Now! Watch Pro Bowl Online - Watch NFL Pro Bowl 2011 Live Streaming online

Pro Bowl 2011 Live Stream - Watch 2011 NFL Pro Bowl Online

If you are looking for the only way to watch the Pro Bowl online, watch the Super Bowl online, and watch all future NFL football games live online, you have come to the right place! Learn how to watch Pro Bowl live online now in HD quality using any PC or Mac computer, Smart Phone, or iPhone!

The 2011 Pro Bowl is almost here, you can watch the NFL Pro Bowl online on January 30th at 7:00 pm EST. It is going to be a great game between the best players in the NFL. This game will take place in beautiful Hawaii. If you are not able to watch the game on your TV you can watch it live online. It is going to be a great game between the best of the NFC and the AFC.

Connect to Watch Pro Bowl Live Online Here

Last year i missed the Pro Bowl because I was at work and I did not know I could watch it on my computer. Then I found this software that lets you watch all of your favorite sports games online. I said to myself I was not going to miss it this year.

The Pro Bowl is usually held the weekend after the Super Bowl. Unlike a lot of other sports leagues, which hold their all-star games halfway through the regular season, the Pro Bowl is played at the end of the NFL season. The first "Pro All-Star Game feAtured the all-stars of the 1938 season and was played on January 15, 1939 at Wrigley Field. The Nfl All -star gamewould then be played in Los Angeles until 1940 and then in New York and Philadelphia in 1941 and 1942, aftter which the game was suspended due to World War II.

Connect to Watch Pro Bowl Live Online Here

The concept of an all-star game would not be revisited until 1951, when the Pro Bowl was played at various venues before being held at Alhoha Stadium in Honolulu, Haaii for 30 straight seasons from 1980 to 2009. The 2010 Pro Bowl was played at Sun Life stadium, the home stadium of the Miami Dolphins and the site os Super Bowl XLIV, on January 31, the first time ever that the Pro Bowl was held before the championship game, with the conference teams not including players from the teams that will be playing in this years Super Bowl. The event is scheduled to return to Hawaii in 2011 and 2012.

Super Bowl 2011: Steelers vs. Packers Betting Odds and Pick

So now that the Super Bowl XLV betting odds have been out for about a week, it’s time to see if we can keep this NFL betting hot streak alive. So far my NFL free picks for the postseason are 9-3; it’s definitely been a profitable run.

Online betting giant Bodog.com opened the Steelers-Packers point spread at Green Bay minus three points, which is exactly where it sits today. Meanwhile, their odds-makers opened the Steelers-Packers Total at 46 points, but they have since adjusted to 45.

We’ll get to some Super Bowl prop picks and the Steelers/Packers point spread later in the week, but for now, let’s analyze the Super Bowl XLV over-under, and see if we can come up with a winner.

The Packers and the Steelers have the two best defenses in the entire NFL. Led by James Harrison and Troy Polamalu, Pittsburgh’s defense was the toughest unit to score against this season, yielding just 14.5 points per game.

With Clay Matthews and Charles Woodson leading the way, Green Bay wasn’t far behind, giving up just 15 points per game; good enough for second best in the NFL.

Add those numbers up, and the two teams' opponents combined to average just 29.5 points per game this season—15.5 points fewer than the 2011 Super Bowl Total. No wonder these two combined to cover the under in 56.8 percent of their games this year.

On the other side of the ball, both the Steelers and Packers ranked in the top half of the league in scoring this season. The Packers ranked 10th (24.3), while the boys in black and gold ranked 12th (23.4).

I think there is public perception that the Packers' offense was more proficient this season, but that isn’t the case. The simple fact is Green Bay is not a consistent offensive juggernaut, especially on the road.

This season in front of the home crowd Aaron Rodgers and the rest of the Packers' offense scored 30.5 points per game. However, away from Lambeau, that number plummeted to 21.3. Moreover, they averaged just 17 points in their three indoor games this season. As a matter of fact, the "under" is 5-2 in the Packers' last seven games on field turf—a little surprising.

As far as football betting odds are concerned, public perception comes into play on the Super Bowl more so than other games. Why is that? Because there are so many casual bettors coming in to place their first bet of the season every Super Bowl Sunday.

Because of this, the odds-makers know the casual bettors will just pile onto the public trend of betting blindly on the "over." Need proof?

The "under" covered in five of the last six Super Bowls. Even more impressive, the "under" was covered by an average of 10.3 points in those five games. Need any more proof that the Super Bowl over/under is usually an inflated number?

Oddsauthority.com Super Bowl XLV free pick

Well, it isn’t hard to see where I’m going with this.

When the 2011 Super Bowl Total opened at 46 points, I was shocked and jumped on it immediately. It has since been adjusted down to anywhere between 44 and 45 points, depending on the book.

Even though the public is on the "over," the number is going the opposite way. Tells you all you need to know, and that is the sharp money is on the "under."

A viewing guide for Super Bowl Sunday

Who doesn't watch the Super Bowl? I recently polled all of America and discovered that the only people not hunkering down to watch football on the upcoming gridiron national holiday are the proprietors of the 2,639 nail salons operating in Los Angeles. Anyway, Packers-Steelers is a wonderful matchup for a wonderful nation. And, as a public service, I am here to provide my 45th annual Super Bowl Sunday Viewing Guide (for Super Bowl Parties of Six or More).

The game will be televised by Fox. Which means, of course, that the network is arranging for Randy Jackson and Jennifer Lopez to handle all replay challenges. Keep food and beverage preparations simple. I have eight words for you: Pigs in a blanket, PBR in a can. The NFL is selling $200 tickets to watch the game from outside Cowboys Stadium, on television. That sounds pricey, but it includes a Super Bowl program and a scarf (for real). And if you walk to the game, you can save money on stadium parking spaces that are going for as much as $900 (I assume that includes a car wash or a lap dance).

As you may have seen on those Visa commercials, there are four men who supposedly have been to every Super Bowl. First of all, I need to see ticket stubs from these gents to believe this cock-and-bull claim. Second of all, Couch Slouch has watched every Super Bowl on TV - including the pregame shows - which, I believe, is far more impressive.

Here is a Super Bowl fact that you'll find only here, unless you carpool to Starbucks every morning with Peter King: In the last 10 years, 10 different NFC teams have made the Super Bowl. (Note to my D.C. friends: The Redskins aren't one of them.) In those same 10 years, only the Steelers, Patriots and Colts have represented the AFC, with the exception of Super Bowl XXXVII, when the Raiders inexplicably qualified.

This is actually the Steelers' eighth Super Bowl appearance. That's eight times in the last 37 years, which compares favorably with Spencer Tracy's nine best-actor Oscar nominations over a 32-year period (1936-67) and Laurence Olivier's nine Oscar nods over a 40-year span (1939-78). On the other hand, the Browns, Jaguars, Lions and Texans have never played in the Super Bowl, though Matt Millen once was on course to get the Lions there by 2525.

Terry Bradshaw was 4-0 in Super Bowls, Ben Roethlisberger is trying to go 3-0. In between, here is the list of Steelers starting quarterbacks: Cliff Stoudt, Mark Malone, David Woodley, Scott Campbell, Bubby Brister, Steve Bono, Todd Blackledge, Neil O'Donnell, Mike Tomczak, Jim Miller, Kordell Stewart, Kent Graham and Tommy Maddox. Moral of the story: None of us is promised tomorrow, and even if tomorrow comes, you still might be several seasons away from a well-thrown pass.

I'm a Steelers fan, but it's hard not to like the Packers. Who doesn't root for Green Bay? It's a town of 100,000 and the team is owned by the people - we're talking Norman Rockwell's America, only chillier. In addition, the Lambeau Leap remains an unmatched, beloved celebration; if, say, a Jets player jumped into the stands at New Meadowlands Stadium, he'd probably have to pay for a personal seat license.

Some of you may be unaware that there are new overtime rules in effect for the postseason. It's now called "modified sudden death," which, I guess, is similar to moving to Boca Raton, Fla. No one really knows what these new rules are. For instance, on the opening possession of overtime, a field goal does not end the game but a safety does. And it gets even more complicated than that - there's a chance not a single soul in Cowboys Stadium will know when overtime officially ends, other than Mike Pereira.

Oh, yeah, the game itself - you probably want to know who's going to win. I usually provide the EXACT FINAL SCORE of the game; I can't do that this year. All I know is this: It will be the first Super Bowl to go to overtime and the Steelers will prevail. I'm not sure when it might end, but it should involve a fumble, an alleged tuck, a booth review and more mayhem than a Charlie Sheen staycation.

Ask The Slouch

Q. The journal Science just reported that our ancestors may have migrated out of Africa 125,000 years ago to the Persian Gulf. My wife says you would know why. (Mark Feldman; Rockville)

A. Better schools, plus most of the Persian Gulf was already wired for cable.

Q. That Chicago car salesman who was fired for wearing a Packers necktie - ever happen to you? (Jeremy Johnson; Maplewood, N.J.)

A. I only own two neckties - one blue, one red - and they're both clip-ons.

Q. Would you consider adopting Chad Ochocinco so he could be Chad Chad? (James O'Connell; Carnegie, Pa.)

A. You know, if the Bengals ever trade No. 85, some NFL team would be acquiring the definitive "player to be named later."

Q. Do Pro Bowlers study game film? (Joe Schmidt; Strongsville, Ohio)

A. Pay the man, Shirley.

Super Bowl 45: A running Dallas diary

Not that I don't want to. I love that just-flossed feeling. Blowing air through the formerly plaque-filled spaces between my teeth. Mmmmm. Tidy.

