Chapter 633: Pre-Game Anticipation
After the four Divisional Playoff games ended, the 2011 season only had three games left: two Conference Championships and one Super Bowl showdown.
Playoff matchups are always full of countless surprises and changes, and this year was no different. Tebow's brutal loss, the Packers' defeat, the Ravens' stumble, Brady's dominance... a series of historical records were broken, and four more spectacular games were played. But among them, the game between Lu Ke and Brees was undoubtedly the hottest topic.
Lu Ke became the biggest star to shine in North America.
According to league statistics, in just twenty-four hours, Lu Ke's number fourteen jersey skyrocketed, becoming the new champion of the best-selling jersey list in the United States. For the next seven days, he firmly held the top spot, and the sales numbers continued to climb, showing an incredible amount of energy.
From thirteen wins to a last-second victory, from an undrafted rookie's ugly duckling story to a swan that shined in the league, from an unknown Chinese quarterback to the biggest discovery of the season, from a loss on Thursday Night Football to a breakout performance on Monday Night Football, and finally delivering the most incredible four minutes of a game on the Divisional Playoffs stage...
After a long regular season of constant buildup and accumulation, he finally erupted with an amazing light!
Jersey sales were just the tip of the iceberg. On social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, Lu Ke's name was at the top of the trending topics list, just like Kurt Warner's "Cinderella" first season. All eyes and focus were on Lu Ke.
"Can Lu Ke become the next Kurt Warner?"
In the first week of the regular season, after defeating the Seattle Seahawks at home, Lu Ke threw five touchdowns and achieved his highest quarterback rating of the season. Since then, this topic has always been a hot one, but before this, it was just a topic. No one believed that Lu Ke could reach such a height, and no one even believed that Lu Ke could last for half a season.
Until now.
At this moment, with the San Francisco 49ers entering the NFC Championship Game, this was no longer a topic that stayed on paper. The potential was turning into endless possibilities. He only needed to win one more game to go to Indianapolis and stand on the Super Bowl stage.
What's more, the 49ers' opponent would be the New York Giants, a team they had already defeated once this season. In the tenth week of the regular season, the two teams delivered a classic last-second victory, exhausting every last bit of energy to determine the winner. This rematch was worth looking forward to.
For the 49ers, this was a game they absolutely couldn't take lightly. Although they won the regular season matchup, both sides fought until they were completely exhausted, and the victory was only a hair's breadth away. A slight difference could lead to a different outcome.
For the Giants, this was a revenge game. They had unfortunately missed the victory in the regular season, and now was the important moment to prove themselves again. With a little more effort and a little more fight, the result might be completely different.
In an instant, all eyes were focused on the upcoming Conference Championships, or more accurately, the NFC Championship Game.
Admittedly, the AFC Championship Game also had many talking points: the showdown between the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens, the meeting of the number one and number two seeds, the red-hot Tom Brady of this season against the formidable defense of Ray Lewis, the fourth-ranked offense of the regular season against the third-ranked defense of the regular season, Bill Belichick versus John Harbaugh. It was a classic offense versus defense battle, and every topic was a hot one.
It's worth mentioning that these two teams did not play each other in the regular season, but the New England Patriots lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who had the number one defense in the league, while the Baltimore Ravens won against the San Francisco 49ers, who had the third-ranked offense in the league. This might be a reference for this AFC Championship Game.
However, the many topics of the AFC Championship Game seemed to lack some kind of chemistry. It wasn't tense enough or exciting enough.
As for the NFC Championship Game, purely from a paper strength perspective, the matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants was unequal. In the regular season stats, the 49ers' offense and defense were both ranked third in the league, while the Giants' offense was tenth and their defense was twenty-fifth. The gap between the two teams was too great, and there wasn't much to talk about.
It's no exaggeration to say that this season, the two teams' forms seemed to be on completely different levels. The 49ers were a runaway train, getting better and better, and they made it into the playoffs as the biggest underdog in the league. The Giants, on the other hand, had their ups and downs, and they barely made it into the playoffs by beating the Dallas Cowboys at the last minute at home.
What's more, in the regular season matchup, the 49ers defeated the Giants at home.
