WHO’S OUT: Four of eight NFL divisional winners were decided Sunday in a bizarre turn of events.
With wins in their final game, the Dolphins (AFC East), Chargers (AFC West), Vikings (NFC North) and Panthers (NFC South) were crowned the winners of their respective divisions. Heading into Week 17, the Steelers (AFC North), Titans (AFC South), Giants (NFC East) and Cardinals (NFC West) had already clinched their divisions.
All eight teams are playoff-bound along with the AFC wild cards (the Colts and Ravens) and NFC wild cards (the Eagles and Falcons).
The Dolphins seven-point victory over the Jets sealed their fate. A slaughtering of the Broncos in San Diego gave the Chargers control of the West. Ryan Longwell’s 50-yard field goal with just five seconds remaining lifted the Vikings past the Giants and into the playoffs. And John Kasay’s last second 42-yard field goal helped the Panthers edge out the Saints. Had he missed, the Falcons would have won the division.
The Colts had already claimed one AFC wild card spot, and the Ravens took the other with a romp over Jacksonville.
The Eagles, whom didn’t seem likely to be playoff-bound, lucked out with a Bears loss and a victory over the struggling Cowboys.
WHO’S OUT: A solid but Tom Brady-less Patriots squad, Brett Favre, some team that failed to hold a three-game advantage over the Chargers three weeks ago, Jerry Jones’ unit and those losers who couldn’t beat the Raiders.
Patriots (11-5): Although they won their finale and finished with an excellent record, the Pats needed the Jets to beat the Dolphins.
Jets (9-7): They needed to get past the Fins and hope for the Jaguars to beat the Ravens. Brett Favre failed miserably and so did Jacksonville.
Broncos (8-8): Even though it finishes with an equivalent record to divisional foe San Diego, Denver needed a win against the Chargers to win the West title. A 31-point Charger victory proved the Broncos were not worthy off a playoff seed.
Cowboys (9-7): Tony Romo once again proved to be a terrible quarterback in the month of December and the Cowboys (a heavy favorite to win the Super Bowl earlier in the year) season is over on the same day as the winless Lions.
Wade Phillips (9-7): Can’t see the Cowboys not firing the coach. He should be permanently banned from the Cowboys’ new stadium next year.
Buccaneers (9-7): A win over the Raiders would have sent the Bucs to the playoffs. Simple. No problem. Right? Wrong. The Raiders pulled the upset.
ROSE BOWL: The Rose Bowl has not been won by a Big 10 team for nine years (Wisconsin over Stanford), and if matches like this one keep coming up, it may be another 10 years before the Pac-10 falls to the Big 10.
The No. 8 Nittany Lions stand absolutely no chance against the fifth-ranked Trojans in Pasadena, as Southern California seeks its 24th Rose Bowl victory in its 33rd appearance overall.
Although legendary coaches Pete Carrol (5-2) and Joe Paterno (23-10-1) both hold winning records in bowl games, the advantage is clearly in the hands of the Trojans whose top ranked defense gives up only 7.75 points per game and will be playing less than 20 miles away from home.
Not that it matters much, but Penn State lost to Southern California 14-3 in the 1923 Rose Bowl.
This time around, expect the Trojans to score much more points than 14 and the Nittany Lions to score not much more than three.
Prediction:
PSU 10
USC 35
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