Reply #27: Michael Wilbon picks the Steelers to win:

[Penndems]

By February, Everyone Will See How Super the Steelers Are

By Michael Wilbon
Monday, January 3, 2005; Page D09

The NFL playoffs don't begin until Saturday, but the league's best team is already known. It's the only team with a 15-1 record. It's the team that didn't mail it in the final two weeks despite having a nice cushion, injured players and desperate quality opponents on the schedule. It's the team with the best defense of any team in the playoffs. It's the team that can run the ball and control the clock, or strike quickly by throwing deep down the field to a trio of receivers. It's the Pittsburgh Steelers, silly.

As a rule, it's a bad idea to pick against the champs in any sport until they're knocked out. And New England, at 14-2, ain't exactly chopped liver. But, in order to repeat, the Patriots will probably have to win at Pittsburgh in the AFC championship game. The problem with that is that the Patriots lost one game of consequence this season . . . at Pittsburgh. And every indication as the regular season closed for business yesterday is that these Steelers are just a teensy-weensy bit better than these Patriots.

Any responsible conversation about the playoffs starts and ends with the AFC side of the bracket and deals with the NFC only on an as-needed basis. That's because the NFC is a disgrace. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth seeds in the NFC have to be the weakest the conference has ever trotted out. Minnesota, St. Louis and Seattle are stiffs by playoff standards. The Packers, even with Brett Favre, are ordinary. Yet it's not out of the question that any of the aforementioned could beat Atlanta and/or Philly and get to the Super Bowl, which truly would be sad for the NFL. Sad enough, two of the hottest and most entertaining teams over the last seven weeks, the Panthers and Bills, couldn't remain hot enough to win yesterday and make it all the way to the playoffs.

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They can run in cold weather if necessary behind Jerome Bettis or Duce Staley. They can have Ben Roethlisberger throw deep to Hines Ward, Plaxico Burress and Antwaan Randle El if they fall behind or want to pick on a weak secondary. And the defense, ranked No. 1 in the NFL, is built to punish Peyton Manning or Tom Brady or Donovan McNabb, if it comes to that. The Steelers have a team built the old-fashioned way, to defend, run and pass in the NFL playoffs, which, by February, will result in a march through the Chargers, Patriots and Eagles, and a return to glory for one of the NFL's storied franchises.
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More:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43335-2005Jan2.html