time Sunday.

• Defense – The old adage of defense wins championships has never been truer in 2010-11. Dom Capers and Dick LeBeau the defensive coordinators of the Steelers and Packers are essentially identical to one another. Capers came up with the run defense that Pittsburgh has employed since 2003. As a result, in the last five years the Steelers have won two of the five potential Super Bowl trophies. What’s more, the 2010-11 Steelers emerged as one of the top five best defensive units since the NFL merger in 1970.

Conversely, the Green Bay Packers under Dick LeBeau, have adopted the Steelers model of defense, and have gone from being lit up by teams, to containing them to 16 points a game. Linebacker Clay Matthews has shown in the last year and a half that the days of Brian Urlacher and the Chicago Bears receiving all the praise in the NFC North, are over as Green Bay is the standard setter now.

• Experience vs. Inexperience – In sports we as fans look at all the statistics and at the end of the day the only statistic that really matters is the win and loss column. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Super Bowl is familiar territory, as since 2005, no team has been more dominant in the NFL.

On the contrary, the Green Bay Packers have finally built a winning team, and for the first time in 15 years they will be entertaining the possibility of winning the Super Bowl. Green Bay has yet to face adversity in these playoffs, while the Steelers narrowly defeated the Baltimore Ravens. When looking at these two teams, the safe bet is Pittsburgh because of their recent dominance.

This week’s Super Bowl betting lines see a jump for some times and a further slide down for others. From the increase in odds for football betting long shots, Seattle to the drop by the Jets, fans aren’t sure who to take this weekend in the divisional round playoffs. Today we look at the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens.

Prior to the start of the playoffs, many fans and experts from around the country were already banking on the Ravens and Steelers meeting in the playoffs. Ideally, this game shouldn’t have been taking place until the Championship round of the playoffs next weekend. As in theory, Baltimore would be facing off with the New England Patriots this year, in a rematch of the Wild Card round from 2010, while the Steelers would be facing the Indianapolis Colts in a battle of the league’s two most dominant teams over the last decade.

Instead, due to the Jets upset win over the Indianapolis Colts, the ranking worked so that the AFC divisional round would live up to its name as all four teams involved in the two games, are from the same division.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens have literally hated one another since the Ravens came into the league in the middle of the 1990s. For the most part over the last decade, the AFC North has been a two team battle between these two storied franchises. This year alone the two teams faced off and split their two game series against one another. What’s more, the winning team only won by a field goal.

On Saturday afternoon, when the Steelers and Ravens face off, fans should once again expect to see a highly defensive oriented matchup. Both teams have decent offenses, however we feel that like their first two matchups, this game will once again come down to a game winning field goal. Only similar to week four, this game will be won by Baltimore.

The 2010 NFL season has been one of the more difficult football betting seasons for handicappers, as there has been a multitude of surprises. Whether it has been historically awful teams overachieving, or Super Bowl championship jinxes, NFL betting lines have been all over the place this season. Here are some of the biggest surprises of the early season.

• What’s Up With New Orleans? – The 2010 defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, have been one of the biggest surprises of the early season. Who would have thought, returning with exactly the same roster as the one that went 13 and three in the regular season of 2009 and hoisted the 2010 Super Bowl, would go through such struggles.

This time last year, they were undefeated, and along with eventual Super Bowl runner up Indianapolis, looked pretty much untouchable. This year, the Saints are at four and two which isn’t exactly worrisome. However, when you lose by 10 points to a poor Arizona team in week four, people will be talking.

• Minnesota Is Terrible – Last season, the Vikings lost by a field goal with seconds remaining in their NFC finals matchup against the Saints. As a result, many speculated that was the last we would see of Brett Favre. Another missed training camp and possible sex scandal later, and we now have a Vikings team that looks more like the one before Favre arrived. What’s worse, although they are one and one with new old wide out Randy Moss in town, the Vikings offense has been atrocious.

• Never Fear The Steelers Are Here - Going into the 2010/2011 NFL season, many handicappers pretty much wrote off the Pittsburgh Steelers as a legitimate threat to challenge for the Super Bowl. Who could blame them? Last season, the Steelers struggled mightily and failed to reach the post season. Making matters worse, they traded former Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes to the Jets and Big Ben was suspended for four games.

Three quarterbacks in three weeks and a bye later and Big Ben returned last week to a three and one Steelers squad. With Big Ben looking like he hasn’t been gone all season, albeit against the Browns, the Pittsburgh Steelers may be the best team in the NFL and win another Super Bowl this decade.