For 18 weeks, this was the NFL’s bizarro season. Unexpected teams charged their way to the top of the standings while some of the familiar faces we’ve come to know plummeted out of the playoff picture entirely. I am here to report, after sifting through the wreckage of wild-card weekend, that the Super Bowl is still going to feel like the Super Bowl.
Welcome to my annual column in which, after the NFL playoff field is trimmed to eight teams, I rank all 16 possible Super Bowl matchups. I had thought a few weeks ago that I might be ranking a bunch of previously unthought of championship games. That notion took a bit of a hit last weekend, with some of the usual suspects dispatching of the teams we don’t typically see much in late January. Half of the teams still alive have been to the divisional round in at least two of the past three seasons. Five of them have played in multiple Super Bowls over the past 12 years.
