The NFL is the only one of the four major pro sports to have its All-Star Game at the end of the season. This makes some sense for the Pro Bowl; the league doesn’t need to interrupt its regular season to do any barnstorming. It’s also a more relaxed environment for the players – Honolulu in February, with no opponents to worry about the following week.

But will anyone watch when the AFC and NFC clash this Sunday? Nearly 100 million Americans have already seen one of the greatest football games ever at Super Bowl XLII. Conversely, last year’s Pro Bowl got a 5.1 rating, or roughly 5.75 million viewers. This year’s event might not even out-point NASCAR’s Budweiser Shootout at Daytona, not when Tom Brady and Randy Moss aren’t playing.

The Pro Bowl format can’t change until after next year, but don’t be surprised if the NFL moves the game to the weekend before the Super Bowl.

The San Diego Chargers (+14) might be in over their heads against the New England Patriots. But there is every reason to believe the Bolts can keep this AFC Championship close, maybe even pull off the upset. Reason No. 1: their surprise victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

San Diego has developed a lot since starting the season at 1-3 SU and ATS (including an embarrassing 38-14 loss to New England as 3.5-point road dogs). This is the first year of the Norv Turner regime, and he’s got a fresh set of assistants starting with defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell. While Rivers has developed under Turner’s guidance, Cottrell has tweaked his vanilla 3-4 defense, making it more aggressive to take advantage of the talent he has at linebacker.

I think the Chargers should be getting something a lot closer to that Week 2 spread. San Diego will harangue Tom Brady and bag the cash.

Start time: Sunday, Jan. 13th at 4:30 p.m. EST on FOX

Eli Manning must be beside himself. For the first time ever he’s found himself in a playoff situation the same weekend as big bro Peyton Manning. But unlike Peyton, Eli isn’t playing at home. Nope. The younger Manning boy is off to Dallas to face Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys and football analysts are saying it’s not going to be an easy road trip for these Giants.

For one thing, Terrell Owens will be back for the Cowboys and it’s going to take more than one Giant to stop that dude. Overall, the Cowboys’ offense is better than the Giants’ offense. And even though Eli Manning may be playing the best football of his NFL career, Tony Romo is the better QB in this matchup. (Giants odds to win the NFC Championship are 4/1; the Cowboys odds are 5/6.)

A word of advice to Eli: Work your Manning magic on Romo’s girlfriend Jessica Simpson and you MIGHT have a chance at taking this game out of his hands.

Fashion trends come and go, and some sports teams change their brands more often than the Chicago Bears change quarterbacks. But those teams that stick with their heritage develop brand loyalty, and no fans are more loyal than those of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

According to a survey by Turnkey Sports & Entertainment, the Steelers ranked No. 1 out of 122 North American pro sports teams in brand loyalty. “In the fan loyalty index they scored first; in team popularity they scored first, and in grade of ownership they scored third among NFL teams,” said Turnkey senior VP Haynes Hendrickson.

There’s no denying the Steelers are one of the enduring brands in pro sports. But polling 12,000 fans on their subjective views doesn’t always produce results that make sense. How about the Baltimore Ravens (No. 11) finishing higher than the Dallas Cowboys (No. 28)? Maybe the fact that this was an online survey had something to do with it.