Wild NFL postseason continues

Did anyone really see this coming?

The top three seeds in the NFL’s NFC have been bounced from playoff contention. On the other side, Tennessee’s top spot in the AFC meant nothing as a rookie quarterback downed the Titans to accomplish something no other rookie has done – win two playoff games.

Back in the NFC, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb is making phone calls for penalties, and the Arizona Cardinals – yes, the Arizona freakin’ Cardinals – will play host to the NFC title game.

It’s truly the most wonderful time of the year for NFL fans, and that’s not even taking into account now-former Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones being investigated for a 2007 shooting he allegedly ordered, or the Denver Broncos hiring a 32-year-old offensive coordinator to fill bigger shoes than his fired predecessor Mike Shanahan.

And, oh yeah, Tony Dungy has retired from coaching, leaving Indianapolis as its most successful coach in franchise history.

These NFL playoffs have provided an overtime finish, a Jake Delhomme implosion – six turnovers against the Cardinals – and a glaring look at how much the New York Giants and Eli Manning needed Plaxico Burress not to shoot himself in the leg.

Now, we’re down to two weeks left in the NFL season, and figuring out who will advance to football’s biggest stage – the Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 1 – is, well, as clear as mud.

On the NFC end, those silly Cardinals with some guy from Super Bowl lore named Kurt Warner at the helm have now won two straight playoff games as they head to their first conference championship game since the AFL-NFL merger of 1970. They’ll face the on-again, off-again Eagles, who hope to give McNabb another chance to throw up in the huddle of a Super Bowl game.

It’d be easy to say that recent history could determine what will happen inside the Glendale Bedpan – er, the University of Phoenix Stadium – on Sunday, but it’s not a valid point.

On Thanksgiving night in Philly, the Eagles drubbed the Cards 48-20 as Warner threw three interceptions. These same Cardinals lost to Carolina in October before beating them by 20 Saturday night despite being 10-point underdogs.

In other words, the only sure bet on Sunday in the NFC will be a stadium filled with bandwagon Cardinal fans.

The AFC end gets a bit tougher to figure out after Baltimore’s 13-10 win over Tennessee and Pittsburgh’s 35-24 demolition of the San Diego Chargers. 

Baltimore dropped two games to the Steelers this season, one of which was on a highly questionable last-minute touchdown pass to Pittsburgh’s Santonio Holmes. The combined winning margin for the Steelers in both games? A measly seven points.

Pittsburgh is probably the best team left in this puzzle of an NFL season, but with both top-seeded teams taking a one-and-done approach to this offseason, nothing and no one is a sure-fire lock to Tampa.

Of course, after the NFL season we’ve had, would anyone expect anything else?