The results of these games lead to a renewal of one of the great NFL postseason rivalries. The 49ers and Giants have met seven times in the postseason, with the 49ers leading the series 4-3 (4-1 at home).

The first two times (1981, 1984) the 49ers and Giants met in the playoffs – the 49ers won rather comfortably on their way to Super Bowl victories. Then, 1985 and 1986 came which saw the Giants simply dominated the 49ers, as they went on to win the 1986 Super Bowl.

The next match-up was one of the most notable games in NFL postseason history. In 1990, the 49ers were coming off back-to-back Super Bowl victories when they faced the Giants. The 49ers were leading in the 4th quarter when Leonard Marshall ended Joe Montana’s career as 49er. Despite this, the 49ers still led the game with less than 3 minutes remaining and a chance to seal the win with one more first down. Roger Craig fumbled, which set-up a Giants’ last second field goal on their way to a Super Bowl victory.

In 1994, the 49ers avenged the 1990 loss by destroying the Giants 44-3 en route to another Super Bowl victory.

The most recent match-up, during the 2002 season, saw a crazy ending. The Giants were up 38-14 in the third quarter, when Jeff Garcia led the 49ers to 25 unanswered points. The Giants were able to get into field goal range, but a botched snap on the kick and an attempted saving pass cost the Giants the game. There was also a controversial no-call on pass interference because of an ineligible man down-field for the Giants.

Back to this season, the 49ers and Giants are both entering Sunday on top of their game. It’s been ten lonely years for the 49ers who haven’t made the playoffs since 2002, while the Giants have seen some success in recent years, notably winning the 2007 Super Bowl against the then undefeated New England Patriots.

This game will be a hard fought, hard hitting game that will surely be entertaining to watch. But who will win?

I’m going with the 49ers for several reasons:

• The 49ers own the league’s best turnover differential (+28), which was key in their win over the Saints (forcing 5 turnovers).
• The 49ers’ NFL best rushing defense, which held the Saints (6th best rushing offense) to only 37 yards, will be playing the NFL’s worst ranked rushing offense. Brandon Jacobs is not at his best when forced to run hard without lanes, and the Niners will not leave many lanes open.
• The 49ers’ are a run first team, and as well as the Giants’ front four have been playing over the past four weeks – they still struggle against the run at times. The Packers rushed for over 6 yards per carry (147 total yards) last week. If the Giants’ don’t play better than that, it will be tough to beat the Niners, who have a much better defense than the Packers.
• The 49ers are the home team and the game will have sloppy conditions which favors the more conservative play of the 49ers.

A 49ers win will put them in the Super Bowl for the 6th time in franchise history, and they are currently the only team in NFL history to appear in more than one Super Bowl without ever losing one. But that is for another day…

Be sure to catch the game: Sunday, January 22nd @ 6:30PM EST on FOX.

[Photo Credit: Ezra Shaw/Scott Boehm/Getty Images via ABCNewsRadioOnline.com]

Usually the weather has potential to play a factor in a big playoff game, but not this time. Both teams are cold weather teams and I do not expect there to be any problems handling the bitter cold that is expected.

In the end, this is Rodgers game to crawl out of the Favre shadow and take the Packers to the Super Bowl. Then if he is able to win the Super Bowl, Green Bay will become Rodgers’ town and team.

My Prediction: Packers 31 – Bears 17

[Photo Credit: worldcorrespondents.com]

Brett Favre’s last pass as a Green Bay Packer was an interception in overtime against the Giants that ended up costing the Packers the game.

Many people speculated that play was one of the reasons Favre eventually came out of retirement. Who wants to have their legacy remembered with your last pass being an interception that cost your team a chance at to get to and win the Superbowl? Not many would say I’m fine with that.

Favre went on to emotionally retire after that game, and then decide he wants back – only the Packers had already moved on. This lead to a nasty situation in Green Bay, which ended in a trade to the Jets. Favre had a great start with the Jets, but was terribly ineffective down the stretch. Favre retired again, but once again didn’t want to go out like that. He decided he wanted to play again for the Vikings. The Jets released him and he was able to join the Vikings in a long drawn out process.

He got his wish to take charge of the Vikings. He beat the Packers twice for some revenge and delivered the Vikings to the NFC Championship. In the championship game he did it again, no it was not Brett Favre magic, it was a Superbowl costing INT.

Will this be Favre’s last pass ever?

Personally, I don’t think so. He still has shown he has some game (you can argue this was his best statistical season ever), and who wants to go out the way he did?

Would love to hear your thoughts, post them below or send me a tweet @MikesPickz