I’m really looking forward to the BCS NFL Championship Game next week, with the AFC top-ranked San Diego Chargers facing off against the NFC top-ranked Chicago Bears.

The Bears topped the NFC polls by an easy margin over the other NFC contenders and became the first team to earn a unanimous #1 ranking in the FoxSports.com online media poll.

The AFC side was more controversial, though, as the Chargers overtook the Colts for the top spot after a week 16 loss by the Colts against lowly Houston and the Chargers’ week 16 win against Seattle.

The controversial final rankings were largely driven by the USA Today/Sagarin computer ratings, as the loss to the Texans really damaged the Colts’ strength-of-schedule and give Marty Schottenheimer his long-awaited first berth in the Super Bowl. Peyton Manning has proven once again that he can’t win the big one and will spend BCS NFL Championship Sunday at home watching himself in 7 different commercials, each airing 12 times during the game broadcast.

Under the previous NFL Playoff system the Colts-Texans game may have proved meaningless, as many late-season games became mere tune-ups for the playoffs as team’s playoff spots were already assured.

Now that the NFL has wisely followed college football’s lead, though, every regular-season game really matters as there is no longer the ridiculously bloated playoff system with 12 teams participating. Instead of Super Bowl berths determined on the field of play in what used to be called the “NFC Championship Game” and “AFC Championship Game”, the Super Bowl participants are wisely determined by a complex formula of human and computer polls, resulting in the scintillating Colts-Texans game in week 16 and doing away with the often boring conference championship games.