For most NFL players and teams, the season is over. Some franchises are planning for the draft, some are making coaching changes. Some players are getting ready for the Pro Bowl, others are taking a much needed rest from the pounding their bodies took during the NFL season.

There are 12 teams and 540 players however that are still focused on this season left thinking only about how to get to the Super Bowl.

The playoffs begin this week with the wild-card round. Recent results indicate teams playing on the opening weekend of the postseason have a good chance of getting to the big game. It's happened the last four seasons, with three of those clubs winning the championship.

On Saturday, the playoffs begin with two more repeats from Week 17: the wild-card New York Jets at the Cincinnati Bengals, followed by Philadelphia Eagles at the NFC East winner Dallas Cowboys.

The Baltimore Ravens will be in New England to play the Patriots on Sunday, followed by defending NFC champion Arizona Cardinals hosting the Green Bay Packers in a rematch of the season finale, won 33-7 by the wild-card Packers.

"We're in the same position as last year, where we had to win the last couple of games," Baltimore Ravens running back Willis McGahee said Monday. "Once we get in there, we know we can do damage, and now we're in there."

Those eight teams are searching for that special spark that can carry them into February.

Two of last year's coaching changes, with the Jets and Indianapolis Colts, worked out well. Jim Caldwell, the designated successor when Tony Dungy retired, won his first 14 games before sparking endless debate by benching many starters in the second half against Rex Ryan's Jets.

Ryan's team took advantage, rallying to win in Indy, then routing the Bengals 37-0 Sunday night to grab a playoff berth.

"Making the playoffs, it is special, there's no question about it," the outspoken, emotional Ryan said. "The way we did it, with the ups and downs we had during the season, it feels pretty good right now."

Feeling better are the Colts, plus New Orleans Saints, San Diego Chargers and Minnesota Vikings, all with byes. And perhaps the most intriguing aspect of wild-card weekend is the coaching angle.

Just like John Harbaugh in Baltimore and Mike Smith in Atlanta a year ago, rookie coach Ryan has guided the Jets to the postseason. He's joined by Harbaugh, whose Ravens went to the AFC title game last January, and coaching heavyweights as Bill Belichick and Andy Reid.

Belichick's Patriots have been inconsistent. Reid's Eagles were among the NFL's hottest teams, surging from 5-4 to 11-4. Then they went flat at Dallas, lost 24-0, and showed so many holes it's difficult to fathom them plugging all of them up in six days.

Wild Card Super Bowl Winners

The idea is to get into the tournament. Anything can happen in a one month single elimination tournament. Think about it, if you are a Wild Card team and you get hot and go on a three game winning streak, you are in the Superbowl. When you look at it that way, it's not as impossible as one would think.

The current NFL playoff system allows for all the division winners to make the playoffs, and then also the two non-division winning teams with the best records make it to the playoffs as "wild card teams".

Since the Wild Card format was instituted, 6 NFL Teams have won the Super Bowl and three of them coming in the last four seasons.

The first to do it was the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XV; it wouldn't be accomplished again until 17 years later in Super Bowl XXXII when the Denver Broncos won as a wild card team. There would be a short wait for it to happen the next two times as the Baltimore Ravens accomplished this feat in Super Bowl XXXV, followed by the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL. The Giants won Super Bowl XLII in dramatic fashion and the Steelers tried their best to out-do that drama in Super Bowl XLII last year.

The bottom line..... if your team doesn't have a first round bye, don't let any of the pundits tell you that there is no way that they can go to the Super Bowl. Tree of the last four years I've won quite a bit of money picking the Super Bowl winner getting fantastic odds because they were a Wild Card team and did not have a first round bye.

Any of these teams have a chance to make it and you are not out until you actually lose a game. So until your team loses a game, keep the faith and enjoy.... - Robert Finley

Bob has been covering college football as an "interested party" for over 20 years. He's pretty darn good at it too......

If you haven't voted in our poll on the site yet please do so. We are trying to get a feel for how our readers are looking at the game of NCAA Football so we can write about things they want to hear. The poll question is, "Do you think the NCAA should have a Playoff to determine the National Champion rather than the BCS / Bowl System?" - Please vote.

Have a Fantasy Football or Rotisserie baseball question? Want to know who to pick up, who to activate and who the hot prospects are? Ask Dr. Roto. Let Dr. Roto guide your team to a league championship.

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