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Green Bay made the playoffs only because of a miracle play by two Arizona Cardinals most of the Packers wouldn't even recognize.
Now that the Packers are in, they've got a decent shot at getting to the Super Bowl. And they can thank Josh McCown and Nathan Poole for a last-second desperation touchdown pass that allowed Arizona to knock out Minnesota.
``I don't even know who those two guys are,'' Packers center Mike Flanagan said. ``Never heard their names before. But, 'I LOVE YOU!'''
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Neither McCown nor Poole will be in the playoffs, and the Cardinals certainly
won't be -- they've made it only once in the past 22 seasons. But given the
ups and downs of almost every playoff team and the wild nature of the final
Sunday of the regular season, anyone has a chance to advance.
So there could be a repeat of the 2002 Super Bowl: New England, top-seeded in the AFC, against St. Louis, second-seeded in the NFC.
But there also could be a repeat of the 1998 Super Bowl: Green Bay against Denver. The Packers are the fourth-seeded team in the NFC, and the Broncos are sixth in the AFC, but they were Nos. 2 and 4 when they played six seasons ago.
Just look at the playoff quarterbacks: Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Donovan McNabb and Steve McNair at one end of the spectrum, with Anthony Wright, Jake Delhomme and Quincy Carter at the other. But Wright, Delhomme and Carter have first-rate defenses behind them, and Super Bowls can be won with running and defense.
A look by conference:
AFC
New England stands out because it has a standout quarterback (Tom Brady) and
a defense that allowed only one touchdown in its final six home games. And the
Patriots will be at home for the playoffs, courtesy of a league-best 14-2 record,
which includes a 12-game winning streak to end the season.
Historically, teams on that kind of run end up in the Super Bowl -- and often win it.
But history doesn't count as much in an era of parity.
The Patriots don't blow out many opponents -- they simply drive them nuts with Bill Belichick's disguised defensive schemes. Few teams have solved them over more than a decade, and he has used those schemes to win two Super Bowls: as head coach with New England, and defensive coordinator with the New York Giants in 1991.
The guy who might solve the puzzle is Mike Shanahan, as good with offense as Belichick is with defense.
Shanahan's Broncos are 10-6 but are really a better team than that.
Their midseason slump was due primarily to injuries to Jake Plummer and others, and they have beaten the Colts and Chiefs, higher-seeded teams with better records. They go back to Indianapolis on Sunday, two weeks after a 31-17 victory there over the Colts in which they held the ball for 45 minutes.
Conventional wisdom says it's hard to beat a team twice, but Denver was so dominant that it could win again in Indy. The Colts' defense couldn't stop backup running backs Quentin Griffin and Mike Anderson in that game and will face Clinton Portis this time.
A win sends the Broncos to Foxboro for an interesting Shanahan-Belichick tactical matchup.
Kansas City, the other AFC team with a first-round bye, finished 13-3 but allowed 45 points in late losses in Denver and Minneapolis. And the Chiefs almost lost to the Broncos at home.
The Titans and Ravens, who meet in Baltimore on Saturday, are both physical, unrelenting teams. McNair gives Tennessee an edge over Wright and the Ravens, but he has had leg problems for the last month.
So even though a Denver-New England matchup wouldn't be the AFC final ...
Ranking the AFC : 1. New England; 2. Denver; 3. Tennessee; 4. Kansas City; 5. Indianapolis; 6. Baltimore.
NFC
Philadelphia stumbled first, losing the home-field advantage in the penultimate
week of the regular season. But St. Louis handed it back by losing 30-20 in
Detroit on Sunday.
That makes the Eagles and Rams beatable, especially since Philadelphia will be without Brian Westbrook, its running back/return man/receiver and its second-best offensive weapon after McNabb. The Eagles also have found their new home less hospitable than the old Vet -- they were just 5-3 there, and 7-1 on the road.
The dark horse in the NFC might be Green Bay. They won their last four games and six of their final seven. Brett Favre already has won a Super Bowl and still has the ability to carry a team.
The Packers open at home against Mike Holmgren and the Seahawks, whom they beat 35-13 on Oct. 5. The Packers are playing better now and compared to this time last season, when they lost to Atlanta, their only playoff loss ever at Lambeau Field.
A victory would send Green Bay to Philadelphia, where fans always fear the worst and seem more apprehensive about facing Favre than the Rams in a possible conference title game. That's because while St. Louis was 8-0 at home, where it has won 14 straight, it was 4-4 on the road this season.
Dallas beat Carolina 24-20 at Texas Stadium during the regular season.
That game features two good coaches and two good defenses with questionable quarterbacking -- Delhomme and Carter. The winner will most likely lose in Philadelphia or St. Louis.
Ranking the NFC: 1. Green
Bay; 2. St. Louis; 3. Philadelphia; 4. Carolina; 5. Dallas; 6. Seattle.