5 NFL Playoff Questions

1. Can Bill Cowher enter next season with a winning record in the postseason?

There is no minimizing the job Steelers' coach Bill Cowher has done, herding a rookie quarterback and several injured players into the playoffs and earning his ninth playoff berth in a 13-year Steelers' coaching career. But no one will remember the 2004 regular season if Cowher can't improve on his 7-8 career record in the playoffs and his inability to win a postseason game outside of Pittsburgh. The bet here is that he gets it done. The Steelers have been immaculately prepared for each opponent and every wave of adversity that has washed up on the North Shore by a diligent coaching staff that was carefully constructed by Cowher. This time, he finally wins the last game. Funny how most of those Cowher critics have vanished.

2. Will New England Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weis' attempt to do two jobs, including head coach at Notre Dame, take a toll on the Patriots' bid to win three Super Bowls in four seasons?

Check out this scenario. The Patriots are driving for what would be the deciding touchdown late in the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship game at Heinz Field. Weis carefully studies his call sheet for just the right play while, suddenly, his cell phone rings. It's the mother of a Notre Dame recruit, wondering what he plans to serve on the training table next season. Okay, so Weis probably would turn off his cell phone before the game. But is it possible that Weis, while trying to do two demanding jobs, lets one detail slip and overlooks a Dick LeBeau blitz that sends the Steelers, not the Patriots, to the Super Bowl?

3. Are the Philadelphia Eagles that good, or is the rest of the NFC that bad?

Here's a better question: Can a team that allows an almost 33-year-old running back to have his best game in four seasons (33 carries, 149 yards by Jerome Bettis on Nov. 7) win the Super Bowl? Sure, if quarterback Donovan McNabb can make enough big plays without wide reciever Terrell Owens to make defensive coordinators nervous. Eagles' coach Andy Reid has built a team that remains the clear class of the NFC, despite several key injuries and a previously soft run defense. The Eagles' defense improved late in the season when linemen Hugh Douglas and Jevon Kearse started becoming dominant. This team might need a lot of defense, and it has more than enough.

4. Is it enough that Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is a great athlete, and only a good quarterback?

With one game left in the regular season, Michael Vick had a passer rating that was under 80, but he had rushed for 889 yards, a number that beat all but seven running backs in the NFC. Vick is a playmaker, but at one point in mid-December he had thrown three fewer touchdown passes than Ben Roethlisberger. But all that doesn't matter. The Falcons don't have to rely on Vick to win games by himself. They have the best running game in the NFL, led by Vick, Warrick Dunn and T.J. Duckett, that will keep the Falcons in any game against any opponent. The trio has rushed for well more than 2,000 yards. The defense isn't bad either. But let's not get carried away. The Falcons won't beat the Eagles. Bank it.

5. Does Peyton Manning's arm have any more touchdown passes left in it for a playoff run, and will it endure the cold of a Pittsburgh or New England winter?

No one is a greater student of the game than Peyton Manning, the Indianapolis Colts' star quarterback, who threw touchdown passes at a record-breaking pace this season. With Manning, Edgerrin James, Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison and Brandon Stokley, the Colts will surely find the holes in any defense. A reading on a thermometer shouldn't matter. The scary part of the equation, Steelers' fans, is that the Colts play some defense, too. Ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis give the Colts one of the most feared pass rushes in the National Football League. Bottom line: The Colts are much more than a team that relies on Eli Manning's older brother. And, oh, yeah, the coach is Tony Dungy, and all he did was learn at the knee of Chuck Noll, who won four pieces of grand NFL hardware.