I just never get to it. I'm a late-to-bed kind of guy and by the time I get upstairs, I'm groggy from having fallen asleep downstairs in my big, brown comfy chair. And I never have time in the morning because I suffer from CLD (Chronic Lateness Disorder).

But this week, I plan to floss hell out of my teeth. See, trapped in a hotel room on the 23rd floor of the Sheraton Dallas ("1,840 rooms -- the biggest Sheraton in the world," boasted Cory, who checked me in), I'll have the opportunity to take care of all hygiene with abandon.

Why am I telling you this? Because you know the storylines for Super Bowl 45. Packers. Steelers. Storied franchises. Franchise quarterbacks. Both have yellow in their color schemes. And we'll get to all that.

But what happens when you cover a Super Bowl? What's the week like? What do you doooo? I find people are just as intrigued -- if not more -- by that.

So this week, I'm going to give you the skinny on what goes on. Every day. Most of the minutes. How it all goes down.

I'll do my stories on the team arrivals Monday, do my TV hits for Sportsnet Central near the stadium every afternoon, work on a variety of story ideas I fleshed out on the plane, update the blog with as much Patriots-related info as I can.

But I'll also keep you up on my hygiene. And so much more.

My flight this morning was at 11 a.m. US Airways through Washington and into Dallas at 3:45 Central time (I know I will screw up the time between Eastern and Central this week. Inevitable. I just hope it's showing up an hour early rather than an hour late).

My nephew Chris drove me in, picked me up at 8:15 and had me dropped off by 9. Two eggs, sausage, homefries at Sbarro in Terminal B, post-breakfast nap and on the plane at 10:30 sitting in first class (I fly a lot so I get bumped sometimes).

Read the end of a Jack Reacher novel ("61 Hours"...I like his books) and...napped again.

During my little layover in Washington, I drafted a budget of stories for the week for my boss, the estimable Art Martone. There are big picture stories (Rodgers, Roethlisberger and our insistence on lists, lists, and lists, the 18-game season, how teams combat Twitter info flow) and Pats-related stories. It's an aggressive list. We'll see how many I cross off by week's end.

On the Washington to Dallas flight, we'd barely gotten airborne when the 6-2 woman in front of me reclined. With verve. That erased the chance of me getting my laptop out and working on...anything. So I napped. When I woke up, I could feel in my throat I'd been snoring.

The lady next to me confirmed that, yes, I'd been snoring. Awesome. By the time we landed, I'd learned that the woman next to me, Angela, was representing a PR firm doing work for Visa on a video game that helps kids get the basics of financial management down.

She was doing a seminar Monday with Matt Forte and Lance Briggs of the Bears and Tashard Choice and Felix Jones of the Cowboys. I said I'd try to get to it, but I think the Steelers' arrival over in Fort Worth is going to keep me from getting to both. She'll never find me.

After getting to Dallas, I scuttled to my rented Altima and drove the 25 minutes to the city. I've never been to Dallas. Whenever I covered Cowboys games, I stayed in Irving near the stadium. So far, all I've seen is the highway, an off ramp and the street leading to my hotel.

This is my eighth Super Bowl and I usually arrive on Sunday when the volunteers, service staff and everyone else are giddy to assist folks after months of planning for our arrival. Four guys made a move to hold the front door of the Sheraton when I approached it.

By next Monday, they'll be kicking us in the ass to get us out.

Eventually I got into my room. The front desk guy wrote the wrong room number on my room key slip so I spent two minutes trying to get into the room next to mine before going 23 floors down to find out I was actually one room over. But hey, I'm at the Super Bowl. What's a minor inconvenience.

I got the lay of the hotel, found the fitness center, the taverns, checked out the media room and then went down to have some wings in the bar and watch the start of the Pro Bowl. Even for a Pro Bowl, the game was light-hitting. I sat down at the bar next to former Patriots backup quarterback Jim Miller, who now works for SIRIUS. We talked a little about the hasty end to the Patriots' season, the 18-game schedule and what he thinks will happen with the lockout (he thinks it's coming).

Monday starts quietly. I'll spend the early morning going over my plan for the week with my boss and trolling the media center for nuggets, tidbits and blog fodder.  I'm on with Jim Rome around noon. The Steelers get to town at 1:30; the Packers at 3:30. There is access to the head coaches and a few select players at the Omni in Fort Worth.  I'll get in the Altima after the Jim Rome hit to get to that, then go over to the Arlington Convention Center near the stadium for TV at 4 p.m.

It's amazing how different this event is when the team you directly cover isn't in it. Had the Patriots made it, CSNNE may have had more than 30 people here on the TV and digital sides to cover it -- a crew that would dwarf the numbers of anyone else in our area.

Now? It's just me. Me and my floss.

What’s at Stake in the N.F.L.’s Labor Talks

The unbridled immoderation of Super Bowl week will provide the N.F.L. one last party to send off a fabulously successful season, full of competitive games and robust television ratings. But then, like a bad hangover after Super Bowl Sunday, aching reality will set in. In the last two weeks, personalities as disparate as the Pittsburgh Steelers chairman emeritus Dan Rooney and Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie aired their concerns about the pace of negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement, which expires March 3. There has not been a formal negotiating session since Thanksgiving, but there have been dozens of small meetings and quiet talks. Even as union leaders and owners gather in Texas, there are unlikely to be full-scale negotiations.

A look at the issues and where the sides stand: What’s at Stake

The N.F.L. generated nearly $9 billion in revenue last year. While both sides have amassed lockout war chests, millions of dollars will be lost if there is no new deal in March. The N.F.L. expects to lose $120 million in revenue if there is no deal by the deadline and $1 billion if there is no deal by the start of the regular season in September. The league said it would take years to recoup the losses.

The numbers go up from there: $400 million per week if games are missed. Free agents, who cannot sign contracts if there is a lockout, and players who are owed certain bonuses could forgo hundreds of millions of dollars more if no deal is struck in March, the league said.

How Everybody Feels

Both sides are starting to feel the pinch of a potential lockout. Owners are hearing from local sponsors and luxury suite holders that they do not want to renew contracts without an assurance that games will be played — troubling news for small-market teams with narrower margins and owners who have to pay enormous debt service on new or renovated stadiums. Major sponsors are likely to be reluctant to negotiate extensions without knowing what the future looks like.

Players’ concerns are even more immediate. Because in the uncapped year players were eligible for free agency after six years instead of four, a flood of free agents — 495 players by the N.F.L.’s calculation, a quarter of the league’s players — will hit the market, when free agency is expected to go back to four years under a new deal. But players cannot sign deals during a lockout, and few teams are willing to sign even their most prized free agents (Peyton Manning excepted) before March 3 without knowing what rules will be in place under a new collective bargaining agreement.

How Negotiations Have Gone

Slowly. Despite Rooney’s concern about an 18-game regular season, even he knows it is coming. The union leadership has quietly accepted the idea of an 18-game schedule because it knows it is the quickest route to a major infusion of new revenue (mostly from television contracts), a percentage of which will go to players.

DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the N.F.L. Players Association, will have to win significant changes to the off-season schedule and to roster size to make it palatable to the rank and file, which is concerned about the injury impact of a longer season. The league has signaled it is willing to limit off-season workouts and shorten training camp, and possibly to add roster spots, creating more jobs for players. Players also want better postcareer benefits in exchange for an 18-game schedule.

The sides also agree on the need for a rookie wage scale, which will probably start as soon as a new deal is reached. That will free up millions of dollars to be spent on veterans even if the salary cap does not jump drastically and will shore up benefits for retired players. The sticking point: players want an assurance that most of that money will go back to players, not into owners’ pockets.

The major roadblock to a deal, though, remains how to divide the revenue. The N.F.L. currently receives $1 billion off the top of the revenue pool, and the players receive nearly 60 percent of the rest of the money. Owners have wanted to get another $1 billion off the top, arguing that it would help reinvestment in the game, including new facilities and the NFL Network, things that owners say have the potential to generate even more revenue in the future. Players have resisted.

The union wants to preserve at least a 50-50 split of revenue. A question remains: 50 percent of what figure? With more revenue from 18 games, and the shifting of money from rookies to veterans, players may not suffer a loss in real dollars. In fact, players might come out slightly ahead, even in the short term.

Away From the Negotiating Table

The union has initiated several actions intended to increase its leverage. Most immediately, the two sides await a ruling by a special master on a complaint by the union that the owners did not get the maximum value out of recent television contracts because it built in provisions that would pay the owners in the event that games were missed. That ruling could come in the next week or two.

When the Game Is the Super Bowl Sideshow

Did the Packers and Steelers RSVP for the Super Bowl? Their attendance may no longer be necessary. Might be better to disinvite Green Bay and Pittsburgh and eat the deposit on the Black Eyed Peas. Instead, let's summon Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Dre and Doogie Howser down to Texas, bolt an operating table to the midfield of Cowboys Stadium and settle the question America appears to be more interested in than determining the NFL's best football team:

How injured is Jay Cutler?

Can we all agree how absurd that uproar was? Sure, the "How Hurt Was Jay?" argument had the prerequisites for a shrill NFL blab-fest: It was a clash between old-school football toughness (he shudda played on one leg!) and new-school sensitivities (but what about his future?); it involved a high-profile (and unpopular) player in a mega game; and most importantly, it was fresh meat for the prolonged delay between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, a/k/a The Most Maddeningly Drawn-Out Fortnight In Sports.

