Patriots Fans’ Worst Nightmare Coming True in Jets-Steelers AFC Championship Game

If you took a room full of Patriots lovers in August and took an informal poll of the three teams they’d least like to see represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, the list would look like this: Jets, Steelers, Colts.

Peyton Manning‘s crew has already been knocked out, but unfortunately for New Englanders, the Jets will travel to Pittsburgh this weekend, and, well, one of them has to win. It’s a lose-lose situation across the region, and it’s one that has caused endless hours of internal debate among football diehards.

Here’s a quick case for and against the two remaining AFC teams, from a Pats perspective. (We’re going with the cons first, because really, there aren’t too many pros.)

Pittsburgh Steelers

Cons

• Ben Roethlisberger transformed himself into a public enemy with his offseason antics. You’d be hard-pressed to find many females who can stomach the guy, and that includes Steelers fans. He’s ruled himself out as a national figure to root for (expect a lot of Troy Polamalu feature stories over the next week).
• The Patriots’ legacy this decade is directly tied to the Steelers. A Super Bowl win would give the Steelers three in six seasons, which isn’t as good as three in four seasons, but it’s nothing to scoff at. Of course, none of those Steeler wins have or will have gone through the Patriots, but that doesn’t really matter when you’re simply counting Lombardi Trophies.
• Steeler fans and Patriots fans don’t get along and never will get along. Every Patriots fan with a Steelers fan in his or her life knows this all too well. A third championship will make the score 3-0 in Steeler fans’ eyes, and they won’t be shy to let Patriots fans know about it.

Pros

• The Steelers are a team with great history, if you’re a sucker for such things, and they play a likable brand of football. They block hard, they run hard and they hit hard. If you love football, you can get behind that.
• They’re not the Jets.

New York Jets

Cons

• They’re the Jets. They’ve been shooting their mouths off since last April, and they don’t intend to stop. Their confidence is higher than ever, and that’s directly the effect of beating the Patriots. Everything about the Jets makes New Englanders cringe at this point.
• Rex Ryan is a polarizing person, with some outsiders appreciating his style and others unable to stand him. There are, however, enough characters in the Jets’ locker room that just about nobody outside of New York appreciates. Bart Scott, LaDainian Tomlinson, Braylon Edwards, Antonio Cromartie, Santonio Holmes … the list goes on. For one reason or 300 reasons, a lot of Jets have said or done enough stupid things to get on peoples’ nerves. And those are the kinds of people that Patriots fans don’t want to see win.
• The Jets are supposed to be losers. A Super Bowl berth — even if they don’t win the whole thing — will throw the whole world off its axis.
• Have I mentioned they’re the Jets?

Pros

• You’d at least have the comfort of knowing the Patriots lost to the best team in the conference. Not much of a consolation, I know, but you have to take what you can get.
• The Patriots’ legacy wouldn’t take a hit, as the three possible Super Bowl winners haven’t won in quite some time (Jets won in January 1969, Bears won in January ’86 and the Packers won in January 1997).
• They’re not the Steelers.

Clearly, there won’t be any Patriots fans feeling too ecstatic Sunday night, and there may not be too many even tuned in to the game. It simply hurts too much.

But, one must win, so if you had to choose, what’s your pick?

Share your thoughts below.

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Who are you rooting for in Sunday's AFC Championship Game?SMarket Research