Chiefs-Broncos Matchup Week Two Playoff Feature Loss To K.C. Is What Relegated Denver To Wild-Card Status And Underdog Role

The Kansas City Chiefs had the best record in the AFC this year and the Denver Broncos were the NFL’s best team for the first half of the season. New England was in the Super Bowl last season and Pittsburgh made it two years ago.

In other words, the four teams left in the AFC playoffs all have legitimate Super Bowl hopes.

The NFC? Unless there’s a major, major upset, wait until the conference title game, when Green Bay is at San Francisco.

That was reflected Monday in the betting lines set forth by the people in Las Vegas who know such things. The 49ers and Packers each are favored by 13 over Minnesota and Tampa Bay, respectively. In the AFC, the lines are under a touchdown: Pittsburgh by six at home over New England and the Chiefs just 1-1/2 over the Broncos.

“If I had all the playoff money John has taken out of my pocket, I’d be a rich man,” Kansas City coach Marty Schottenheimer likes to say of John Elway, who beat him twice in AFC championship games when Schottenheimer was with Cleveland and almost did again in one of the landmark games of the 1997 season.

That was Nov. 16 in Kansas City. Elway took the Broncos from his 20 to the Kansas City 17 in a minute to set up Jason Elam’s field goal for a 22-21 lead with a minute left. But in the defining moment of the Chiefs’ 13-3 season, backup quarterback Rich Gannon drove Kansas City far enough to allow Pete Stoyanovich to kick a 54-yarder that just got over the crossbar and gave the Chiefs a 24-22 victory.

Had Stoyanovich missed, the Chiefs would have been three games behind the Broncos and probably would have wound up a wild card. Instead, they went on to win the AFC West and Denver was the wild card after losing three of its final six games.

The Broncos beat Jacksonville 42-17 Saturday, setting up the matchup of the weekend.

Here’s a look ahead (in order of appearance) at this weekend’s menu.

New England (11-6) at Pittsburgh (11-5)

Just three weeks ago, when the Steelers came back from an eight-point deficit in the final 2 minutes to beat the Pats 24-21 in Foxboro, New England was written off. Pete Carroll wasn’t Bill Parcells, Curtis Martin was out, there was no way they were going back to the Super Bowl.

The Pats are still the odd team out in the AFC.

But their defense has been Parcellian in the last two games, both against Miami. On Sunday, they held the Dolphins to just 162 yards and made Dan Marino look every bit of his 36 years.

Yes, Pittsburgh is 7-0 at Three Rivers Stadium since an opening-game loss to Dallas - the only game this season in which the Cowboys looked like their old selves. And yes, Martin is still questionable for this game.

“It’s going to be very, very tough going into Pittsburgh,” Carroll says.

Still, don’t write off the Patriots. Last year’s experience certainly won’t hurt.

Minnesota (10-7) at San Francisco (14-2)

Another replay - the 49ers won 28-17 in Randall Cunningham’s first start at quarterback for the injured Brad Johnson.

The Vikings’ win over the Giants was a combination of luck and Minnesota’s experience. New York’s young team couldn’t collect itself when things starting turning sour and Cunningham, Jake Reed, Cris Carter and John Randle held together for the Vikings.

But the 49ers won’t wilt.

Yes, they don’t have the cornerbacks the Giants used to contain Reed and Carter most of the game - New York’s Jason Sehorn is close to what the 49ers’ Rod Woodson used to be. But they have Steve Young at quarterback instead of Danny Kanell, which means they won’t go into a shell if they take the lead, and they’ll get more than field goals off turnovers.

Most likely this is Dennis Green’s last game.

Tampa Bay (11-6) at Green Bay (13-3)

The Bucs played decently in two losses to the Packers this season and they probably outplayed them in the 26-21 defeat in Green Bay.

But that game was Oct. 5 and this will be Jan. 4, when the temperature is almost sure to be below 42 degrees (if not 42-below). The Bucs have never won in those conditions, and while this is a totally different team than the one that had 14 straight losing seasons, there seem to be too many things going against them to carry the Bucs’ turnaround one step further.

And here’s a bottom line: Discount the 41-38 loss at Indianapolis, in which the Packers were clearly looking ahead to Dallas, and the Packers have outscored their opponents since Oct. 27 by an aggregate 216-92.

Moreover, no opponent in that stretch (save Indianapolis) scored more than 17 except Buffalo, which got 21 in a meaningless final game. And four of the eight teams the Packers beat during that stretch made the playoffs: the Patriots, Lions, Vikings and Bucs.

One more stat for good measure - the Packers have won 26 straight at Lambeau, 23 in regular season, three in the playoffs.

Denver (13-4) at Kansas City (13-3)

It would be poetic justice if Denver, which was shocked by Jacksonville as the top seed last season, makes it to the Super Bowl this year via the wild-card route.

But the wild-card journey can hurt - literally. Terrell Davis, who is absolutely crucial to the Denver offense, bruised his ribs in the third quarter after running for 184 yards against the Jaguars on Saturday.

“There is no decision to be made,” Davis says of his status for this game. “I’m playing. If it improves as much this week as it did since Saturday night, I’ll be fine.”

Schottenheimer’s dilemma is at quarterback. Gannon was 5-1 as a starter after Elvis Grbac separated his shoulder, and Grbac was rusty in his return in the meaningless final game against New Orleans. Still, Grbac will be the starter.