NFL Playoff Predictions: The Denver Broncos Are This Year's Seattle Seahawks

Let's take a trip down memory lane. 

On Jan. 8, 2011, the sub-par 7-9 Seattle Seahawks were hosting a Wild Card Game against the 11-5 New Orleans Saints.

Many analysts and experts thought the Seahawks would be an easy road win for the Saints, but that wasn't the case.  

The game was back and forth for the majority of the first half, with Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck outplaying Drew Brees—the 2010-11 Saints Super Bowl MVP quarterback.

With the Saints down 34-20 halfway through the third quarter, New Orleans made a furious comeback, pulling within four points of the Seahawks with about four minutes left in the game.

And that is when running back Marshawn Lynch went into beast mode. 

Lynch busted out this 67-yard monster touchdown run to pull ahead 41-30, which proved to be the nail in the coffin for the heavily favored New Orleans Saints.

Fast forward to Jan. 7, 2012. 

The Denver Broncos are doing exactly what the Seahawks did a year ago: They beat a heavily favored opponent that deserved to be playing at home, and did so with an impressive and memorable play to win the game, which just happened to involve a massive stiff-arm like Lynch's play.

So after that incredible underdog victory, what did the Seahawks do?  They did exactly what the Broncos will do: get severely outplayed by the New England Patriots.

When you stop and look at the Seahawks in last year's playoffs, and the Broncos in this year's playoffs, the similarities are uncanny.  

Both teams underperformed throughout their respective seasons.  Both teams earned the right to host a Wild Card Game as division winners, playing teams who were significant favorites.  

Both teams had under-performing offenses that led to a lot of losses.

The point is, although the Broncos earned a better record this year and played significantly better defense than last year's Seahawks, they are similar teams.

Tthe Broncos are set up to fail against the Patriots, just as the Seahawks did against the Bears in last year's NFC divisional round.

The Broncos beat a better team in the Pittsburgh Steelers, and did so with a memorable play that will go down in Broncos' history as one of the franchise's brightest playoff memories (much like the Seahawks' underdog win last year came on a touchdown run that will go down as one of the most classic plays in their franchise's history).

The Broncos are going to fizzle out against the Patriots, just as the Seahawks did against the Bears; not because they aren't as good of a team, but because it's nearly impossible to not get caught up in the hype of their memorable victory, forgetting what kind of team they really are. 

If the Broncos somehow pull off another miraculous win, this time against Tom "Mr.Perfect" Brady and the Patriots, the Broncos will solidify themselves in NFL lore as one of the most improbable success stories in recent memory. 

If the Broncos lose like many are expecting them to, they will suffer the same fate that the Seahawks did last year, being remembered as an overrated team that didn't deserve to even be in the NFL playoffs, much less make it to the divisional round.

I admittedly love Tim Tebow, and I hope that he and the Broncos find a way to beat the Patriots, but I don't think it will really happen. 

Tebow and the Broncos' magical season will most likely come to an end this Saturday night in Foxboro, Mass., and if it does, the season will fall right in line with other memorable ones, being very special for fans, but ultimately not being enough.

Tebow, you should probably do some serious Tebowing before this one, or at least eat a bag of skittles like last year's playoff beast Lynch would.