The Super Bowl run is underway, and somehow I get the feeling it will be another first time winner after the recent pattern. That would mean Dallas (5 titles) Green Bay (3) and Denver (2) can forget about taking home the Lombardi. Kansas City and Baltimore haven’t won in a long, long time and the Colts haven’t won since they were in Baltimore. Speaking of Baltimore, they have a title as well, along with St. Louis and New England as the last 3 winners aside from defending champion Tampa Bay who is sitting out. That leaves Tennessee vs. Philadelphia, in a meeting of teams that lost their only trip to the big game. Or maybe Carolina vs. Seattle in a meeting of teams who have never qualified.

#1 (1) New England (14-2): An appropriate 31-0 win over the team that dropped the same score on them back on opening day. Ready for a Super Bowl run? Too much competition I say.

#2 (4) Tennessee (12-4): Everyone got a turn at the Bucs this year, and they took theirs. While everyone pays attention to other teams, the playoff pressure is off of them.

#3 (3) Kansas City (13-3): They drilled another team with a losing record which has been their thing all year. Unfortunately for them, no losers make the playoffs.

#4 (2) St. Louis (12-4): With home field on the line, do you think you might want to give Marshall Faulk more than 18 touches? Nice job guys, losing in Detroit to force a trip to Philly.

#5 (5) Philadelphia (12-4): Losing Brian Westbrook puts pressure on Duce Staley, who might not be up to the task. Paging Correll Buckhalter.

#6 (7) Indianapolis (12-4): Unimpressive win other than the fact that James rushed for 170 yards and evidently is all the way back from major knee surgery.

#7 (10) Green Bay (10-6): Favre has a chance to carry his team to another title, but it will be tough to win at St. Louis and Philadelphia back to back.

#8 (6) Denver (10-6): They mailed it in against the Packers, and now must find a way to repeat their strong showing at Indianapolis.

#9 (8) Dallas (10-6): They couldn’t run on the Saints and Carter threw 3 interceptions while their defense produced no turnovers. Even with all of that they lost by only six points. That’s how good their defense can be.

#10 (12) Carolina (11-5): The forgotten playoff team because they won a soft division and lack killer instinct. You can only win so many close ones.

#11 (13) Baltimore (10-6): No record for Lewis, and probably no playoff win either because their offense is not playoff caliber.

#12 (14) Seattle (10-6): Apparently bookend road wins were all they needed to make the playoffs.

#13 (11) Miami (10-6): It took a last second field goal to beat the Jets and salvage a 4-4 home campaign.

#14 (9) Minnesota (9-7): Awful is what you are when you lose to 4 teams who are a cumulative 12-48 against the rest of the NFL.

#15 (18) New Orleans (8-8): They were possibly an extra point away from a winning record, and like the Dolphins are clearly the best team not the make the playoffs two years in a row.

#16 (15) Cincinnati (8-8): Losing to the Browns for me really discounted what a great run they made to stay in the division race.

#17 (16) San Francisco (7-9): They claim to still be in salary cap hell, and now face the likely loss of Terrell Owens. Rebuilding is in their future.

#18 (17) Chicago (7-9): They played tough every time out, but sadly it wasn’t enough to save Jauron’s job.

#19 (19) Tampa Bay (7-9): How embarrassing is it for your defense to get shredded by a guy who was in street clothes retired last week?

#20 (20) NY Jets (6-10): They have many of the components to make a run next year, but will need a solid draft and some shrewd free agent moves.

#21 (21) Pittsburgh (6-10): The clock struck midnight on Tommy Maddox this year, and I think it is time to go in another direction.

#22 (26) Jacksonville (5-11): They are moving in the right direction, but will need to get some defensive help in the draft.

#23 (22) Houston (5-11): Mostly they were a nuisance, and I don’t think they will be ready to compete until 2005.

#24 (23) Buffalo (6-10): The talk is that Drew Bledsoe is done as a Bill. The franchise is probably better off without him at this stage.

#25 (29) Detroit (5-11): Beating a team like St. Louis in the finale shows just what kind of positive impact Mariucci has had on this team.

#26 (27) Washington (5-11): Spurrier’s NFL experiment is now over. Most meaningless record has to be Bruce Smith’s career sacks mark.

#27 (30) Atlanta (5-11): They want the Nike commercial to become a reality and Terrell Owens to sign. That would be scary.

#28 (28) Cleveland (5-11): They officially eliminated their Ohio rivals from the playoffs, but this is a team in disarray.

#29 (29) Oakland (4-12): Something tells me that mass changes might produce a decent team next year. You heard it here first.

#30 (30) NY Giants (4-12): Another awful showing from a team that went from Super Bowl contenders to crap in a big hurry.

#31 (31) San Diego (4-12): Not even beating the Raiders could get them out of the #1 pick, and now they have to avoid another Ryan Leaf debacle.

#32 (32) Arizona (4-12): With the top pick clearly in their grasp they went out and upset the Vikings, booting them from the playoffs. Well done.