by Ethan Johnson
January 2, 2007
It's a wrap. 17 weeks of regular season action have come to an end, and now it's playoffs time, baby! Here's a quick rundown of the fates that befell the teams that I have been following:
New Orleans Saints (10-6): SUPER BOWL BABYYYY WOOOT!!!! And a first-round bye at that. I'm kinda annoyed that the Saints dropped their last game of the season going into the playoffs, however they pulled Drew Brees out fairly early so I can't entirely fault them for losing. If they left all of their starters in and lost, well, that would have been sad. I am ultra jazzed up for round 2 of the playoffs, and beyond! But will the road to the Super Bowl pass through the...
Chicago Bears (13-3): Yeah, about that losing the last game of the seaon to a weak opponent with most/all of your starters? Lame. And certainly not a good omen for round 2 of the playoffs (Chicago has the other first-round bye). Still, Chicago leads the NFC this year, however when 7-9 teams are vying for playoff slots I'm not sure what to read into that. If the Bears ultimately go to the Super Bowl, then I want them to go all the way, so comparisons can be made going forward to the 2006 Bears. Of course, Rex Grossman will be deified in the aftermath, but I'll know better. Then again, Jim McMahon was deified after 1985, and it shocked me to hear years later what a terrible quarterback he was. Hmmm. Speaking of terrible...
Cincinnati Bengals (8-8): Wow, what a disappointing year. Maybe I expected too much after Carson Palmer returned from knee surgery. Also, who died and decided that the AFC was the powerhouse conference these days? It used to be that the NFC championship game was essentially the Super Bowl, because you knew that the AFC team was going to take it under the chin. Not anymore! 8-8 would have been good enough to win the division on the NFC side this year, whereas 8-8 didn't even scrape the Wild Card ranks on the AFC side. Wow. I think Cincinnati has some positives to build on, the least of which being Chad Johnson not being an ass like Terrell Owens was wont to be in Dallas. Staying out of legal trouble will be another huge plus for the Bengal roster. Hem hem.
Teh Rest: Indianapolis goes 11-4: Cris Collinsworth et al on Football Night in America declares their season over. Indy ends the regular season at 12-4. Much is being made about whether Peyton Manning can go to, let alone win The Big One, but I think the cat is out of the bag: Indy has a poor defense. And though Indy can shred through everyone with their high-powered offense, a few turnovers, tipped balls, and three-and-outs opens the door for their opponent to shred through their swiss cheese defense. (OK, wow. 12-4 was good enough to play in the Wild Card games this coming weekend. San Diego? 14-2. Baltimore? 13-3. Holy crap!)
Dallas is in the playoffs, but not very convincingly. They've dropped 3 of their last 4 games, and Tony Romo, while still the Flavor of the Month, isn't going to single-handedly win games for them. If they win the first game, I'm thinking their playoff road ends in the 2nd round. Not sure if Bill Parcells is coming back next year for more of this circus. Terrell Owens shouldn't, but I have low expectations for his departure during the off season.
Forget teh rest, it's playoffs time baby! Goooooooooooo Saints! <EM>