But it soon skewed silly. Anti-Cutler Tweets from bored NFL players on their recliners were treated with the seriousness of leaked state-department cables. Then there was a breathless report of Mr. Cutler ascending a restaurant staircase after the 21-14 Bears loss, as if he'd performed a Twyla Tharp interpretive dance atop the dessert table. Later Mr. Cutler was spied by a paparazzi camera with his reality-show girlfriend—shopping in Los Angeles.

The ignominy! Would Sam Huff be caught dead in a Crate & Barrel?

Never mind that Mr. Cutler's Bears had, uh, lost the NFC championship. Or the much more interesting quarterback story of Bears third-stringer Caleb Hanie. Or the news that Mr. Cutler actually turned out to be hurt—a sprained MCL, one sharp hit from a career-altering ACL injury. By midweek, the popping sound you heard was Mr. Cutler's critics spraining their own MCLs while revising their judgments.

The Cutler-versy felt rash and personal, an NFL version of the social-media bullying that freaks out every high-school principal alive. In the end, the pile-on appeared to have less to do with sports medicine and much more to do with Mr. Culter's aloof reputation.

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler after leaving last Sunday's NFC Championship Game with an injury.

Surely it bewildered the Packers, the team that had actually won the NFC Championship Game with an uninjured, likable quarterback. At some point Aaron Rodgers must have thought: "Three straight road playoff wins, six touchdown passes…you mean to tell me I needed to sulk on the sideline to get some attention?"

By week's close, the NFL's gaze had moved on to a far broader dispute: the possibility of a season-terminating lockout. This, too, has been a contentious affair, with predictable posturing as players and owners tangle over issues including revenue sharing, a rookie salary cap and an 18-game regular season. Last week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell tried to grab good will by saying he would slash his pay from about $10 million to one dollar should a lockout occur. A intriguing gesture, but let's see: If Mr. Goodell does his job, he'll be paid millions; if he does not, he'll get next to zero…who does the commissioner think he is, an NFL player?

But the players weren't seizing much high ground. Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie popped off about the labor dispute, calling the league and the players-association leadership an unflattering seven-letter term he once used to describe Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. That provoked a snarky, soon-erased tweet—what is it with the NFL and Twitter?—from Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who asked if Mr. Cromartie "knows what CBA stands for." This, in turn, prompted Mr. Cromartie to tweet back: "Hey Matt if u have something to say then say it be a man about it. Don't erase it. I will smash ur face in."

Welcome to sixth-grade recess, everybody!

Both the infighting over labor talks and the internal second-guessing of Mr. Cutler signal an anxious, agitated moment. There's the possibility of a work stoppage, and the loss of billions in potential revenue. Meanwhile, there's increased awareness about the lifetime risks of playing football, conflict over how to mitigate the dangers of a collision-based sport—and the unsettling reality that one method of addressing the financial trouble is to add two more games.

It's a vulnerable time for the NFL, and the Super Bowl game is in the unusual position of being the big fat distraction of Super Bowl week—an honor that usually goes to trash talk and curfew violations. Next Sunday, the Packers and Steelers meet at the $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium that Jerry Jones built out of gold bullion and recycled egos. There will be hype over Super Bowl commercials and Fergie's halftime outfit and a reported $900 parking spot that, in fairness, does come with an on-site rest room. Even with two old-world franchises in it, the Super Bowl is always a bit of a garish spectacle—as Liberace as it is Lombardi.

But underneath the usual fireworks and bombast lurks a sport facing distress about its 21st century identity and evolution. Who will be the leaders here? When NFL going gets tough, the tough will need more than tweeting.

Super Bowl XLV: Luxury Brands Want To Be First Off the Line

With eight automotive brands scheduled to run TV advertisements during the Super Bowl XLV telecast on February 6, there are bound to be sub-plots among them.

The juiciest might be what’s already unfolding among the three German luxury brands: Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi. It will be the first Super Bowl during which they’re all advertising.

Naturally, Mercedes-Benz would like to use its first-ever appearance in the Super Bowl to take another step closer to Lexus. The Toyota luxury brand held off Mercedes’ charge last year to remain the best-selling upscale auto brand in the U.S. But Lexus isn’t advertising in this Super Bowl.

Instead, it looks like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi actually are going to try to out-contemporize one another in their Super Bowl ads. As each of the long-time rivals introduces important new models to the American market this year, each brand wants to appeal to relatively young demographics and sporty tastes.

Mercedes-Benz, for instance, already has tapped tennis star Serena Williams to help out. And the brand reportedly plans to focus on models including a roadster version of its SLS supercar as well as its C-Class coupe. A social-media campaign – involving four contestants in a road-rally-style "tweet race" to the Super Bowl – already has been launched via Twitter, with a C-Class Coupe as the prize.

Meanwhile, BMW launched a Facebook contest late last week around its revamped X3 SUV, which is built in South Carolina and which will be the focus of at least one of BMW’s two Super Bowl spots.

And Audi has shown its hand strategy-wise, with ads it already has run revisiting the “old luxury” theme that was so effective for the brand a couple of Super Bowls ago.

In a new spot that Audi debuted during the NFL playoff finals, the brand employs a soothingly rhythmic commentary and soporific video sequence in the manner of the Goodnight, Moon classic children's book to take a poke at Mercedes – and offer up its own new A8 sedan as the face of “new luxury.”

The fierce marketing competition among luxury automakers could be just as interesting as the play on the field between the Packers and Steelers – or at least as fun as the Bud Bowl.

Super Bowl 45 Betting Odds

The NFL is the most popular sport in the United States. The biggest game of the season has finally arrived, as the Green Bay Packers are set to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl 45. More money is wagered on this game than any other in the world. Many people who don’t bet on it tune in just to watch the commercials and the halftime show. But millions of folks from around the world will have money on this game, whether it’s a wager with a friend, a props pool, or the pros who have thousands riding on it.  It’s obviously a lot more fun to watch when your Super Bowl betting pans out and you win some cash.

If you want to wager on this game, then check out the Super Bowl 45 odds over at Sportsbook.com. There our readers can earn up to $250 free cash to wager on this game which takes place on February 6 down in Dallas, Texas.

Betting the Spread/Total: You will find a line of Green Bay -2.5 over Pittsburgh and a total set of 44.5 points. The Packers have opened as an early favorite due to their amazing run to get to this point. They’ve had to get through five straight must-win games dating back to their Week 16 win over the New York Giants. It’s a pretty evenly matched game defensively, but I believe the reason the Packers are favored is because of the play of Aaron Rodgers. While both teams are only giving up 15.3 points per game, this total has been set a bit higher than a lot of people would expect due to their playing conditions. This game will be in a dome at the New Cowboys Stadium so it’s certainly ideal weather for maximum scoring.

Betting on Super Bowl Props: I’ve actually got together with about 15 friends before to do a props pool which is a ton of fun. I’ll probably set up one again this season, and you should too. These props are random and some are pure chances, while others can take some thought. A few of the fun “chance” props are will the coin toss be heads or tails, which team will win the coin toss, which team will score first and will the longest touchdown scored in the game be more or less than 43.5 yards. Some of the props that take thought are total passing yards for Aaron Rodgers or Ben Roethlisberger, total tackles for certain defenders like Troy Polamalu or Clay Matthews, and total rushing yards from either Rashard Mendenhall or James Starks. You can bet the over or the under on these props. Check out all of the Super Bowl 45 Props at Sportsbook.com

I’ll be posting a few of the player props I like leading up to the Super Bowl. I’ll also be releasing my Super Bowl picks on this game where I have pinpointed which team will win and cover the spread. If you want in on my advice, then simply sign up at the Jack Jones home page right here at Betfirms. I am riding a 74-50 (60%) NFL Sides Run heading into Super Bowl XLV.

Super Bowl 2011 Prop Bets: 7 Wacky Wagers Fans Must Consider Come Game Day

SATIRE — On February 6th, NFL fans will tune in to Super Bowl XLV. Two elite franchises will face off against each other in what is sure to be a great game. I can go on and on about how intense a game we can expect from the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers, but I'd like to focus on something different. If there's one thing the Super Bowl brings out in all of us, it's the inner gambler. We become obsessed with the point spread, the over/under, weather conditions and so on. I'm here to give you wager-makers some things to bet on, but not necessarily related to the outcome of the game itself. Instead, I'm going to provide seven potentially insane occurrences that, while unconventional, MUST be considered before kickoff.

No. 7: Chances That the National Anthem Is a Few Minutes Too Long

This year, our national anthem will be sung by Christina Aguilera. Now, for those who aren't familiar with Miss Aguilera's vocal style, let me give you the long and short of it now: EVERY NOTE IS DRAWN OUT. Don't get me wrong—Christina Aguilera is a fine singer, and I love our national anthem just as much as the next person, but it needs to be established that she can't do a 10-minute version of it. I mean, come on, there's a game that has to be played! Still, Aguilera is used to performing a certain way, and we can't expect her to suddenly change it for the sake of us wanting to watch Clay Mathews and James Harrison send some backs and receivers to the ER. Chances this happens: 40 percent

No. 6: Chances That Someone Gets Dragged Down by the Hair

If there's one thing that this year's Super Bowl has, it's players who have a lot to show in the hair department. From Clay Matthews to Troy Polamalu, the flowing locks should be aplenty. On top of that, we have two of the toughest teams in the NFL playing each other. That being said, who's to say that someone won't drag Matthews or Polamalu down by the hair in order to make a block? Last I checked, there isn't any specific rule saying that hair-pulling isn't allowed! Hell, if Ray Nitschke supposedly bit people during games, what's wrong with a little pulling of the hair? Chances this happens: 30 percent, in the interest of the game.

