Super Bowl: Smart money is on … everyone

There were fourteen until the Seattle Seahawks reigned victorious in Super Bowl XLVIII. We’ve seen plenty of craziness this season, so perhaps a dark-horse playoff team will emerge from the pack for an unforeseen Super Bowl run. Arizona has a 29 percent chance to win the title, followed by Carolina (20 percent), New England (18 percent) and Denver (11 percent).

Arizona might be the one team that could make New England an underdog for the first time this season.

The Patriots (12-4) blew a golden opportunity to get the No 1 overall seed in the AFC Playoffs and secure a home-field advantage.

The second-seeded Cardinals ended their 2015 campaign with similar numbers to the Panthers – scoring 30.6 and allowing 19.6 points per game, respectively – but their final mauling at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday will have done nothing for their confidence. Most pundits are expecting the Seahawks to win that game though the Vegas odds for the NFC games are not out yet. However, the Pats would be playing elsewhere for the rest of the postseason.

Super Bowl 50: Which team will hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy on February 7? The 13-3 Cardinals are about as even a match-up with the Panthers as you can find in the NFC and could represent Carolina’s biggest challenge to reach the Super Bowl. The problem for Denver is that so far this season Manning has only played well after taking at least a week off. That means he should be OK for the divisional round, but if his team wins that match, he will likely struggle in the conference championship match. Pittsburgh is 4-4 on the road, though Ben Roethlisberger helped the Steelers win the Super Bowl 10 years ago by winning three consecutive road games. The big question remains whether or not Alex Smith can win a Super Bowl. That’s a bold statement about Tom Brady and Bill Belichick in the post season, as the Patriots enter the playoffs having lost two straight and four of their last six games.

In the NFC, the top-seeded Panthers looked unstoppable for much of the regular season, until their quest for a flawless 16-0 record came to a shuddering halt against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 16. Green Bay will need the defense to step up.

If Cincinnati beats Pittsburgh in the wild-card round, New England will host the Bengals. Pittsburgh heads to Cincinnati (12-4) for the first round. That may be the first real tough game they have had since they started their win streak. They have beaten both the Packers and Vikings over the past month, including a convincing 38-8 victory over Green Bay.