Long shots doing well in playoffs
New York ? The NFL can’t be upset with so many upsets in the playoffs.
What better evidence is needed that the “anybody can win at any time” mantra is accurate when two No. 6 seeds are in the conference championship games? And nobody would be shocked to see both the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets in the Super Bowl.
Indeed, the wild-card Packers are favored for Sunday’s NFC title game at Soldier Field, home of the champions of their division, the Chicago Bears.
“Yeah, we’re championship caliber,” Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk said. “But championship caliber to us isn’t getting to the NFC championship game. We have a lot higher goals than that. We’re where we want to be. We’ve been saying all year, ‘Just give us a chance to get here.’ Now, it’s up to us.”
And up to the Jets to set up the first Super Bowl involving non-division winners.
“The idea is to win the Super Bowl, whether you do it by winning your division or as a wild card,” Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis said. “Keep winning.”
Long shots going far in the playoffs, even winning Super Bowls, is not unheard of. Consider that since the league went to six playoff teams in 1990 — there were three divisions and three wild cards until 2002 — wild cards have made the title game 14 times.