In every way, the outcome seemed to be not much of a suspense, and the strength of the two teams was far from the offense versus defense matchup in the AFC Championship Game. But playoff matchups are never just about the numbers on paper. Otherwise, the Denver Broncos wouldn't have defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the New York Giants wouldn't be standing in front of the San Francisco 49ers.
The discussion about this game went far beyond just the calculation and inventory of their paper strength.
First, the New York Giants. With a record of nine wins and seven losses, they barely made it into the playoffs, but they erupted with unimaginable fighting power. In the Wild Card game, against the Atlanta Falcons, who had a record of ten wins and six losses and ranked seventh in offense and eighteenth in defense, the Giants delivered their strongest performance of the season, a clean kill with a score of 24-2.
In the Divisional Playoff game, against the Super Bowl favorites, the Green Bay Packers, who had fifteen regular season wins and who had beaten the Giants 38-35 in the thirteenth week of the regular season, the Giants once again stepped up their game and showed their might. The final score of 37-20 left the Packers with no temper at all. The inconsistent team lived up to their name.
All of this couldn't help but remind people of their magical season four years ago. With a regular season record of ten wins and six losses, they were the second seed in their division, behind the Dallas Cowboys. But at the last minute, they just barely made it into the playoffs along with their division rival, the Washington Redskins. Then they went on a rampage. They successively defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Green Bay Packers to reach the Super Bowl stage.
In the final battle against the New England Patriots, who had an undefeated regular season record, Eli Manning threw a last-second touchdown pass to defeat them and win his first Super Bowl ring.
What about this year?
Next, the San Francisco 49ers. They missed the playoffs for eight consecutive years, had a major team overhaul in the offseason where almost half of the players and coaches were replaced, lost all four preseason games, and their starting quarterback was injured and absent before the regular season... All the terrible things happened at once, and no one was optimistic about this team's prospects for the season.
Four and a half months later, they had made it to the NFC Championship Game. In the Divisional Playoff game, against Drew Brees, who had just had a historical season, the fearless Lu Ke delivered the toughest performance of his career. Especially in the last four minutes of the intense showdown, the two sides combined to deliver four touchdowns. The score kept going back and forth, and the game was so exciting that it almost suffocated the spectators.
The young and hot-headed San Francisco 49ers didn't fall apart. They gritted their teeth and held on until the end, recreating "The Catch" from thirty years ago, and they made a last-second victory to proudly enter the NFC Championship Game.
Lu Ke, one of the most outstanding players this season, once again showed the strength and resilience of Joe Montana, which gave all the fans hope for the team. What's more, he was the first Chinese quarterback in history, and every step he took was creating history for himself and for the league.
So, can Lu Ke go one step further?
Now, these two teams and these two quarterbacks stood in front of each other, fighting for a spot in the Super Bowl. Everything was starting from scratch.
Not only the fans, and not only the neutral audience, but even the league had to agree that even though the AFC Championship Game seemed more intense on paper, the NFC Championship Game was the real focus in reality.
So, on January 22nd, the Conference Championships ignited the fire! At 3 p.m. Eastern Time, or 12 p.m. Western Time, the AFC Championship Game started first. At 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, or 3:30 p.m. Western Time, the NFC Championship Game followed.
In other words, the league chose the NFC Championship Game as the highlight of the night, putting the spotlight on Lu Ke and Eli Manning, hoping that this game could once again make history.
Tick-tock, tick-tock, six days passed in the blink of an eye in busy training. The day of the Conference Championship Game had arrived. It seemed that they didn't even have time to catch their breath before they were once again facing a top-tier matchup where they couldn't afford to lose. But for the professional players, they prepared in an orderly and systematic manner, as if it was just another normal game day.
After the pre-game warm-up, the 49ers players returned to the locker room one after another to make their final preparations. There was less than fifteen minutes left before the NFC Championship Game officially began.
The chatter in the locker room never became noisy. There was a sense of suppression. Even though everyone tried to get rid of the negative emotions, the tension and excitement still couldn't help but take hold of their hearts, making everything chaotic.
No one knew who was the first to notice the sound from the side. They fell silent and listened carefully. Then slowly, the static sound of the radio waves gradually became clearer and clearer.
It was the final moments of the AFC Championship Game.
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