Wild-card teams have what it takes for a super postseason
They stand at the base of Mount Lombardi, staring up at the twisting, narrow paths and treacherous switchbacks. They are four NFL teams with big hopes and even bigger challenges.
The Los Angeles Chargers, Indianapolis Colts, Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles are all looking to become that rare team that climbs from the depths, winning three playoff games on the road and then the Super Bowl.
There are a fresh four at the trail head every year, but this season could be different. Each of these four can make the case that it is a team of destiny, with the Colts opening at Houston on Saturday, and the Seahawks at Dallas, followed Sunday by the Chargers at Baltimore, and Philadelphia at Chicago.
“These are four games I would not touch as a gambler,” said Trent Dilfer, a former quarterback turned NFL analyst. “My gambling friends that come to me and say, ‘What should I do?’ I say that I wouldn’t touch these. I wouldn’t even look at the lines. Because you’re crazy if you think one of these games is a lock. These are true pick-’em games.”
Dilfer should know. He was quarterback of the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, who weren’t the first wild-card team to win the Super Bowl — the 1980 Oakland Raiders and 1997 Denver Broncos hoisted the trophy before them — but the first Super Bowl champion that had to win three road playoff games to get there.
Those Ravens were one of four teams
to successfully complete that three-game odyssey before winning on the biggest stage. The 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers did it, followed by the 2007 New York Giants, and 2010 Green Bay Packers.
By comparison, nine of the 10 participants in the past five Super Bowls were No. 1 seeds, with the only exception being the 2016 Atlanta Falcons, who were seeded second.
Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis was a fixture on that Steelers team that won at Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Denver, before beating the Seahawks in the Super Bowl in Detroit.
“Teams that do that, they have to be battle-tested,” Bettis said. “They have to have gone through the season and had a fair share of disappointment and ups and downs. What happens is, by the time you get to the playoffs, you’re already in playoff mode.”
Bettis likes the odds of those teams that, rather than securing a spot in the postseason early, had to scratch and claw down the stretch to stay in the hunt.
“A team like the Chargers, they knew they were in the playoffs a long time ago, so they have a different mentality than a Baltimore Ravens team,” he said. “Baltimore has been in playoff games for the last three weeks. Same with the Colts, same with the Eagles.