4 NFL Teams You Don't Want To Meet in the Playoffs

The NFL playoffs are rapidly approaching with every game clock that hits zero, and with the postseason picture becoming even clearer, thoughts now shift from which teams will make the playoffs to which teams are the teams to beat once they reach them.

Here are four teams—two apiece from the AFC and NFC—that no opponent would like to have standing in their way in their respective quests to reach the Super Bowl.

The Pittsburgh Steelers

In the Ben Roethlisberger era, the Steelers have missed the postseason just twice, and they've won two out of the three Super Bowls they've made it to.

Clearly there is no more experienced team when it comes to the NFL playoffs than the modern Steelers, and they're easily the most intimidating opponent a playoff-bound team could hope to draw.

At 7-3 and in second place to the AFC North-leading Baltimore Ravens, the postseason isn't a guarantee for Pittsburgh.

But with two games ahead against the Cleveland Browns as well as contests against the Kansas City Chiefs and St. Louis Rams in their future, they're probably going to see the field in January. That's not exciting news for whichever team has to face them in the first round.

The Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers aren't unfamiliar with the postseason themselves, and as the most recent Super Bowl champions, have the biggest target on their backs. But that's going to be a hard target to vanquish once the playoffs begin.

At 10-0 presently, the Packers are also on a 16-game win streak that dates back to last season. Though they have a serious vulnerability in their defense, their high-powered offense seems more than capable of making up for that single, glaring flaw.

Barring any serious collapse, the Packers should be the No. 1 seed in the NFC, with a first-round bye in the playoffs.

They're clearly the favorites to win the Super Bowl, and though back-to-back championships are hard to come by in the modern NFL, there's little indication that the Packers will have much trouble achieving it.

The New England Patriots

The Patriots have struggled in the postseason as of late but that doesn't make them any less dangerous in the playoffs.

With a 6-3 record in an AFC East (populated with more struggling teams than true contenders) and the easiest schedule of any team in the remaining weeks of the season, there's little doubt that they'll see action in January.

Though far less dominant than the Patriots squad that notched three Super Bowl victories in the early 2000s, they have the experience and leadership to make another deep playoff run and at the very least strike fear into any team that has to travel to Foxborough to unseat them.

The New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints, the 2009 Super Bowl champions, had a rough go of things when they reached the playoffs in 2010, being defeated in their first game by the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks.

While the same defensive issues that marred their playoff run in 2010 still remain, that doesn't mean that they've become any less intimidating.

Experience is one of the most important assets a playoff team can have, and it's clearly something that skews in the Saints' favor whenever they take the field in January.

Boasting the league's most productive offense, New Orleans has far more going for it this year than they did in 2010, and the NFC South-leading squad should have far less trouble making it deeper than the first round of the postseason this year.