NFL PLAYOFFS : ‘January’ Madness Begins a Bit Early

It will begin Saturday morning at 1265 Lombardi Ave., next to the Don Hutson Center, on a frozen field named after Curly Lambeau.

It will end one month later in the house that Shula built.

“The tournament,” Bill Parcells calls it.

A tournament with no selection committee. No televised pairings ceremony. No Sweet 16. No single road to Miami.

But after a nail-biting regular season, expect January Madness.

This tournament has history. In these NFL playoffs, the Dallas Cowboys are trying to become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls.

This tournament has intrigue. The Cowboys are in such an internal mess under Coach Barry Switzer, they might not even win a game.

This tournament has tradition. It features the first non-strike playoff game in Green Bay since the Packer quarterback was Bart Starr and his lead blocker was Jerry Kramer.

This tournament has sentiment. The Miami Dolphins are hoping for one final shot at a championship before Don Shula retires and Dan Marino’s legs buckle. And what better place for it than their home stadium, the site of Super Bowl XXIX on Jan. 29.

This tournament has Joe.

This tournament has a clear favorite. Is there anybody outside Dallas who doesn’t believe the San Francisco 49ers will win every game by two touchdowns?

Because of parity, this tournament is also capable of digging a team out from obscurity.

Parcells’ New England Patriots are hoping for that by bringing along their lucky shovel to the first-round game in Cleveland’s “Dawg Pound” Sunday.

The shovel has been on their sideline since they were burdened with a 3-6 record, to remind them of the necessity to dig in. They have not lost since.

“In the tournament, we figure, it will be us against the world,” Patriot defensive end Willie McGinest said.

This tournament will pit everybody against something.

The San Diego Chargers versus their lifelong reputation for losing big games.

Warren Moon versus that same reputation.

The Chicago Bears versus the common sense that says they do not belong here.

Vinny Testaverde versus that same common sense.

The Pittsburgh Steelers versus their glorious past.

The Patriots versus their inglorious youth.

About the only thing this tournament will not have is the toughness of Sterling Sharpe, the Green Bay receiver who will miss it because of a career-threatening neck injury.

Considering no other Packer wide receiver caught a touchdown pass in the season’s critical final two weeks--Sharpe caught four--it is an important loss indeed.

This tournament also will not have its brackets printed in your local newspaper in a half-page style that you can snip and save.

Hence, a reference card:

Hottest team: Patriots. . . . The only team in the AFC that strikes fear from both sides of the ball.

If the league’s best young arm (Drew Bledsoe) doesn’t beat you, a defense that hasn’t allowed a meaningful second-half touchdown in seven games will.

Coldest team: Bears. . . . The only team they defeated in the final month was the Rams.

Hottest player: Brett Favre. . . . In the last eight weeks, the Packer quarterback has thrown 23 touchdown passes and only seven interceptions. But he can’t be as sharp without Sterling.

Coldest player: Troy Aikman. . . . In his last five games, the Cowboy quarterback has one touchdown pass and seven interceptions.

Hottest coach: Dom Capers. . . . The Steelers’ defensive coordinator has watched his unusual blitz package result in 31 sacks in the last eight games. Next stop, Carolina?

Coach in the hottest seat: Switzer. . . . Food fights? Confusion at the goal line? Players deciding when they will play? The blame for a poor Cowboy showing would land directly at his feet.

Hottest ticket: Detroit Lions at Packers. . . . It took a “miracle,” according to one official, for the Lions to find a place in Green Bay to house their traveling party of 85 for Saturday’s first-round game against the Packers.

By the time the Lions learned they would be playing there, every room within a 30-mile radius--nearly 3,000 rooms total--already had been booked.

Best first-round game: Kansas City Chiefs at Dolphins. . . . Montana versus Marino. By now, everybody should know that when the Dolphins whipped the Chiefs by 17 points three weeks ago, Montana didn’t play. He won’t make that mistake again.

Worst first-round game: Bears at Minnesota Vikings. . . . These days, any game in which quarterback Steve Walsh is playing is a snooze. The Bears have scored six offensive touchdowns in the last five games. The most exciting moments will occur on the Bear sideline as assistants drop to their knees and beg Coach Dave Wannstedt to replace Walsh with Erik Kramer.

Best potential second-round game: Dolphins at Chargers. . . . Has it really been 13 years since these teams met in an overtime thriller that is considered one of the greatest playoff games? The Chargers will bring Kellen Winslow back for inspiration. Dolphins will counter with Don Strock.

Worst potential second-round game: Cleveland at Pittsburgh. . . . This might be the league’s greatest neighborhood rivalry. But outside that neighborhood, watching Vinny Testaverde slow-dancing with Neil O’Donnell is getting a tad tiresome.

Best potential conference championship game: 49ers vs. Cowboys. . . . Those trendies who are proclaiming that the Cowboys won’t even make it this far are forgetting that the Cowboys still have the league’s top-ranked defense and most diversified offense. They might get the smirk wiped off Switzer’s face when they arrive at Candlestick. But they will get there.

Best potential Super Bowl: 49ers vs. Dolphins. . . . This one will be so rich with subplots--Steve Young’s claim to greatness, Marino’s cling to greatness, Deion’s nights in Coconut Grove--that Julie Brown can stay downtown and nobody will miss her.

Worst potential Super Bowl: Anybody from NFC Central vs. anybody from AFC Central. . . . Don’t worry. It has happened only once. That Pittsburgh-Minnesota battle in the Super Bowl after the 1974 season--the Vikings lost, 16-6, and gained only 119 total yards--convinced the league that it should never happen again.

Best chance to become a star: Bledsoe, Lion quarterback Dave Krieg, Steeler linebacker Greg Lloyd, Charger defensive end Leslie O’Neal, Viking defensive tackle John Randle and Lion linebacker Chris Spielman should all emerge from the shadows.

Best chance to be labeled a scoundrel: If the Cowboys lose, Jerry Jones-bashing will be heard all the way to Galveston. Coach Dennis Green of the Vikings is also being set up for criticism that he can’t coach a big game. And if Barry Foster decides not to show up for the Steelers, depriving the AFC of its best chance of winning its first Super Bowl in 11 years, he’ll be banned from Pittsburgh. Heck, the Steelers might get mad enough at him to trade him to the Raiders.

Worst deal: Wayne Fontes, Detroit Lions. . . . If his team loses in the first round for a second consecutive season, don’t be surprised if the locals are calling for his head.

Best deal: If the 49ers win the Super Bowl, Ricky Jackson will receive an $830,000 bonus check and Deion Sanders will receive a thank-you card worth $750,000.

Neither player would have signed with the 49ers earlier this year without that bonus.

“But you know something?” asked Carmen Policy, 49er president. “I’ve looked in the eyes of our players. Maybe I’m being naive, but right now, I don’t believe any of this is about money.”

Like we said. January Madness.