49ers Favored to Win Another Super Bowl, But Against Whom?

The confusion and contingencies are over and the NFL playoff lineup is set with San Francisco the favorite to win yet another Super Bowl. The NFC is looking as dominant as ever, and teams like the Saints, Lions and Chiefs are poised for a rush into the 1990s.

It was a year in which everything was the same and everything was different.

The playoff favorites are familiar: The 49ers, Giants, Browns, Broncos, Rams, Bills and Eagles have all been there before.

But, in a sense, the season belonged to teams like the Saints, who missed the playoffs but spoiled two other teams’ parties, and coming teams like the Packers, Lions and Chiefs, all of whom can build on late-season momentum.

At the other extreme are the Falcons, Jets and perhaps even the Bears, who have to start from scratch. So do the Cowboys, who look like something worse than an expansion team after going 1-15.

“No question about it, we have laid the foundation for the future,” said Coach Marty Schottenheimer of Kansas City after turning a 4-11 team to 8-7-1. The Lions used Barry Sanders’ dazzling legs to win their final five games and New Orleans unearthed little-known quarterback John Fourcade to win its final three.

As for the playoffs, starting next Sunday with the wild-card games, two 11-5 teams will meet in the NFC game when the Rams visit Philadelphia.

The AFC game will involve two teams from the Central Division.

Minnesota’s 29-21 victory over Cincinnati on Monday night not only gave the Vikings (10-6) the NFC Central title put knocked out the defending AFC champs and put Pittsburgh in the playoffs for the first time in five years. The Steelers will be at Houston on Sunday. Both were 9-7 this season.

The divisional playoffs will take place the following week.

The 49ers, 14-2, will be host to either the Eagles or the Vikings. The New York Giants, 12-4, will be at home to either the Rams or the Central winner.

In the AFC, Denver, 11-5, will play host to the wild-card winner and Buffalo (9-7) will be at Cleveland, which beat Houston 24-20 Saturday night to finish 9-6-1 and win the Central for the fourth time in five years.

The 49ers will be the favorites to become the first team since Pittsburgh a decade ago to win two straight Super Bowls, although their path won’t be easy.

They went 3-1 against the Rams, Giants and Eagles this year, splitting with Los Angeles and beating the Giants and Eagles. But none of those games was easy--they trailed the Eagles by 11 points in the fourth quarter and needed a fortuitous offside penalty to beat New York after letting the Giants rally from a 24-7 deficit to tie the game.

On the other hand, it would be hard to argue against any team from the NFC, which already has a streak of five straight Super Bowl victories and has won seven of nine in the 1980s.

The 49ers, Rams, Giants and Eagles were 14-2 in games against AFC teams and the Eagles and Giants both beat the AFC’s best, Denver, at Mile High Stadium.

Moreover, the Saints’ 41-6 win Sunday over the Colts, who could have made the playoffs with a victory, underscores NFC superiority. In fact, 9-7 New Orleans, 4-0 against AFC teams, and 10-6 Washington, non-playoff teams in the NFC, would be strong challengers in the AFC.

New Orleans may have found the answer at quarterback in Fourcade, who joined the Saints as a strike replacement two years ago.

The 29-year-old journeyman, who has played for seven teams in Canada, the USFL, the Arena Football League and the NFL, threw for eight touchdowns in wins over Buffalo, Philadelphia and Indianapolis--the first two playoff teams, the last a contender.

The Packers and Lions also made dramatic improvement in the NFC Central.

Sanders, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, rushed for a team-record 1,470 yards, just 10 short of the league-leading total of 1,480 by Christian Okoye of the Chiefs. Even more, he gave the Lions a visibility they haven’t had for a decade, and their 7-9 record, forged on five closing wins, gives them hope for the future, particularly since they have strong young defensive players like Jerry Ball, Chris Spielman and Bennie Blades.

The Packers went from 4-12 to 10-6 as quarterback Don Majkowski emerged as a two-minute quarterback to rival Joe Montana; Tim Harris became the northland’s version of Lawrence Taylor, and Sterling Sharpe looked like the next Jerry Rice.

“I defy anyone to tell us that they thought this is where we’d be,” said Coach Lindy Infante, not withstanding his team’s soft schedule and four one-point wins.

Then there are Schottenheimer’s Chiefs, led by rookie linebacker Derrick Thomas.

They would have made the playoffs had they not been upset at home in Week 15 by San Diego, which won its last two to finish 6-10. The Chargers also could be--well, charging--particularly if Bobby Beathard replaces the fired Steve Ortmayer at general manager and makes the quick fixes he’s known for.

One problem for both: a good young quarterback.

At the bottom, there are a lot of problems, although a good young quarterback is one thing Dallas doesn’t need--Troy Aikman showed enough to indicate he’ll be worth the $11 million the Cowboys paid.

But in taking Steve Walsh, who may be traded, in the supplemental draft, they blew the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, and the rest of the team consists either of aging stars like Everson Walls and Too Tall Jones or castoffs. The passel of draft picks they got for Herschel Walker will help.

Atlanta, 3-13, will get the first pick that Dallas doesn’t have and should use it on Alabama linebacker Keith McCants if McCants decides to bypass his senior year and the league lets him in. No less a personage than Taylor calls him “the Lawrence Taylor of the ‘90s.”

But the pick will be made with a new coach--perhaps Duke’s Steve Spurrier, perhaps an assistant like San Francisco’s Mike Holmgren, Denver’s Wade Phillips, Cincinnati’s Bruce Coslet or Minnesota’s Floyd Peters. A long-shot--McCants’ college coach, Bill Curry, who recently turned down a long-term extension of his contract,.

And the Bears?

After five straight NFC Central titles, they went from 4-0 to 6-10, losing their final six games as injuries and age destroyed one of the decade’s top teams.

Mike Ditka will stay on for one more year and he probably needs a quarterback, for starters.

“I don’t believe we’re that bad a team,” he said after Sunday’s 26-0 loss in San Francisco. “Although after today, I guess you have to believe that.”