Eight teams left to vie for the Super Bowl LIX title.
If we were to eliminate three based on the strengths headed into the Divisional Playoff Weekend, we would lop off the Houston Texans, Washington Commanders and Los Angeles Rams. But lest we recall, in 2011 the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI after allowing more points than they scored in the regular season.
So, we must accept, anything can happen.
Still, there are five teams that have all the characteristics necessary to deem them a Super Bowl winner without a backend conversation asking how the heck it happened.
The Kansas City Chiefs are looking to become the first team in NFL history to win three straight Vince Lombardi Trophies. They have the leadership both on the field and on the sideline that could allow them to accomplish something that seven other teams looked to get done after winning back-to-back Super Bowls.
The Green Bay Packers won the first two Super Bowls but failed to win it a third year in a season marked by the American Football League’s first triumph in the game when Joe Namath and his New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts to complete the 1968 season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers came up short of a three-peat twice. In 1976, they were defeated in the AFC Championship Game by the Oakland Raiders, who went on to capture their first Super Bowl two weeks later against the Minnesota Vikings. The Steelers captured Super Bowl rings in 1978 and 1979, but it was the Oakland Raiders who again snapped their streak by winning their second title to complete the 1980 NFL campaign.
The San Francisco 49ers looked for the hat trick in 1990 but lost in the NFC Championship Game to the New York Giants. In 1994, San Francisco beat the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game to thwart their attempt for a shot at winning a third straight title.
John Elway completed his Hall of Fame career by leading the Denver Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowl victories, but retired after the second triumph and wasn’t around in 1999 when the St. Louis Rams won it all. Two of Tom Brady’s six Super Bowl wins with the New England Patriots occurred in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, but in 2005 the Pittsburgh Steelers unseated the champs.
Seven times an NFL squad opened the season looking for a third Super Bowl win, and all seven have failed in that attempt. If the Chiefs become the first, so be it, but they have some stiff competition in front of them to accomplish that so far unreachable goal.
The Detroit Lions are one of a handful of teams to have never even participated in a Roman Numeral game, but this season they have led the pack most of the year with one impressive win after another. While the Chiefs were getting by in close contests, the Lions were consistently burying their opponents.
So … is it the Lions?
Well, experience does count at this level, and their primary competition in the NFC comes from a team that has won a Super Bowl and participated in one just two years ago, the Philadelphia Eagles. They have the number one defense in the league, a calling-card for a Super Bowl winner.
Perhaps the best two teams in the AFC square off this weekend when the Buffalo Bills host the Baltimore Ravens. No team has been better over the past two months than the Lamar Jackson led Ravens. They rank first in every offensive category over the past ten weeks and, wait for it, tops in defense over the same time period.
Still, they are in Buffalo on Sunday to meet a Bills team that hasn’t lost this year on their home field. If the Ravens survive this challenge, they would probably be forced to travel to Kansas City next week to meet the only other NFL team this year to not lose at home.
This is a huge challenge for John Harbaugh’s team. But unlike last week, when they were forced to play the Pittsburgh Steelers without any motivational factors in their favor and their pure talent was enough to earn a two-touchdown win, 28-14, now the Ravens talent is motivationally spiked. It begins with the challenge of meeting an undefeated home team and overcoming the historical problems Jackson has experienced in the postseason.
Talent plus challenge is a real good thing … and the Ravens have it in the AFC.
Qoxhi Picks: Baltimore Ravens (-1) over Buffalo Bills