No. 5: Chances James Harrison Gets Flagged for an Illegal Hit

Thanks to Roger Goodell's crackdown on hard hitting, aka taking the fun out of playing linebacker, Steelers coverage man James Harrison accumulated $90,000 in fines this season. Let's be honest, people: Super Bowl XLV is going to feature a lot of hard hitting, and of course Harrison is going to be doing a lot of it. Given how he's openly said he goes into every tackle wanting to hurt the opposing player, I anticipate some flags to be thrown his way. With the Steelers consistently blitzing Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, I wouldn't put it past Harrison to take his tackle to the next level and perhaps give the quarterback a helmet-to-helmet treat. Chances this happens: 75 percent

No. 4: Chances That Joe Buck Makes Us Mute Everything but the Commercials

This year, Fox will be covering the Super Bowl. That means that we have Joe Buck and Troy Aikman calling the game for us. Needless to say, I groaned when I learned of this. Simply put, Joe Buck is an annoying broadcaster. His "excited" tone of voice still sounds extremely nonchalant, and while Troy Aikman provides interesting commentary, he's slowly becoming the next John Madden in that he always points out the most obvious things. I don't know about the rest of you fans out there, but I, for one, will be hitting the mute button when it isn't commercial time. Forget Joe Buck. Let Gus Johnson call a Super Bowl! Now THAT would be awesome. Just imagine: "That will bring up 3rd-and-long. Roethlisberger takes the snap, goes deep...AND IT'S CAUGHT BY WALLACE!! DOWN THE SIDELINE!!!! OH MY!!!!!! TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" OK...I think I've made that point. Chances that I mute Joe Buck: 100 percent. Chances that everyone else does the same: Less than 10 percent

No. 3: Chances That the Halftime Show Is Just Plain Awful

When I heard that the Black Eyed Peas were doing the halftime show this year, I died a little inside. We had a nice track record going with classic rock acts like Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and The Who. Why mess that up with a band that's sure to give us a fake and Auto-Tuned show? Don't get me wrong—the Black Eyed Peas are a talented group and have a large fanbase, but are they really the type that appeals to most NFL fans? Maybe some of the younger ones. I'm hoping that this halftime show is just a hiccup and that next season we'll have a real band performing again so that the rock and roll spirit of the NFL can be captured. Thus, this year's halftime show gets an F from me. It doesn't even matter if I haven't seen it yet. Chances the halftime show stinks: 95 percent...I mean, I have to at least give them the benefit of the doubt a LITTLE bit.

No. 2: Chances That an Unknown Player Wins Super Bowl MVP

For those of you who read my prediction for the game, you know that both teams have a great number of key players who fly under the radar. That being said, I'm anticipating the winner of the Super Bowl MVP Award will not be an A-lister. On Pittsburgh's end, it might be receiver Emmanuel Sanders (pictured at left). On Green Bay's, it could be surprise running back James Starks. Either way, as both teams have dangerous secondaries, I don't anticipate the winner to be either of the quarterbacks or their top receiving targets. Heck, why don't we just go out on a limb and pick Shaun Suisham to be the MVP? Yeah! How crazy would that be? But seriously, let's get to the chances an unknown wins the coveted game MVP award. Chances: 75 percent

No. 1: Chances That Super Bowl XLV Will Be the Greatest Super Bowl Ever

I've got to say, I'm really excited about the Super Bowl this year. Two elite quarterbacks, two elite defenses—what's not to like? Taking all factors into consideration, I'm going to make my boldest statement of all. Forget the Ice Bowl, Joe Namath's guarantee, or Eli Manning and David Tyree connecting for "The Catch." Super Bowl XLV will be the greatest game in NFL history. With hard hits, maybe some hair pulling and tons of frustration over a long national anthem and bad halftime show, I'm expecting both teams to show tremendous amounts of heart and determination. Basically, we should anticipate an all-out war on the field and maybe in the stands too! So fans, wave your Terrible Towels! Wear those cheese hats with pride! And for those of you taking these prop bets to heart, enjoy them and the game! Chances this happens: 100 percent

Super Bowl 2011 - television coverage, half-time and national anthem details

The 45th annual edition of the Super Bowl sees Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers take on Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in a rematch of their December 2009 classic, which the Steelers took 37-36 at Heinz Field.

Super Bowl organisers have confirmed that the Black Eyed Peas will take to the field for the half-time show, while Christina Aguilera will kick things off by singing the national anthem.

Aguilera is no stranger to the Super Bowl as she performed at the half-time show in 2000.

Super Bowl XLV will air in the United States on FOX, where 30-second commercials will cost up to a whopping $3million.

In Canada, the Super Bowl airs on CTV (English) and RDS (French), while in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Sky Sports and BBC will both have live coverage.

In Australia, the game will be broadcast live on One HD, while throughout Asia, All Sports Network will be showing the game.

ESPN America will be broadcasting the game live in Italy and the Netherlands, with ARD the place to be to watch the Super Bowl live in Germany.

Meet the newest GoDaddy Girl

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- GoDaddy.com has added work-out taskmaster Jillian Michaels to its roster of "GoDaddy Girls."

Michaels will appear in two GoDaddy commercials during this year's Super Bowl broadcast on Feb. 6. She will be co-starring with race car driver Danica Patrick, who's been the face of the Web domain registrar for years. They'll be wearing superhero costumes in at least one of the 30-second spots.

A personal trainer and martial artist, Michaels is best known as the hard-driving fitness overseer on NBC's "The Biggest Loser" -- a television show where obese people, weighing as much as 510 pounds, compete to lose the most weight.

But she's also a one-woman corporation. Michaels has produced popular workout videos, like "30-Day Shred" and "Yoga Meltdown;" and authored best-selling books, like "Master Your Metabolism." She also has her own Wii game, called "Fitness Ultimatum."
Check out last year's Super Bowl ads

Michaels is one of the highest profile individuals to appear in GoDaddy.com's ads, which have acquired a reputation for their risqué nature. The company's commercials often feature scantily clad women and off-color jokes.

Some of the ads have been rejected prior to their Super Bowl screenings -- including a commercial that used a crude reference for female genitalia, and another depicting a gay man named Lola.

The newest GoDaddy addition didn't immediately respond to questions from CNNMoney as to whether the company's image would clash with her own image of self-empowerment. But her prepared statement showed no sign of a conflict.
0:00 /0:30'An offer they can't refuse'

"It doesn't get much bigger than being in a Super Bowl commercial," Michaels said. "I think shooting a spot with Danica Patrick is going to be a blast."

Bob Parsons, the chief executive and founder of GoDaddy.com, announced on Twitter in September that Michaels would be joining the girls of GoDaddy.

"I am stoked about Jillian being a GoDaddy Girl," Parsons said. "She's smoking hot -- she's also edgy and smart."

Fox Television is broadcasting the game this year for the sixth time.

Rejected Super Bowl ads

GoDaddy, GoBeaver

GoDaddy: The Internet domain name outfit has made a name for itself with salacious ads starring sexy girls in comical situations - but not all of them make it to air. GoDaddy has had 38 Super Bowl ads rejected since 2005.

The rejected ad: GoDaddy's long list of banned ads includes 2008's "Exposure," which features glamorous girls climbing out of limos in a sly reference to starlets getting caught by paparazzi without underwear.

Why it was rejected: "Fox did not approve of the word and references to 'beaver,' which GoDaddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons did not want to remove," said Fox spokeswoman Elizabeth Driscoll.

Porn stars and plushies

Ashley Madison: The Internet dating service for adulterers recruited porn star Savanna Samson for an ad that Fox rejected for the 2011 Super Bowl.

The ad: In the ad, Samson plays an office worker who catches her husband cheating on her, so she decides to get busy with everybody in sight, including a man and a woman. Inspired by Samson's exuberance, her co-workers mess around with a four-legged friend (in this case, it's another beaver) and a plushie - a person who gets a thrill from dressing up like a stuffed animal.

Why it was rejected: "It's not that the ad itself is offensive in any way, shape or form," said Ashley Madison founder and chief executive Noel Biderman. "The nature of our business is one that they're not comfortable with." Ashley Madison offers an "X-rated" version of the ad on its web site.

Fox declined to explain specifically why it rejected the ad. "We do not provide information about materials that may or may not have been submitted for review, nor do we discuss our broadcast standards policies," said Fox spokesman Lou D'Ermilio.

Veggie Love

PETA: The organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has often used ads with naked celebrities to promote its anti-fur agenda and other animal rights causes.

The ad: In its "Veggie Love" ad for the 2009 Super Bowl, PETA aimed to promote vegetarianism by featuring scantily clad women cavorting with vegetables.

Why it was rejected: NBC rejected the ad because it "depicts a level of sexuality exceeding our standards," according to a copy of the rejection letter provided by PETA. In the letter, NBC listed eight different acts within the 30-second spot that it found unsuitable for prime time, including "licking pumpkin" and "rubbing pelvic region with pumpkin." NBC spokeswoman Liz Fischer told CNNMoney that "the ad was rejected because it didn't conform with our standards."

Naturally, it can still be viewed on PETA's web site.

Mano a mano

Mancrunch: The gay dating site wanted to air an ad during the 2010 Super Bowl, but was rejected by CBS.

The ad: The spot features two men who accidentally touch hands while watching football, prompting a make-out session between the two.

Why the ad was rejected: Elissa Buchter, spokeswoman for the dating site, called the rejection "straight-up discrimination." But CBS denied the allegations. "We are always open to working with a client on alternative submissions," said CBS spokeswoman Shannon Jacobs.

CBS said that finances were part of the problem, because it couldn't verify Mancrunch's credit status. Mancrunch said such charges were ridiculous, because it had offered to pay cash.

