“Why not us?”
That has been the sentiment surrounding the NFL all season, which is why it is fitting to see four teams so evenly matched represent the league on championship weekend.
For the first time in NFL history, two No. 6 seeds could potentially share the field on Super Bowl Sunday.
Scary, huh?
In fact, if one sixth seed wins this weekend, it will guarantee the lowest-seeded Super Bowl in NFL history (Since the playoffs expanded to six teams per conference in 1990, no combination of seeds has added up to more than seven).
Setting aside the late-season dominance of the New England Patriots, fans and experts have struggled to crown a team dominant enough to lead their predictions all the way to Dallas, lending an ego boost to each and every team.
While fans and experts alike were ridiculing and dismissing the Bears, the injury-ridden Packers, loud-mouth Jets and the inconsistent Steelers, they were out battling in the trenches, proving to themselves they could be playing this weekend, and they are.
Remember every pre-class conversation in October about how much parity exists in the NFL this season?
Five weeks ago, the thought of the Chicago Bears hosting the NFC championship game and the Jets dismantling the Patriots in Foxborough was mind numbing. But, if we had just opened our eyes, we’d have all the Advil we need.
Only one team – the Baltimore Ravens – has played in more games this season decided by one possession or fewer than the Bears (10), Packers (11), Jets (11) and Steelers (10).
While the Patriots seemed miles ahead of the league at times, waltzing through opponents, they were unable to test their youth were mostly untested. But, how quickly we forget this is a” rebuilding year” for the Patriots!
Yet, all season we have been entrenched by the shortcomings of these remaining teams, not noticing that they have proven successful in clutch situations.
Maybe while these four had noticeable shortcomings, we unjustly focused on teams ranked ahead of them because they looked better at the time.
Sure, it was easy to say the Patriots were better than the Jets after they shellacked them 45-3 in Week 13. And of course, Atlanta was better than Green Bay in Week 12 when the Falcons seemingly held the juggernaut Packers offense in check.
But now, with no teams left to power-rank in front of them, we can’t help but notice the Super Bowl-caliber effort these teams have put in every week.
If the Packers and Jets happen to meet February 6 in Dallas, they would have respectively made two of the most improbable playoff runs in NFL history. Improbable by our standards, that is.
Or, the Bears and Steelers will have overcome early season issues at quarterback (some more delicate than others), and square off and represent two of the NFL’s traditionally best fan bases, after everybody else had written them off.
One thing is for certain, though, the playing field is as level as ever, just as it has been all season.
