Tough to pick the favorites in wide-open postseason

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!' "

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 preview

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.