by Yaj Nitsuga

Created on: January 06, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Steelers won the Super Bowl as the 6th seed. Is their a wild card team that can duplicate that feat this year?

By wild card team, I mean exactly that. The Seahawks and Eagles will be omitted from this discussion because they won there divisions (although I would give the Seahawks much of a change to make the Super Bowl either).

In no particular order:

Kansas City Chiefs: The Chiefs are 3-5 on the road. The 3 wins were all over teams that didn't make the playoffs. The Chiefs will play every single game in the playoffs on the road. 3 straight road victories for the right to go to Miami seems like a long shot no matter who they face.

New York Jets: Discussion on the Jets should start with the great job that Coach Eric Mangini did with this team...but there lies the problem. The previous statement implies that the Jets have a lack of quality talent. Mangini's coaching skills have disguised the fact that the Jets don't throw the ball well, don't score a lot, and have a weak run defense. The Jets are the Colts if they didn't have Peyton Manning...and most don't give the Colts much of a chance to make the Super Bowl.

New York Giants: In my guess-timation the team with the least likely chance to make the Super Bowl. You have to dig pretty deep just to find a reason they may win a game. OK, Tiki Barber, but that's it. The defense should be good, but isn't. Eli has been horrible. The receivers have talent, but someone has to get the ball to them. The team lacks discipline and have won only 3 games since October. There is no compelling reason this team will be playing in the Super Bowl.

Dallas Cowboys: What happened to these guys? Three weeks ago you would have given them a chance to make the Super Bowl. Since then midnight has struck on Tony Romo's fairy tale season and the Cowboys lost to the Eagles, giving up first place in the division, and then losing to the Lions to eliminate any chance of gaining it back. The defense was once good, but have given up 30.4 pts/game in December. No matter what happens, the Cowboys have to go to Philadephia or New Orleans on the road to the Super Bowl. The Eagles swept them and the Saints beat them silly 42-17 during the season.

In my highly unprofessional opinion, there is no wild card team that stands a chance to duplicate what the Steelers did last year. That would mean that the Super Bowl combatents would come from the top 4 seeds in each conference.

Next time I'll let you in on who I think that will be.

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