The way the Green Bay Packers blew through the regular season, it would be foolish to pick against them repeating as Super Bowl champions.
Yet they aren’t on the hottest streak nor playing the best football as January rolls around. And as the Steelers, Giants and, yes, the Packers have proven in recent years, being a wild card isn’t an overbearing burden, so don’t dismiss Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Detroit or Atlanta entirely.
New England, the top seed in the AFC with a 13-3 record, and New Orleans, No. 3 in the NFC, haven’t lost in the second half of the schedule. Like Green Bay (15-1), both have dynamic, sometimes unstoppable offenses led by magnificent quarterbacks, bolstered by a deep and dangerous group of receivers.
All three also have so-so defenses that often require Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Tom Brady to win shootouts. That’s a difficult way to prosper in the postseason, particularly when playing against a rugged, versatile defense such as the 49ers, Ravens and Texans possess.
“A lot of it is working on what we need to work on; working on things that have been a problem for us, that if they come up again we need to handle better,” Patriots coach Bill
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