Super Bowl 2012: Powerhouse Teams That Won't Play in the Big Game

As we saw with the Denver Broncos defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, anything can happen in the NFL playoffs. Everything that we thought we knew from the regular season gets thrown out the window. 

With one powerhouse team already eliminated from the postseason, it is time to look at the others that will deal with the same fate as we move closer to the magical day in February known as "Super Bowl Sunday."

Here are three dominant teams that will fail to make it to Indianapolis. 

New England Patriots 

The AFC seems more wide open than ever before. The reason for that is because the top-seeded Patriots are vulnerable, and the remaining four teams follow their lead. 

Even the second-seeded Baltimore Ravens have questions about Joe Flacco as they get ready to play in their first playoff game. 

The Patriots are going to need one great defensive effort in the next two weeks in order to make it to the Super Bowl, and I am not sure that they have the ability to do it. They give up a lot of yards through the air, and this is a quarterback-driven league. 

Anytime a team has a glaring weakness like the Patriots, it is best to hedge your bets before going all in just because they have Tom Brady. 

New Orleans Saints 

The NFC is almost as crazy as the AFC, though there are two teams that appear to have separated themselves from the pack: New Orleans and Green Bay. 

While the Packers get to stay home all postseason, the Saints have to take their magic act on the road to San Francisco this weekend. 

We can praise Drew Brees and co. for their performance against Detroit on Saturday night, but they have not played a defense like the one they will see this week. 

Plus, the Saints have shown that they are vulnerable away from the Superdome. Candlestick Park is one of the worst fields in the NFL, so all that speed on offense won't do them much good this week. 

Green Bay Packers

The Kansas City Chiefs provided the formula to beat the Green Bay Packers: keep the game close, low-scoring and control the clock so Aaron Rodgers can't get on the field. 

There is a team in the NFC that plays great defense, loves to control the ball and can put up enough points to put some fear into the Packers. That would be the San Francisco 49ers. 

I know that there is some stigma against betting on a West Coast team traveling to cold weather cities, but the 49ers have had no problems traveling on the road this year. 

That air-it-out assault that the Packers have done so well throughout the regular season is not going to work in the playoffs, and unless they can find a defense capable of stopping someone, they are doomed to an offseason of regret and disappointment. 

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