The NFL season is down to nail biting time for concerned fans. 8 teams left. 2 wins to the Super Bowl in Houston. Very exciting.

The a couple of great things about this playoffs. The first is that any of these 8 teams is capable of wining. These are good team. The elite of the NFL and all that. However the salary cap has created a situation of parity in the league that has reached its apotheosis this season. The second is that you're looking at crop of quarterbacks that has to be unparalleled in the history of the league.

Tom Brady - Patriots
Steve McNair - Titans
Marc Bulger - Rams
Jake Delhomme - Panthers
Brett Favre - Packers
Donovan McNabb - Eagles
Peyton Manning - Colts
Trent Green - Chiefs

Brett Favre is warhorse, a sure first ballot Hall of Famer, who despite the fact that no one can figure how he justifies the spelling of last name, is one of the best QBs ever to take the field.

Steve McNair and Peyton Manning shared the MVP trophy this season. I think it should have gone straight up to Manning, who is one of the classiest players ever to take the field. But you have to respect McNair, both for his incredible athletic ability but his regular decisions to play hurt.

Marc Bulger and Trent Green are the modern day mad bombers, throwing up huge numbers. I'm a huge Kart Warner fan, and both of the QBs labored as his back up at one point or another and I think it has a great deal to do with their success as starters.

Donovan McNabb got off to a slow start this season, but he was injured. As his health improved, he was on a mission and made Rush Limbaugh look like a fool when the he led the Eagles to 9 straight wins in the middle of the season. No one, not even McNair, has speed, his intensity, his power and his accuracy. When healthy, McNabb is in a league of his own.

Jake Delhomme is the only quarterback of the 8 who isn't a proved a winner, but I suspect that fact is going to be erased over the next few seasons. He did throw for well over 3,000 yard this season in a conservative offense and ripped up Dallas in the Wild Card game.

THE PREDICTION:

This is tough, because I have to fight my heart over my head. I'm a lifelong Rams fan and I would love to see them win it all again. I would love to see a rematch with the Patriots. But I don't think the Rams can beat the Pats. They can, however, beat every other team left in the NFC. If they beat Carolina, which they should, they will either play the Pack at home or go on the road to Philly. Either way, they come home with the victory and represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.

The AFC is tougher to call. I don't the Chiefs can win. Their D is too porous and Priest Holmes and Trent Green can't keep up in a shootout with the Colts with Peyton Manning and Edgerrin James. The Colts will go into Arrowhead and come away with a big raod victory. In the other bracket, there's going to be a war. The Titans went into New England and handed the Pats one of their early season loses. Since then the Pats have been firing on all cylinders and haven't lost once. Can the Titans do it again? I don't think so. It's going to be too damn cold this time around. That leaves an AFC Championship game of Pats vs. Colts at Gillette Stadium. This is also a tough one to call. My head says Pats. My hearts say Colts. My heart is going to win this one. The Colts are also one of the toughest teams on the road in the history of the league.

So that leaves a matchup of the Indianapolis Colts and the St. Louis in Houston for Super Bowl number whatever. This will be the first meeting of two dome teams in the ultimate game and whoever wins will be only the second dome team to win the Super Bowl. The only other team was the Kurt Warner led Rams back in SB XXXVI.

The winner of this game will be...

...THE INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

I want them to win. I think they deserve to win. It would be a great thing for football for Tony Dungy to bring a Super Bowl victory to Indiana for the obvious reasons. Peyton Manning is the hardest working player in the league. In short, I would feel great with a Colts win.

Good luck to all the teams. I hope the games are as great on the field as they look on paper.