Jesushatesobama.com

JesusHatesObama: Richard Belfry, co-founder of a web site that sells clothing and mugs with his inflammatory message, says he's just trying to be funny and "outrageous."

The ad: His company's commercial uses bobble-head figures to represent Jesus and President Obama. the Obama figure ends up submerged in a fish bowl. "I just like to poke fun at some of the things going on in Washington," said Belfry, who describes himself as a "conservative comedian."

Why it was rejected: Fox failed to see the humor and rejected the spot for Super Bowl 2011. Fox spokesman Lou D'Ermilio wouldn't say specifically why his network rejected the ad. Jesushatesobama provided a copy of Fox's rejection email to CNNMoney, which said the "spot does not conform to network standards, so we will not be able to accept it."

Justin Bieber Super Bowl ad to plug Best Buy

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- This year's Super Bowl broadcast will feature star-studded ads, with Justin Bieber and Ozzy Osbourne teaming up for a Best Buy spot, and with Kim Kardashian headlining an ad for Skechers.

Teen crooner Justin Bieber will star in Best Buy's (BBY, Fortune 500) first-ever Super Bowl ad on Feb. 6, when the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Green Bay Packers for the biggest football game of the year. Best Buy confirmed that he'll be co-starring with the venerable heavy metal front man and reality TV star Osbourne, but didn't provide details of how the two would be co-pitching electronics in the 30-second spot.

"We're delighted to have Justin and Ozzy help us tell the Best Buy story," said Drew Panayiotou, senior vice president of U.S. marketing at Best Buy. "We know people have high expectations for these ads, and Justin and Ozzy add a whole new dimension of fun."

Meanwhile, Skechers (SKX) has recruited reality TV star Kardashian for a 30-second spot in which she'll pitching Shape-ups. That's a type of shoe that "simulates walking in sand" to burn extra calories for people who don't have time to work out, according to Leonard Armato, president of Skechers Fitness Group.

"The reason Kim is a perfect brand fit for Skechers Shape-ups is that she is an extraordinarily huge celeb and her life is as busy as it gets," said Armato. "Between her reality show, her appearance and the fast-paced social scene that she travels in, she's time starved."
A sneak peek at Super Bowl ads

In the ad, Kardashian will "be breaking someone's heart in front of 100 million" viewers, Armato said.

Other Super Bowl ad celebrities include workout taskmaster Jillian Michaels, who will appear in a GoDaddy spot with race car driver Danica Patrick, and country singer Faith Hill, who will appear in a Teleflora spot.

Fox will be broadcasting the game, which is scheduled to be played in Arlington, Texas.

2011 Super Bowl: Justin Bieber, Ozzy Osbourne To Appear In Commercial

The Washington Post reports that Justin Bieber and Ozzy Osbourne will be featured in a Best Buy commercial that will debut during the Super Bowl, and that there will also be a commercial for Bieber’s 3-D movie. Hey, cool, Justin Bieber and Ozzy Osbourne! One guy is really young and one is really old! I bet hijinks will ensue!

This is the sort of thing I hate about the Super Bowl. A few years ago, Major League Baseball tried to have Spiderman 2 logos placed on the bases for a few days. The fans, much to their credit, threw a fit, and baseball relented. But there’s nothing one can even say about Justin Bieber whispering sweet nothings to every emotionally underdeveloped tween in America right in the middle of the most important football game of the year. It’s bizarre. And there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

And yeah, I get that almost all broadcast TV has commercials, including baseball games, and there was probably occasions in which Bieber appeared between innings. But there’s also the fact that the Black Eyed Peas are going to appear at halftime, which … if anyone can explain what weak, let’s-please-everyone-while-peeing-our-pants-onstage R&B has to do with football, I’d love to know. If this were the Pro Bowl game, or some other game that didn’t really matter, that would be one thing, but stuff like this really cheapens a game that should seem really important.

Chad Ochocinco Super Bowl 2011 Party

Chad Ochocinco hosts the Official Saturday Best Super Bowl Party 2011 in Dallas, Texas.

Chad Ochocinco (Cincinatti Bengals) will be hosting his very own Super Bowl 2011 party to prepare for the big game. Chad will be joined by Jennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler, Jamie Foxx, Playboy models Shanna Marie McLaughlin and Tisha Marie plus many more celebrities as he throws the Official Saturday Best SuperBowl Party in Dallas, Texas.

For Chad Ochocinco and his Super Bowl XLV party, he hopes to draw a very sophisticated and upscale crowd. The party will be hosted at the Fashion Industry Gallery and on top of the celebrities I mentioned above, Ochocinco has invited: Adrian Peterson (Minnesota Vikings), LaDainian Tomlinson (New York Jets) and DJ Biz Markie will be providing the musical entertainment for the night.

Prepare for the Green Bay Packers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers on Super Bowl Sunday by heading to Ochocinco’s party.

Chad Ochocinco’s Official Saturday Best Superbowl Party will be held on Saturday, February 5, 2011, from 9pm-3am at the Fashion Industry Gallery in Dallas, Texas. Tickets start at $5000 per table and there are also VIP tables with bottle service.

Glee Season 2: Ryan Murphy’s Hateful Song and Dance

Glee’s Ryan Murphy has a bad temper, may need anger management.

Apparently Glee creator Ryan Murphy is a sore loser. These days when the cast of Glee covers a song it immediately charts on the Billboard singles charts and shoots to the top of the iTunes sales charts. It can also reignite interest in you and your song. Take for example Cee Lo. His hit song “F**k You” was released towards the end of the summer and was a huge hit, but it has cooled off since. Then Gwyneth Paltrow did a cover version of the song on Glee and reignited interest in it and Cee Lo found himself as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live a few weeks ago when Paltrow hosted.  So it would be fair to assume that many bands and musicians are clamoring to have their songs on the show. Except for Kings of Leon.

Ryan Murphy had approached Kings of Leon about licensing their song “Use Somebody” for Glee. The band turned him down. Murphy didn’t take the snub lightly. His response: “F**k you, Kings of Leon. They’re self-centered assholes and they missed the big picture.” He went off on a tangent that this was less about the song for the show and more about exposing music to the youth of the world and encouraging music education. He said he doesn’t care if the band personally hated the show, but it was all about turning kinds on to music.

Kings of Leon lead singer Caleb Followill said he didn’t mean to offend anyone. “This whole Glee thing is a shock to us,” he said. “It’s gotten out of hand. At the time of the request, we hadn’t seen the show. It came at the end that record cycle, and we were over promoting. This was never meant as a slap in the face of Glee or to music education or to the fans of the show. We’re not sure where the anger is coming from.”

Supposedly what angered Murphy is that when Kings turned Glee down they made a comment about selling out and that they also said no to Ugly Betty and a movie trailer.  Murphy said: “Usually I find that people who make those comments, their careers are over; they’re uneducated and quite stupid.”

It sounds to me like Murphy has gotten a very swelled head and he is throwing a tantrum because he didn’t get his way. Sure, the show is huge and is winning awards, but that does not entitle him to cover any song he wants nor does it entitle him to decide that anyone who chooses to not license their song to him is stupid. Murphy needs to realize that his show does influence some people, but he isn’t winning a Nobel Peace Prize anytime soon and maybe he should have a little grace and gratitude towards those who choose to work with him and be a part of his vision and just let those who choose not to be involved live and learn.

Glee makes its return to TV with a special episode that will air after the Super Bowl on February 6th.

Hyundai Super Bowl Marketing Campaign

Hyundai's early 2011 and Super Bowl ads are a bit outside the box and are destined to provoke some curious internet chatter. The commercials have more the makings of a wacky indie film than a Super Bowl ad. They focus on the alleged "conspiracy" of what we been made to believe about compact cars. The commercials have started being aired; all leading up to Hyundai’s big Super Bowl commercial push ‘PREPARE TO BE DEPROGRAMMED 2-6-11’.

Here's an excerpt from the official release:
Hyundai’s “Snap Out of It” campaign addresses years of consumer complacency towards the compact car segment. Through a series of shorts that parody the history of compact car advertising, Hyundai tells the story of the hypnotized consumer mindset, conditioned to purchase compact cars for practicality and reliability, regardless of their uninspired design and limited innovation. Enter the all-new 2011 Elantra, a no-compromise alternative that finally screams “Snap Out of It”. These conspiracy commercials are definitely going to turn some heads during the Super Bowl.

Packer fans book Super Bowl trips

Green Bay Packer fans are ringing the phones of Wisconsin travel agents this morning, seeking the best deals to go to watch the team play against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV in Dallas.

Funjet Vacations in Bayside is offering non-stop flights that depart Milwaukee and Green Bay on Friday, Feb. 4, and return on Monday, Feb. 7, following the game.
Pricing for non-stop, round-trip air-only flights from Milwaukee and Green Bay start at $999.99 per person for three-night departures and includes free bags. Optional features including rental cars and hotel accommodations are also available.

Full packages including game tickets, air fare and hotel accommodations reportedly start around $5,000 per person.

Super Bowl big screen TV deals

Now that football fans know it'll be the Pittsburgh Steelers facing the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl, it's time to gear up for the big game, and that might mean a new HDTV for some of you. "There's usually a crowd throughout the whole week, people waiting to get a good deal for Super Bowl Weekend," said Ryan Keith with Best Buy.

Traditionally, retail managers said there's a spike in TV sales a week or two before Superbowl Sunday and while there are plenty of deals, Best Buy said they want to kick of your search with some good ones. "We've got deals usually every week where you could save from $150 to $1400," Keith said.

