CASH IN THIS BET FOR AFC.

Byline: BILLY WITZ

A Las Vegas sports book announced last week that for the first time it was setting odds on the Super Bowl during the season, establishing the AFC champion as a one-point favorite over the NFC champion - whomever they might be.

Our advice: Cash out all stocks, empty the kids' college funds, turn over every seat cushion for loose change and lay the point. Deals like this don't come along every day.

The longer the season goes on, the more apparent it has become that while the NFL is comprised of two conferences, the AFC is in a league of its own.

Consider that the eight AFC playoff contenders (everyone with a winning record) are a combined 17-3 against the NFC.

Consider that the AFC's three prime Super Bowl contenders - New England, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis - are 8-0 against the NFC. The average score of those games has been 33-18, and only two have been closer than double digits.

Viewing this from the NFC side isn't any prettier. If you didn't know that Philadelphia and Atlanta were the two best teams in the NFC by watching them, then it's because they're the only ones to have beaten a decent AFC team.

As good as the Eagles look at times, perhaps it's because they're playing bad teams. They've won seven games against NFC teams by an average of 18 points, none less than double digits.

Yet in three games against the AFC North, they needed overtime to beat 3-7 Cleveland, scored a 15-10 win over visiting Baltimore that wasn't secure until the Ravens ran out of downs at midfield, and were thumped in Pittsburgh 27-3.

The Falcons have the NFC's most impressive interconference victories - winning in Denver and rallying in the fourth quarter to hand the Chargers their only loss in the past two months. Then again, there was that 56-10 spanking by Kansas City.

And this is the best the NFC has to offer?

Brett Favre's pluck is admirable, but it has people believing the Packers are a lot better than they are. Forget how much they missed defensive tackle Grady Jackson early, you don't allow 45 points to the Colts, 49 to the Titans. The Packers on Sunday night went to the last play to beat 4-6 Houston.

The results weren't so encouraging for the rest of the NFC teams venturing to the other side of the aisle.

The Bears, fancying themselves playoff contenders after three straight wins, lost to Indianapolis, 41-10. The Cowboys were further humbled by Baltimore, 30-10. The Rams were walloped by Buffalo, 37-17, leaving them winless in three games against the AFC, but Super Bowl threats nonetheless.

The Saints, who fell behind 20-0 in the first quarter of a 34-14 loss to Denver, were so bad that owner Tom Benson declared: ``It's the worst performance I've seen by them in the 20 years that I've owned them. They looked just like high school kids.''

Seattle played the AFC's version of a high school team, Miami, and found out it wasn't much better. The Seahawks needed a 63-yard interception return by rookie Michael Boulware with 56 seconds left to win 24-17.

That should tell us something right there - that Green Bay and Seattle, Super Bowl contenders, score the NFC's only two wins over the AFC on Sunday and need the final seconds to do it against the likes of Houston and Miami.

For Miami, as if it doesn't have enough misfortune to dwell on, there's more. The Dolphins have lost in the final minute to Arizona and Seattle. And their lone victory was against St. Louis.

So perhaps the worst thing to happen to them this year wasn't Ricky Williams, Dave Wannstedt, Dan Marino, David Boston, A.J. Feeley or Jay Fielder. It was not being in the NFC.

Elsewhere around the league in Week 11:

-- Chargers tailback LaDainian Tomlinson couldn't be more at home in Oakland. In three games at Network Associates Coliseum, he's rushed for 153, 187 and 164 yards. He fit right in afterward, too, sporting a silver (OK, it was gray) pinstriped suit with black accents, and silver/gray-and- black alligator skin loafers. ``You like my Raiders colors?'' he asked reporters.

--Carson Palmer's struggles continued in Cincinnati, when an interception was returned for a touchdown and he took a safety on the Bengals' final possession - the difference in a 19-14 loss to Pittsburgh. The interception by linebacker James Farrior came on a throw into triple coverage, while the safety marked the fourth time this season Palmer has turned the ball over late when the Bengals had a chance to tie or win.

``We just can't guess where to throw the football,'' Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. ``Those shouldn't be growing-pain plays.''

--The reports of Buffalo quarterback Drew Bledsoe's demise (also written here) have been greatly exaggerated - at least for a week. After looking befuddled against the Patriots, he was an efficient 15 of 24 for 184 yards and three touchdown passes against the Rams - a feat he accomplished for the first time since Dec. 1, 2002, against Miami, a streak of 29 games. In his first nine-plus seasons, he threw for three touchdowns in a game 23 times.

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Photo:

A fan wears a towel in imitation of the infamous ``Monday Night Football'' intro with Terrell Owens and Nicollette Sheridan. The fan might not have much to cheer about come Super Bowl time, considering the Eagles - and the rest of the NFC - have struggled against the AFC this season.

Miles Kennedy/Associated Press