Changing of the Guard..

It is the day after the Super Bowl. The start of the dead zone in sports. About six weeks until March Madness, two months until regular season baseball, and about 10 weeks until NBA playoffs. In any event, last night was a great game. Everything is over analyzed in this game, as we all know. I thought the Saints played an aggressive game and did what they needed to do to win the game. The Colts still could have won it, but I thought Caldwell played too conservative at the end of the 1st half. The Colts were caught with their pants down at the beginning of the 2nd half, and Peyton basically imploded in the 4th quarter. Not just the pick 6 he threw. He had a chance to score a TD, and then have 3 timeouts left at the end of the game to have a chance to win, and he mismanaged the clock by calling a needless timeout by the goal line, as well as almost throwing another pick into the hands of Saints player.

I see this game as the beginning of the end of the AFC dominance of this league. From 1984-1996 the NFC won 13 straight Super Bowls. From 1997-2006, the AFC won eight out of 10 years. Now the NFC has won two of the last three, and the AFC teams that have dominated the last decade all have pretty big issues. Meanwhile, when you look at the league, the teams on the cusp are in the NFC, such as the Saints (not really, since they just won, but still have franchise QB in his prime and young weapons and a young coach), Vikings (if Favre can keep this up), and the Cowboys (just a ton of talent on all sides of the ball). The Packers have a young pro bowl QB, and the Giants still have a bunch young talent and Eli in his prime. Not to mention the Niners (Hi Will!) and Falcons, who will both be sleeper teams going into next season, with potentially bigtime offenses. Lets look a the AFC...

Colts: Still at the top of their game, but losing this game could have a lasting impact. It is the toughest game in sports to lose, and franchises often feel the effects for years. People will say Peyton won't allow that to happen, but those same people didn't think Peyton would throw that pick 6. This was a very tough season for the Colts not to win it all (after not going for the undefeated season). This franchise has had some very tough playoff losses before, but this is the worst yet. Just look back at past Super Bowl losers and you will see the effect a loss in this game has.

Pats: A team on the decline in most people's minds. Brady and Bellichek are still in place but the defense is a mess, Welker may never be the same, and Moss is getting older. They need a a major overhaul to compete for a title.

Steelers: Tomlin and Big Ben are still there, as are the big defensive players (Harrison, Woodley, Polumalu). I would put them as the favorite in the AFC going into next year, but this year was very alarming. The D was a mess, and when the coach declared war on the league in early Dec, the team went out and lost to the Browns and the Raiders. There were locker room issues between Ward & Ben, and they showed a lack of fight down the stretch.

Chargers: How much longer are they gunna stick with this coach and core group of players? LDT will be gone, but this team has consistently choked in the playoffs (3 home losses in the last decade). They were the hot pick for the Super Bowl going into the playoffs, but not they need a change to that coaching staff/core to get this team over the hump.

Up and comers like the Jets, Dolphins, Ravens and Titans are lurking. I think we are seeing a change of the guard in the AFC, and the balance of power overall in the NFL. The key will be how the young QBs develop. The AFC has been lead by Brady and Manning over the last 10 years (and Big Ben to an extent). The AFC will now see if Young, Flacco, Henne, and Sanchez can grab the torch. In my mind, the NFC has the upper hand, as they have already won two of the last 3 and have a more developed crop of QBs ready to lead the way in Eli, Brees, Rogers, Ryan and Romo.

Oh, and the Jets will go 8-8 next season...