Some of the deals include:

- $1,000 off a 60 inch HDTV

- $800 off a 55 inch HDTV

- $1400 off a 55 inch 3D HDTV

"We've actually had more people come in to watch sports in 3D because they're now streaming it in 3D," Keith said. "3D is going to be the new thing."

Whether you go with the HD or 3D, spend more than $999 and they will deliver your TV for free by game day. They'll even recycle your old TV.

Where to Find Officially Licensed Super Bowl XLV Gear

If tickets to Super Bowl XLV just aren’t in your budget, you can still feel like a part of all the excitement by shopping at the Super Bowl Fan Stores.

The stores are stocked with Officially Licensed apparel like hats, novelties, footballs, collectibles, memorabilia and home decor. Prices range from a $3 golf ball to a $250 display containing replicas of all 45 Super Bowl tickets.

Super Bowl Fan Stores opened up in DFW malls just before Thanksgiving. Locations include Grapevine Mills Mall, The Parks at Arlington, Hulen Mall and Ridgmar Mall. Outside of Tarrant county you can shop at Stonebriar Centre in Frisco, Town East Mall in Dallas, and The Shops at Willow Bend in Plano.

The Super Bowl Fan Store has the largest selection of Officially Licensed Super Bowl Merchandise in the State of Texas, with over 250 items to choose from featuring the Official Super Bowl XLV logo. One of the best-selling items: a Super Bowl XLV throw priced at $40.

At this time, the stores aren’t selling anything for a specific NFL team because they are still on the road to Super Bowl XLV.

The Super Bowl Fan Store will sell t-shirts and merchandise representing the winning Super Bowl team on February 7, 2011 and remain open until the end of the month.

Frenzy is on for fans of Super Bowl teams looking for hotel in Dallas-Fort Worth

Portrait of Ed Netzhammer, regional vice president for Omni Hotels. Irving-based Omni scored big in the bid to host next year's Super Bowl. Both the NFC and AFC will be in Omni hotels in DFW - the first time the same chain has hosted both rivals. For fans of the Green Bay Packers and the Steelers looking for a place to bunk during Super Bowl week, the blitz is on.

Though the National Football League and its corporate benefactors locked up the swankiest suites months ago, Dallas-Fort Worth’s supply of about 100,000 hotel rooms means there are still rooms to be had — for a price.

In the past five Super Bowls, hotel rates on average have more than doubled from the same week in the previous year, and generally average more than $300 a night.

Hotel prices here can be expected to see a similar big-game bump.

“With the Super Bowl … wherever you are you’re going to get [on average] a 100 percent bump, maybe more,” said Bobby Bowers, senior vice president of Smith Travel Research. “I would say you’re going to be in that same range.”

Several groups and travel agents still have listings for available rooms. That includes the host city of Arlington (www.arlington.org/super-bowl-xlv/hotels) and the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee (www.northtexassuperbowl.com).

As of Sunday, the host committee website listed 94 hotels in D-FW with available rooms.

Prices ranged from $639 a night at the Embassy Suites Downtown Fort Worth to $140 a night for hotels in Forney, Plano and Denton. The average was $265.

The list did not include any of the major downtown Dallas properties, which typically command higher rates, because those rooms already are spoken for.

The most popular price point on the host committee’s list was $255, with 17 hotels in areas such as Richardson , Duncanville and Grapevine offering last-minute rates at that level.

As with most things, proximity pumps up price.

A Super 8 Motel in Arlington a few miles from the stadium was listed online as charging $699 on game night. But booking a stay Thursday through Sunday brought the average down to $242 a night.

“The hotels, they’re going to make it while they can,” said Jay Smith, president of Hatfield, Mass.-based SportsTravelandTours.com.

“You might get a Holiday Inn trying to get $399 or $499 because they can.”

At the Holiday Inn Express Hotel in downtown Fort Worth, the rate listed on the hotel’s site was $419 a night.

But officials in Arlington and Irving said rates below $100 can still be found at budget properties. And even an average of $200 a night, they said, is a pretty good catch.

“A $200-a-night rate for being around the Super Bowl, and being close, is an extremely reasonable rate,” said Diane Brandon, vice president of marketing for Arlington.

Bowers of Smith Travel Research noted that last-minute, sky-high rates will return to earth once the crowds move on.

“The crunch time is usually Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. That’s when you’re going to see the biggest jump,” he said.

“After that you can almost drop it off a cliff,” he said of the average rate. “It’s going to come down really, really fast.”

Do Early Peeks at Super Bowl Ads Pay Off?

Not too long ago, companies buying ad time during the Super Bowl -- TV's most expensive commercial venue -- sought to keep their game-day commercials secret until air time. The theory was to wow TV audiences with the element of surprise: a funny punch line, a new spokesperson or a catchy song delivered fresh. The goal was to guarantee that the ads would be the subject of office break-room conversation the next day.

But an increasing number of Super Bowl advertisers are now using a strategy that was once anathema: posting their game-day commercials online, well in advance of the game. Their goal: to get consumers talking about their ads not only after the Super Bowl, but sometimes months before kick-off.

That strategy, however, also begs the question of whether consumers actually watch those ads during the game, or do the commercials become just another opportunity to get a fresh beer from the fridge.

High-Stakes Game, High-Stakes Ads

At risk is a tidy sum. Aside from any production costs for a top-quality ad, a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl is fetching a record $3 million this year, according to a recent report from Kantar Media. For many companies, a Super Bowl commercial will represent their biggest single advertising expense for the year. And according to Kantar, one-third of the advertisers in last year's Super Bowl devoted more than 10% of their full-year media budgets to the game.

Sponsored Links
"Over time, the stakes have escalated," says Jon Swallen, Kantar's senior vice president of research. "One way advertisers try to monetize that is with these pre-game, pre-release ads, trying to raise buzz and awareness. It helps to try to cut through the clutter."

And Swallen says Super Bowl ad time is more cluttered than ever. Last year, for instance, the game contained a record 47 minutes and 50 seconds of network ads. In comparison, the 2001 Super Bowl contained just over 40 minutes of commercials.

To be sure, many of the commercials in this year's Super Bowl -- to air on Fox on Feb. 6 -- will be kept secret until they hit the airwaves. But increasingly, the name of the marketing game is to tease viewers ahead of game day -- with clips or even the entire commercial. While some potential Super Bowl ads are already online, such as those from Pepsi MAX and Doritos, other marketers are still deciding whether to post their commercials early.

Go Daddy, for one, says it's likely to pre-release one of its two Super Bowl ads before the game, while a second commercial -- announcing a new celebrity spokesperson -- will be kept under wraps. The domain-name registrar began pre-releasing its Super Bowl ads in 2006 and was one of the few companies at the time that did so without an embargo, notes Marianne Curran, Go Daddy executive vice president of media and communications. "Some people may ask, 'Does it wreck the surprise?' We think it does just the opposite," she says. "It whets viewers' appetites."

Attracting Eyeballs

The viewer data, however, isn't always so clear-cut. Go Daddy's "News" spot last year ranked 12th among Super Bowl viewers, attracting 112.1 million pairs of eyeballs. But according to data from Nielsen, the company's second ad, "Spa," came in at No. 62 with just over 100 million viewers.

And pre-releasing an ad may not necessarily drum up consumer enthusiasm. Last year, the top-rated ad by USA Today's Ad Meter, a focus group that ranks its members' favorite ads, was the Snickers spot featuring Betty White -- an ad that wasn't pre-released. (Snickers says it will again keep its Super Bowl ad secret until the game.) While that ad succeeded by one measure, it was one of the least-watched ads during the game -- drawing 92.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

Some marketers argue that game-day ratings for a specific commercial may be beside the point.

"The biggest thing for us, at least at Pepsico, is about engaging our fans for the prior eight months," says Rudy Wilson, vice president of marketing at Frito-Lay, a unit of Pepsico (PEP). Wilson pioneered the company's five-year-old "Crash the Super Bowl" program, which began soliciting consumer-created ads for the upcoming Super Bowl last fall. Of the 10 finalist videos posted on the site, six will air during this year's game.

Wilson acknowledges that pre-releasing ads may not give them any edge when it comes to their broadcast performance. But the benefit of engaging consumers months in advance makes the contest worth it. "It allows for our success not to be dictated by 30 seconds," he says.

Pre-Bowl Ad Buzz

The weeks leading up the game are "a unique period in time when audiences around the world are focused on your brand," says Audi chief marketing officer Scott Keogh, via email. "The lead-up to the Super Bowl can be just as important as game day."

Audi's 2010 Super Bowl spot, "Green Police," was teased with a number of pre-game ads, and according to Neilsen the commercial was ranked as the game's second most-watched, drawing 115.6 million viewers.. The top-watched ad last year was a Doritos spot called "Snack Attack Samurai," one of the entries in the "Crash the Super Bowl" contest, with 116.2 million viewers.

This year, Audi debuted what it calls a "prelude" to its Super Bowl spot: a minute-long ad based on the children's book Goodnight Moon. Both the Goodnight ad and the Super Bowl spot feature Audi's A8 sedan.

By pre-releasing Super Bowl ads, marketers are also able to bring in consumers via social-networking such as Facebook or Twitter. Audi's social-media campaign last year helped generate 3.1 million Facebook impressions and 3.1 million YouTube views, according to Keogh. And this year, Audi plans to host sponsored messages on Twitter leading up to the game -- and to "take over" YouTube's home page on Super Bowl Sunday, Keogh writes.

