CAN AFC'S WORST BEAT NFC'S BEST?

Byline: BILLY WITZ NFL 

SEATTLE - These were the sounds of Sunday: the molar-rattling collision between Nick Goings and Lofa Tatupu, the silence of Invesco Field, the white noise of Qwest Field, a Carolina assistant coach getting an earful from Steve Smith, and the sound of the other shoe dropping for Jake Plummer and Jake Delhomme.

This is the sound of today: teams all over the AFC kicking themselves.

After watching Seattle get to the Super Bowl so effortlessly, teams from San Diego to Miami and New England, with Kansas City, Indianapolis and Cincinnati in between, are no doubt consumed with a single thought: Why didn't we think of that?

When the NFL added a 32nd team and realigned into eight four-team divisions in 2002, in order to put Houston in the AFC so it wouldn't compete with Dallas, the league needed one team to move from the AFC to the NFC.

Sure, the Seahawks said, why not?

Talk about your intelligent design. As the Patriots were building a dynasty, and the Chargers and Bengals were resurrecting themselves, the Chiefs, Colts and Steelers were winning 13, 14 and 15 games and finding out it wasn't enough.

Meanwhile, Seattle took to its new home in the NFC West.

In four years, the Seahawks did what they couldn't do in 26 years in the AFC: reach a Super Bowl.

It has been suggested in recent years that the bottom seed in the AFC playoffs would beat the top seed in the NFC. Well, we're about to find out.

The Steelers, in their 26-year quest for One For The Thumb - a fifth Super Bowl ring - appear to have already done the hard part, winning at Cincinnati, at Indianapolis and at Denver.

Winning three consecutive playoff games on the road hasn't been done since the Patriots 20 years ago. The good news for Pittsburgh is they don't have the '85 Bears waiting for them.

If it is as true about football as it is about boxing, that styles make matches, then this might be a Super Bowl worth seeing.

It will be finesse versus physical.

If there was any doubt that Mike Holmgren fell from the Bill Walsh coaching tree, it didn't last long. By the time the first quarter was over Sunday, the Seahawks lined up fullback Mack Strong at flanker, threw a pass to backup quarterback Seneca Wallace and put the ball in the hands of four different players on the first five plays.

While the Steelers rode the arm of Ben Roethlisberger against the Broncos, there are no illusions about what they pack in their lunch pail. The teams last played two years ago, a 23-16 Seattle victory, but it left an impression as square as Bill Cowher's jaw.

``They didn't have a very good year, but that was one of the most physical games I've ever played,'' Seahawks guard Steve Hutchinson said. ``They're a character team, a blue-collar team.''

The Steelers have a storied history, have played in three of the past five AFC Championship games, and have taken everything the opponents - and the officials - have thrown at them this season.

The difference between Roethlisberger and Tommy Maddox and Charlie Batch looked an awful lot like the difference Sunday between Roethlisberger and Plummer, or Matt Hasselbeck and Delhomme.

The two Jakes looked a lot more like the two Jokers, throwing five interceptions.

The Panthers were so futile that they sent the Seahawks to the Super Bowl without anyone really having an idea of how good they are.

Nearly every marquee win by the Seahawks this season has come with a caveat: Giants kicker Jay Feely missing three field goals, Cowboys quarterback Drew Bledsoe throwing a what-was-he-thinking interception, the Eagles showing up without Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens, the Colts hardly playing Peyton Manning or anyone else of consequence.

They've reached the Super Bowl by beating a Washington team that was - how to put it delicately - offensively challenged. Then a Carolina team that, once Goings was injured late in the first quarter, was one play away from turning tailback duties over to He Hate Me - Rod Smart of XFL fame.

Not that anyone here or in Pittsburgh cared.

That other noise you hear today in Pittsburgh and Seattle: the sound of heads shaking.