After long last, the Super Bowl is finally upon us.  The Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers have vanquished all comers and made it to the precipice of excellence and a title.  The 49ers are looking to equal the Steelers seven Super Bowl trophies.  The Ravens are looking for their second.  Both teams have not lost a big game.  So, who will win and why?

San Francisco is favored by four points, and I think that is about right.  I think they are the better team.  They made it to the NFC Championship game last year, and probably should have won it if not for a couple of mistimed turnovers.  That was with Alex Smith at quarterback.  Now they have young Colin Kaepernick behind center, and he has proven to be much more dangerous than Smith ever could think of being.

Kaepernick proved against the Green Bay Packers that he can beat you with his legs, as he ran for over 180 yards.  The following week against the top seeded Falcons, he proved that he can beat you with his arm as well, as he made several key passes leading to big plays, and showed that he CAN lead the Niners to a come from behind victory over a talented team.

He had help in that of course.  The 49ers have one of the best defenses in the NFL, specifically against the run.  San Fran was able to shut down the Falcons running game after Atlanta got out to a lead and wanted to run clock.  This forced numerous three and outs and a couple of mistakes by Matt Ryan on 2nd and 3rd and long situations.  I honestly think Joe Flacco will find himself in numerous similar situations tomorrow.  Flacco is playing very well this postseason, but for his career, he has shown to be inconsistant.  I think he is due for a few mistakes.

San Francisco's pass rush is far more dangerous than Baltimore's as well.  Aldon Smith led the league in sacks for much of the year, until he was passed late by Houston's JJ Watt, and I think he can provide the pressure in passing situations that will make Flacco very uneasy.

If the Ravens try to do what the Falcons did, and rush their ends from the outside in an effort to contain Kaepernick and keep him in the pocket, San Francisco showed last week that will open up some seriously large interior holes for Frank Gore and LaMichael James to run through.

Baltimore has played excellent defense so far this postseason and seem to be peaking, but think about who they have played.  Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.  All three, with the possible exception of Luck, are largely pocket passers for finese teams.  San Francisco is anything but a finesse team.  They are a knock you on your ass and control the clock type of team.  I think they will have no problem moving the ball and will put pressure on the Ravens defense for much of the day.

So, it sounds like it will be a whitewash right?  Well, it could be.  If either team is capable of a one sided blowout, I think it is much more likely to be San Francisco.  But I don't think it will be a blowout.  I am expecting a pretty close game.

I think Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense will look to throw off the Niners by playing highly up-tempo, which could lead to several big plays downfield to talented wide receivers like Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin,  This could lead to a few easy scores.  The Ravens could also turn the game around if they are able to be as opportunistic against the 49ers as they have been so far in the playoffs against New England, Denver and Indy. 

I think the combination of both could keep Baltimore in the game, but in the end, I just think there will be too much Kaepernick, too much Gore and too much defense, and I see the San Francisco 49ers riding off into the sunset with their 7th Super Bowl trophy tomorrow by around 9:30.  I'm going with a score of 26-21, San Francisco.

what to you think?  Tell me why I am wrong.