Risks and Advantages

More consumers are seeking out Super Bowl ads before the game, says Lucy Farey-Jones, partner and head of strategy at the San Francisco-based ad agency Venables Bell & Partners. Her firm's second annual Super Bowl survey found that 14% of consumers plan to look for Super Bowl commercials a week before the game. And younger viewers -- including 20% of young adults -- were more likely to watch the ads in advance.

"A lot of marketers are just doing a tease or allowing the audience to vote," she says. "It used to be that people kept it all wrapped up, and there's still some of that." Both approaches have their advantages, she notes, although there's the risk that by pre-releasing an Super Bowl spot, a company may "peak too early."

Referring to Apple's (AAPL) ground-breaking 1984 Super Bowl ad for the Macintosh, Farey-Jones asks, "I wonder if '1984' was leaked beforehand if it still would have had the same impact that it did?"

Super Bowl XLV Advertisers Start Commercials Early for 2011

Super Bowl XLV date and time won't start until early in February, but advertisers are getting their commercials started early for the 2011 campaign.  Commercials ranging from 30 seconds to a full minute cost millions of dollars, and the advertisers want the attention of those viewing the big game.

As of this report, there are four teams remaining in the hunt for the ultimate NFL trophy: Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, NY Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Super Bowl will officially have its two competitors as of Sunday evening after the NFC and AFC Championship games have been finalized.  At least three advertisers will be testing shorter versions of their ads during those particular games though.

According to USA Today, one of these advertisers is Anheuser-Busch.  They'll be trying out two 15-second teaser ads featuring the Clydesdale horses in a Wild west environment.  Reportedly the beer manufacturing juggernaut will air five commercials of varying lengths for different products during Super Bowl XLV.  However, these early ads will help them test the waters ahead of the big game.

Other advertisers included in this strategic move will be Audi and Hyundai-Sonata.  They'll all be airing commercials early in an attempt to get a head start on the competition.  In the past years, some of the tops ads have come from Coca-Cola, Doritos, Snickers, and Anheuser-Busch.

The question with this latest strategy, is will it help or hurt the advertisers?  They're spending more money on early marketing, instead of saving their ammo for the real battle, Super Bowl Sunday.  There's more viewers involved then, so the stakes are higher.  Nonetheless, if this sort of strategy continues to evolve, it could leave many viewers less interested in the advertisements during the game, as they've seen them before.

Do you feel it makes sense for advertisers to start trying out their Super Bowl commercials early, or is it best to save them for the big game?

Teams Are Unknown, but Super Bowl Spots Line Up

PEOPLE who plan to watch Super Bowl XLV on Fox on Feb. 6 are likely to be, to borrow a word from the gossipmonger Walter Winchell, infanticipating. When Winchell coined the word, he meant that a couple was expecting a baby. In 2011, it means that potential Super Bowl viewers are expecting to see — in addition to a football game — a batch of busy, glossy new commercials infused with time-tested entertainment elements like celebrities, animals, attractive young women and yes, babies.

Critics deride such content as corny or predictable. AdAge.com, the Web site of the trade publication Advertising Age, mocked conventions of Super Bowl advertising on Thursday by asking readers to “vote for your favorite Super Bowl simian spot” among eight choices.

But commercials that are replete with mainstays or memes are meant to appeal to the mass audience that tunes in each year for the Super Bowl. Last year, 106.5 million people watched the game, according to Nielsen, setting a record for viewership for an American television program.

“I’ve seen the estimates” for Super Bowl XLV, said Nick Utton, chief marketing officer at the New York office of the E*Trade Financial Group, “and 110 million is very definitely within reach.”

So it is not surprising that E*Trade, which has featured “talking” babies in its Super Bowl spots for the last three years, will bring the characters back again.

“We don’t presuppose each year we’ll be in the following year’s Super Bowl,” Mr. Utton said, because the expense and scrutiny mean “it’s not for the faint of heart.”

Still, the game is “the only event of the year where advertising is not the uninvited guest,” he added, and when “commercials come on, people stop talking.”

E*Trade intends to run one commercial in the third quarter of the game and another immediately after the game ends. Plans also call for a baby to “talk” with Fox Sports during a segment of the pregame show.

The commercials are part of an elaborate campaign that also includes social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube; commercials in movie theaters; and a redesigned version of BabyMail, an e-mail service introduced last year.

E*Trade and its agency, Grey New York, are deciding between two commercials for the two slots. One spot features a baby who does well enough investing through Etrade.com that he can afford a tailor — and the tailor is not doing too badly, either.

The other spot presents “a very educated baby,” Mr. Utton said, “discussing the merits of E*Trade” with a character that he declined to identify until next week, when the cat may be let out of the bag.

The baby was introduced for the 2008 Super Bowl to illustrate that using Etrade.com is “so easy, a baby can do it,” Mr. Utton said, and for Year Four the message is “that we empower investors through technology, so they can take control.”

Mr. Utton acknowledged “there are skeptics out there” who question the value of commercials with familiar elements like babies, animals or scantily-clad celebrities.

As a result, “we want our baby to grow,” he added, “not physically, but metaphorically.”

Tor Myhren, president and chief creative officer at Grey New York, said he, too, has “heard the argument” against the tried and true in Super Bowl advertising.

“With the baby, we created a celebrity,” Mr. Myhren said, rather than borrowing the fame “from someone else.”

“As long as everyone says ‘the E*Trade baby,’ I know we’re doing our job,” he added. Grey New York is part of the Grey unit of the Grey Group, owned by WPP.

Fox, part of the News Corporation, has sold all the available commercial time during Super Bowl XLV for an estimated $2.8 million to $3 million for each 30 seconds.

Demand was stronger than usual, reflecting the recovery of the ad market along with the record ratings last year.

Among the brands and companies to appear in the game, in addition to E*Trade, are Anheuser-Busch InBev, Audi, Best Buy, BMW, Bridgestone, CareerBuilder, CarMax, Chrysler, Coca-Cola, General Motors, GoDaddy.com, HomeAway, Hyundai, Kia, Mars, Mercedes-Benz, PepsiCo, Pizza Hut, Skechers, Teleflora and Volkswagen.

Several advertisers are buying more than one spot. BMW, for instance, will run two, for models that include the new X3 compact sport utility.

The Anheuser-Busch division of Anheuser-Busch InBev will run five spots for three beer brands: Bud Light, Budweiser and a Super Bowl rookie, Stella Artois.

Two agencies — DDB Worldwide, which is part of the Omnicom Group, and Cannonball in St. Louis — are creating three 30-second commercials for Bud Light.

A 60-second spot for Budweiser, part of a new campaign that carries the theme “Grab some Buds,” is being created by a New York agency named Anomaly.

And a 60-second spot for Stella Artois is being created by the London and New York offices of Mother.

Anheuser-Busch is well-known for Super Bowl commercials that use mainstay creative content like animals and celebrities.

This time around, the commercial for the Budweiser brand “may be doing things a little bit of a different way,” said David Peacock, president at Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, because the “Grab some Buds” campaign is “driving reappraisal” — that is, it seeks to get consumers who do not usually drink Budweiser to reconsider the brand.

Mercedes Makes Super Bowl Debut With Serena Williams in Bid to Top Lexus

Steelers stop Jets to claim third Super Bowl berth in six seasons

Mercedes-Benz, attempting to grab an edge in the race to topple Lexus, enlisted tennis star Serena Williams and a tweeting mom from suburban Chicago to add online buzz to its first appearance at the Super Bowl.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Volkswagen AG’s Audi will also air ads during the Feb. 6 broadcast of the American football championship, marking the first time all three German luxury brands are advertising at the biggest U.S. television event. At last year’s game, advertisers paid $3 million for a 30-second slot, according to The Nielsen Co.

“The Germans are seeing Lexus as vulnerable, so they’re pulling out all the stops,” said Bill Visnic, an analyst at U.S. auto website Edmunds.com. The failure to beat Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus has been “a burr under the saddle” of the German automakers in the 11 years since Lexus snatched the top spot.

BMW, Daimler AG’s Mercedes and Audi, the top-three luxury brands, dominate sales everywhere except the U.S., where Lexus gained popularity with its sport-utility vehicles and hybrids. The Super Bowl campaigns underscore their growth ambitions in the world’s biggest luxury-car market, as Lexus seeks to shake off the effects of Toyota’s recalls last year.

Close Race

Lexus sold 229,329 vehicles in the U.S. in 2010, compared with BMW’s 220,113 and Mercedes 216,448. Audi delivered 101,629 cars and SUVs in the country in the 2010, the first time its U.S. sales topped 100,000. Globally, all three German carmakers each sell more than 1 million cars annually, compared with about 400,000 at Lexus.

Aside from television commercials, Mercedes is spending $290 million on its factory in Alabama and will assemble the C- Class sedan there from 2014. BMW completed a $750 million expansion of its South Carolina plant late last year, while Audi has vowed to double U.S. sales to 200,000 by 2018.

Lexus won’t follow its German rivals to the Super Bowl, which will be held near Dallas this year. The Toyota unit, which saw its U.S. lead over BMW shrink by more than half in 2010, won’t air any spots or sponsor game-related events, said Allison Takahashi, a Lexus spokeswoman in Torrance, California.

The 2010 game, won by the New Orleans Saints, was watched by 106.5 million people, making it the most popular American TV program ever, according to TV audience rater Nielsen. The popularity of the broadcast, which is watched as much for the commercials as the sports, makes it a sought-after platform.

‘Getting Bolder’

“This is us stepping up on the biggest stage and saying we belong there,” said Steve Cannon, vice president of marketing for Mercedes’ U.S. unit. “We’re getting bolder.”

