Forget All That You Knew Before

In order to come to grips with everything that happened and didn’t happen during the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, you first need to forget everything you thought you knew before this weekend.

The Indianapolis Colts are not locks to make the Super Bowl.

Bill Belichick is not invincible in the playoffs.

The Chicago Bear defense is not unbeatable at home.

Shaun Alexander is not as valuable as everybody thought.

Jerome Bettis is not a sure thing near the goal line.

Instant replay is no guarantee that the right calls get made at the right time.

Adam Vinatieri is not unflappable in the clutch.

And neither is Mike Vanderjagt.

By the time the last red challenge flag of the weekend fell to earth, the team that started 13-0 had gone 0-1 in the playoffs, the team that won three of the last four Super Bowls lost by two touchdowns against Jake Plummer, the league’s most formidable defense surrendered 434 yards at home and the most important defensive play of the second round was made by Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

After Saturday’s twin curiosities -- Seattle’s beating Washington with only a cameo appearance by Alexander, New England’s throwing the ball away five times in a 27-13 loss to Denver -- the divisional round went from weird to downright bizarre Sunday.

First, the Indianapolis Colts were held to three points -- 24 below their regular-season average -- through three quarters against a Pittsburgh Steeler team that lost, 26-7, the last time these teams played in November.

And then ...

With 14:09 to play, the Colts scored their first touchdown of the game.

With 5:26 to play, Steeler safety Troy Polamalu made a sprawling interception of a Peyton Manning pass, then didn’t -- after Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy challenged the play and referee Pete Morelli, despite overwhelming video evidence to the contrary, overruled the correct interception ruling.

With 4:24 to play, Manning parlayed this incredible bit of good fortune/bad officiating into another touchdown and a two-point conversion, and suddenly the Colts trailed by only a field goal.

With 2:32 to play, Manning got the ball back at his 18-yard line.

With 1:20 to play, Manning was sacked on fourth down and Pittsburgh regained possession at the Indianapolis two-yard line.

On the next play, Roethlisberger handed the ball to Bettis, who hadn’t fumbled the ball all season but lost it this time when Colt linebacker Gary Brackett put his helmet on the football, which popped loose and into the hands of Colt cornerback Nick Harper, moving remarkably well for someone who’d been allegedly stabbed in the knee by his wife in a domestic dispute the previous day.

Harper ran 40 yards with the ball, with designs on many more, when Roethlisberger scrambled back to make a lunging, desperate, game-saving tackle at the Indianapolis 42.

With 1:09 to play, the Colts had more than enough time to win the game, or at least send it to overtime.

And there, with 21 seconds to play, Vanderjagt, the most accurate field-goal kicker in league history, was lining up over a 46-yard attempt to tie.

Vanderjagt shanked it so badly, his kick looked more like a coffin corner punt.

Less than a month after San Diego ended their quest for a perfect 16-0 regular season, the Colts were out of the playoffs, one and done for the fourth time in the Manning era.

Lesson, future chasers of the 1972 Dolphins: The next time you find yourselves 13-0, keep your heads down and your starters in and go for 16-0. Treating the last few games on your schedule as if they were exhibitions leaves you rusty, out of sync and vulnerable in the playoffs to a sixth-seeded team that was vastly under-seeded and underrated.

Without Tommy Maddox’s unfortunate midseason guest appearance, the Steelers would have started these playoffs seeded no worse than No. 3.

Later Sunday, Chicago and Carolina were left with an impossible act to follow, but they did what they could to sustain the theme of this playoff weekend -- the inaccurate perception.

Defense is supposed to win championships ... but Chicago’s vaunted defensive unit surrendered more than 400 yards -- including 218 receiving yards to Steve Smith -- in a 29-21 loss to Carolina.

Home field is supposed to be an advantage, at least this deep in the playoffs ... but the Bears’ loss at Soldier Field, coupled with the Colts’ loss inside the RCA Dome, left the home teams 0 for 2 Sunday.

Along the way, the final voting results for 2005 NFL most valuable player seemed to be in dire need of a recount. A quick review of that list:

1. Alexander, who suffered a concussion during a scoreless first quarter and watched from the sidelines as his Seattle supporting cast outscored the Redskins the rest of the way, 20-10.

2. Manning, who went more than 45 minutes before putting the ball in the end zone against Pittsburgh.

3. New England’s Tom Brady, two interceptions in his first loss in 11 postseason starts.

4. The New York Giants’ Tiki Barber, who did little more than criticize his coaching staff on the day his team lost to Carolina, 23-0.

5. Cincinnati’s Carson Palmer, badly injured early in the Bengals’ 31-17 wild-card loss to Pittsburgh.

Those receiving no MVP votes included:

Carolina’s Smith, the only season-long consistency on the Panther roster, who had 12 more catches and two more touchdowns Sunday.

And Pittsburgh’s Roethlisberger, who became the first Steeler quarterback in more than half a century to win a big game with both his passing and his tackling.