I think a lot of people were underwhelmed by the matchups of the Wild Card Round. The difference between the top two seeds in each conference and the bottom four was just so great that it felt more like a warmup for the real playoffs than it actually felt like playoff football.

Well, now we're into the REAL playoffs, where we'll see real teams like the Steelers, Titans, Giants, and Panthers. Anybody have the balls to pick the upsets? It almost seems foolish to even take the gambles, doesn't it?

REMEMBER: EVERYBODY CAN PLAY AND THE SCORES ARE STILL CLOSE.

Baltimore @ Tennessee - Sat., Jan 10, 1:30 p.m. PST

Arizona @ Carolina - Sat., Jan. 10, 5:15 p.m. PST

Philadelphia @ New York Giants - Sun., Jan. 11, 10:00 a.m. PST

San Diego @ Pittsburgh - Sun., Jan. 11, 1:45 p.m. PST

Enjoy round two everybody!

For the details on the Head-to-Head matchup, including the tiebreaker prediction, read after the jump:

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Now, this is the fun part again. With everything starting from scratch, we had a ton of new / return players stoking the fire of competition, the fire which burns like an ant under a magnifying glass, by which I mean the magnifying glass of life, which all doesn't mean very much if 1) you're an existentialist and life is meaningless, therefore rendering everything that came before also meaningless, or 2) you were actually reading the words and understood that they were nonsense.

Rule number... ummm... 6 of writing: don't mix your metaphors. Or similes. Whatever it was I was mixing. Nobody likes your miserable semantics, or you for that matter. So, there!

So the moral of the story is: don't mince your words, because you'll just end up insulting imaginary people if you do. So let's not mince any more words, unless you want to get another tongue lashing. Jerk.

Here are the results for the first round of the Free-for-All Competition. Below those, you'll find the official results for the Head-to-Head Playoff Tournament.

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What follows is a brief historical recap of the San Francisco 49ers' 1970 season. Relive the completion of the NFL-AFL merger. Relive the 49ers' triumphant return to the playoffs. Relive John Brodie's MVP season.

Head Coach: Dick Nolan

Key Losses: WR Clifton McNeil, CB Kermit Alexander

Key Additions: CB Bruce Taylor (DROY), DE Cedric Hardman, RB Larry Schreiber

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FOOCH'S NOTE 5:00PM: I'll move this to the top again later on Friday, but I want to make sure everybody who wants to take part in our postseason prediction contest gets their predictions in.  There are two games: 1) a postseason free-for-all that EVERYBODY on the site can take part in, even if you didn't take part in the regular season version.  There are prizes for the top 2 finishers.  2) The second is our tournament for the top 8 finishers from the regular season.  Reminder to them, get your picks to me (ninersnation@gmail.com) before Saturday's kick offs.  I've gotten 2 people's picks so far.  I'll probably email a reminder later tonight to those who have not emailed me yet.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: PLEASE READ THIS FOR ALL DETAILS ABOUT THE TWO POST-SEASON PREDICTION GAMES, AND ASK FOR CLARIFICATION ABOUT ANYTHING WHATSOEVER IN THE COMMENTS SECTION.

First thing's first, people: There are still plenty of prizes left!

Fooch and I have been corresponding over the last week, and we've worked out how to distribute the prizes. Fooch is breaking it down explicitly for everybody in a comment within this thread. Check it out to learn more.

First: THE FREE-FOR-ALL:

EVERYBODY CAN PLAY THIS GAME!!! The slate is wiped clean and every player begins the sprint for the playoff crown at zero points. Scoring is identical to the regular season, except that perfect predictions count for 5 instead of 10. In a 4-week competition, spotting somebody 10 points is simply unfair. Other than that, the only change is that I will ask you to provide a tiebreaking prediction during the Super Bowl week only, in which you'll be asked to predict the total net yards for the game.

So, for EVERYBODY WHO WANTS TO PLAY, the games for the upcoming week are:

Atlanta @ Arizona - Sat., Jan. 3, 1:30 p.m. PST

Indianapolis @ San Diego - Sat., Jan. 3,  5:00 p.m. PST

Baltimore @ Miami - Sun., Jan. 4, 10:00 a.m. PST

Philadelphia @ Minnesota - Sun., Jan. 4, 1:30 p.m. PST

HEAD-TO-HEAD TOURNAMENT PLAYERS ONLY: When you submit your predictions to Fooch, be sure to make a prediction for the total net yards in the Philadelphia / Minnesota game. This could potentially mean the difference between a win and a loss.

For those playing in the HEAD-TO-HEAD TOURNAMENT, make sure you read past the jump for rules. It's also very important the eight of you consider e-mailing your predictions directly Fooch.

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Here we go. Week 17. All the apples. End of the road. Last of the Mohicans. Jungle Book. Heart of Darkness.

Wait... where was I going with that...?

Ummm....

Oh yeah! Wait... no, that's not it....

Oh yeah, I remember now. This:

(Continue Reading After the Jump to See the Final Results for the Season-Long Prediction Contest)

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I finished all my christmas shopping today. I'm finishing all of my christmas wrapping right after I finish with these results. WIth that in mind, I'll forego my usual brilliant tangential ramblings. I won't even talk about how by the New Year I will be the fattest I've ever been. Hell, as a sign of how dedicated I am to doing this thing quickly, I won't even make fun of groug. And he's a ripe target. You all know he is, too.

But none of that is to say that I won't ramble brilliantly or tangentially, or both even. That's not to say that I'm not 180 pounds and climbing, with no looking back in the foreseeable future. Hell, that's not even to say that groug's fat melon head isn't shaped like a butt. It's just to say that I don't have time for all that crap today.

Sorry. Maybe next week.

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What follows is a historical summary of the San Francisco 49ers' 1969 season. Read on to see how the 49ers fared in Dick Nolan's second season as the head coach. Read on to see why 49ers fans in 1969 had good reason to be thankful for the Colts. Read on to find out about the greatness that was Gene Washington.

Head Coach: Dick Nolan

Key Losses: HB/TE John David Crowe, LG/C Bruce Bosley, LB Matt Hazeltine, DE Clark Miller

Key Additions: WR Gene Washington, LB Skip Vanderbundt, K Momcilo Gavric, TE Ted Kwalick, DT Bob Hoskins

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You've all been waiting awhile. Let's make this quick.

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What follows is a brief historical recap of the San Francisco 49ers' 1968 season. Read on to see how Dick Nolan's first year with the team turned out. Read on to see the impact that Dave Parks' departure had on the offense, and the price of that departure on quarterback John Brodie. Read on to learn a thing or two about a true 49er great: Charlie Kreuger.

I'd like to publically thank Grumpy Guy for helping me out this week, and in the week's to come. If there is something that you see here that goes unreferenced, that's because I learned it when corresponding with him. I think he's helped to bring about one of the best Year-by-Years to date.

Head Coach: Dick Nolan

Key Losses: HC Jack Christiansen, WR Dave Parks, TE Monty Stickles, LT/LG John Thomas,

Key Additions: C Forrest Blue, LB Skip Vanderbundt, DE Tommy Hart

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