The intensity of the competition is evident in a new Audi ad, which features a Mercedes S-Class. In the 60-second spot, which began airing Jan. 13 as a run-up to Audi’s fourth straight Super Bowl campaign, the lights in the Mercedes sedan turn off as the narrator says, “Goodnight old luxury.” The ad then promotes Audi’s A8 flagship as the face of “new” luxury.

The marketing battle could spill over into better deals as manufacturers vie for market share even with many buyers still scarred by the recession.

“When you look at Audi’s ambitions and the size of the Toyota war chest backing Lexus, it seems that you’ll see increased incentives,” said Edmunds.com’s Visnic. “It’s still a little bit not cool to park a big new BMW in your driveway. They still have to tease buyers out of their bunkers.”

Facebook Contest

BMW bought two 30-second spots as it advertises at the Super Bowl for the first time in 10 years, Jim O’Donnell, head of BMW’s U.S. unit, told reporters at the Detroit auto show.

The Munich-based company on Jan. 21 started a Facebook contest around its Super Bowl commercial featuring the revamped X3 SUV, which is built in South Carolina. Contestants try to guess the configuration of the car to be featured to win a two- year lease and a trip to the factory.

Mercedes will push a younger, hipper image by focusing on sporty new models. The spot will feature a roadster version of the $185,750 SLS supercar, the new C-Class coupe as well as the revamped CLS luxury four-door coupe and SLK hard-top roadster, spokeswoman Donna Boland said.

In addition to the spots, Mercedes is sponsoring a tweet race in which teams driving specially-equipped vehicles need to generate traffic on Twitter to win a C-Class coupe. The four two-person teams will have to generate about 10 tweets per mile, or about 15,000 tweets, to reach Cowboys Stadium from respective starting points in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Tampa. The teams also must complete tasks on the way.

Rev Run, Nick Swisher

“That’s a crap load,” said Todd Sanders, a tweeting ice fisherman and Green Bay Packers fan whose team will drive an S- Class with front seats equipped with four-stage massage.

“The last thing you want to do is spam your followers,” said Sanders, 37, a web manager for the University of Wisconsin- Green Bay. “It’s going to be tricky.”

The three-day race, which starts Feb. 2, features hip hop artist Rev Run from the group Run-D.M.C., tennis star Serena Williams, rock musician Pete Wentz and New York Yankees baseball player Nick Swisher as coaches to drum up traffic. The celebrities each have more than 1 million Twitter followers.

The tweet race marks an “aggressive” play by Mercedes for consumers under 40, said Ian Beavis, a Los Angeles-based Nielsen consultant. The average U.S. Mercedes customer is 54, according to San Diego-based researcher Strategic Vision.

“We’re pushing perceptions of the brand,” Mercedes executive Cannon said earlier this month in Detroit. “We’re captivating the imagination of younger drivers.”

Tweeting Race

While there’s a risk Mercedes loses control of the promotion to Twitter users, the costs are relatively low and the automaker has the opportunity to gain a following it can tap into again, said Nielsen’s Beavis, who advises auto companies on brand and media strategy.

“This is a total leap of faith,” said Jennifer Marshall, the Chicago-area mother of seven-year-old twins who tweets and blogs under the tag nuckingfutsmama. “I was totally in shock when I heard we were going.”

Marshall, 38, turned to Twitter as “a way of getting that instant feedback that a stay-at-home mom doesn’t get,” she said. She and teammate Meredith Sinclair, fellow mom tweeter known as Hoo-Dee-Hoo, will drive a diesel-powered GL SUV to the game, while their husbands watch the kids.

“They’re a little jealous,” she said.

Packers take road less traveled to Super Bowl XLV

CHICAGO -- Over the last five weeks, here is the damage the Green Bay Packers have left in their wake en route to reaching Super Bowl XLV in Dallas:

» They eliminated the Giants from the playoffs by beating them in Week 16, and then defeated Chicago in the regular-season finale. That victory over the Bears allowed the Packers into the playoffs and, as it turns out, made Chicago regretful it didn't close the door on Green Bay when it had the chance.

» As the No. 6 and final seed in the NFC, the Packers went to Philadelphia and knocked off the third-seeded Eagles, winners of the NFC East.

» They next went into Atlanta and hammered the top-seeded Falcons to make Atlanta's NFC-best 13-3 regular season barely seem like a consolation prize.

» Green Bay came to Chicago, the No. 2 seed, and upended its hated division rival Sunday to get to the Super Bowl. In beating Chicago for the second time in three meetings this season, they knocked Bears quarterback Jay Cutler out of the game and made an entire city question Cutler's toughness at gut-check time.

Green Bay's march has been marauding at its most precise. The team many projected in the preseason to be in the Super Bowl will play Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl brimming with confidence that they can't be stopped. Unlike the Steelers, who won two home playoff games, Green Bay has clicked off three straight road victories, matching their regular-season win total away from Lambeau Field.

"We rolled all the way down the road, the good thing about it, we're still on the road. We're going to Dallas," veteran wide receiver Donald Driver, who will be playing in his first Super Bowl in 12 seasons at North Texas' Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 6, said after Green Bay's victory over Chicago on Sunday.

Though Driver was referring to the Packers having to play away from home all postseason, he could have also been talking about the overall road Green Bay traveled this season. It's been a hard road, but it's one of two teams still on it. Players and coaches said it's been a galvanization of an internal fiber that's allowed the Packers not to veer so far outside the lines that they couldn't regain their traction. The only part of the past this team dwelled on was that when it lost, that it lost because of its own failures.

They never got blown out. They were in every game, losing by no more than four points all season. Every team has at least one stink job a season, but the Packers never did. Yet, they lost more games -- six -- than all of the teams they've vanquished except the Giants (10-6 record) during this torrid five-game run they're on.

Those are losses they're hardly regretting now. Had they not had to fight to get into the playoffs and then dig even deeper to win on the road, they might not be where they are, Driver said.

Earlier this week, Driver said this team was better than the 13-3, NFC North championship team in 2007 because it had to fight to survive. That team three years ago was stacked and victory was assumed -- but not like in a way where they felt invincible like they do now.

Instead, that team felt it could roll out the helmets and cleats and win. Some players and coaches said this week that in the 2007 NFC Championship overtime loss to the Giants, Green Bay felt all it had to do was break a sweat and it was on to face the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Giants, who'd lost to Green Bay already, were hot, working their way from a wild-card spot to get to that conference championship game.

They had no fear because they'd battled and overcome, and had to earn everything they had primarily on the road.

Sound familiar?

Ironically, these Packers took on the persona of those Giants, according to people with the team. Those who were around for that painful loss to New York summoned that experience -- from the other point of view -- to get where that team didn't.

Veterans, like Driver, who sensed this team was more focused, pushed younger players to make plays, mainly through example. Sunday against the Bears, it was second-year nose tackle B.J. Raji who came up with the decisive interception return for a touchdown -- yes, the 340-pound nose tackle who dropped into coverage -- and rookie Sam Shields who sealed the victory with a late interception.

Both of those plays came against Bears quarterback Caleb Hanie, a third-year player who was forced into action because of a knee injury to Cutler and ineffectiveness by his backup Todd Collins. Although Hanie valiantly led Chicago to two touchdowns in the fourth quarter -- something Cutler couldn't even do when he was playing -- he faltered when it mattered most. Green Bay's young guys didn't because they'd already been battle-tested.

The Packers either trusted or were forced to use their young players for much of the season and that experience paid off.

"The more you play, generally, the better you become," Raji said. "I have great guys around me, encouraging me, great coaches. How can I not get better?"

Green Bay has something going, the players know it and so do their coaches. This is where coach Mike McCarthy finally gets his due. He's managed to find his team's identity by sorting through a cornucopia of issues, namely injuries that have landed 15 players on injured reserve, and get players to believe in what and who they are.

Some teams, like the Steelers, are a rugged defensive team with a tough, clutch quarterback. The identity has been defined for years. Green Bay is a team of will. They have the hottest quarterback in the NFL and a punishing defense of their own, but McCarthy got them to believe that no element was more important than desire.

It's hard to fully capture what that means unless you are around it, but it's amassed into a feeling where one coach told me before Sunday's victory over Chicago that the Bears would have to come up with an "extraordinary effort," to win. Not because the Packers were better or had some magic scheme, but because extraordinary effort is what they've learned on this recent run.

Unlock HQ Video HQ video delivered by Akamai

That effort was best exemplified by Rodgers against the Bears, and not by what he did with his arm or legs but with his touchdown-saving tackle of Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher in the third quarter. Urlacher picked Rodgers off at the Bears' six on a pass attempt that could have put Green Bay up 21-0. Urlacher only had Rodgers to beat to turn the tide of the game, but Rodgers stopped him on Chicago's 45.

The Packers forced Chicago to punt on the ensuing series and stemmed the potential swing.

"Adverse situations were a major emphasis for our football team," McCarthy said. "Time and time again we've been stepping it up throughout the season. It definitely happened here today and that's why we're moving on to Dallas."

Added Rodgers: "I don't get paid to tackle but that was probably one of my better plays of the day."

The next challenge Green Bay will face might sound simple -- keeping up that momentum with the extra week off before Super Bowl XLV -- but it's something to consider: Since their bye week on Nov. 14, the Packers have played 10 consecutive games, going 7-3, including their current five-game winning streak. Driver briefly processed that, then reflected on the dozens of more pressing things the team has worked through and dismissed that scenario as an obstacle.

"We believe, we all believe in something," he said. "We're hot and when you're hot it's hard to stop this team. We got four more quarters to put that ring on our finger and we're ready to do it."