Many have worried this week about whether the often poor field conditions at Solider Field would muck up the NFC Championship Game between the high-flying Packers and the less airborne Bears. Those concerns were probably unfounded.
Here's ESPN's Rachel Nichols, tweeting about the field conditions:
Workers clearing snow from Soldier Field right now, heating coils underneath grass too. Championship Sunday - best day of the NFL season.
And the Wall Street Journal's Tom Oates says Soldier Field "looks OK":
Removing the cover at Soldier Field. Field looks OK, at least for now. Weather is sunny, about 20 degrees, some wind but not too bad.
Then, of course, there's CBS Sports columnist Mike Freeman, who enjoys a little hyperbole:
Good God: they're taking tarp off Soldier Field and the field looks awful. It's just dirt.
Who to believe? I'm going with the multiple "It's no problem" folks.
So, to assuage fears one last time: it is unlikely that field conditions at Soldier Field will create a terrible NFC Championship Game. Not impossible, but certainly unlikely.
Follow along with this StoryStream for further updates. And for more on these teams, check out SB Nation's Bears blog, Windy City Gridiron, and our Packers blog, Acme Packing Company.