Tom E. Curran • E-mail

The 2008 season began with the pop heard ’round the league. And once Tom Brady’s left knee went down, the NFL leviathan from New England was effectively slain, and mediocrity ran amok.

We didn’t hate 2008. Last year was fascinating and the drama of the Steelers’ Super Bowl win over Arizona still hasn’t faded. But there were no great teams last season.

The 9-7 Cardinals — dogged 47-7 in December by a Patriots team playing without Brady — got to the Super Bowl. An 8-8 Chargers team won a playoff game and gave the Steelers all they could handle. The Colts, with Peyton Manning coming off preseason surgery, couldn’t run the ball or stop the run and they finished 12-4. The Titans were able to blow the dust off Kerry Collins and roll him out there for a 13-win season. The Patriots went 11-5 behind Matt Cassel, a player who was so bad in the preseason, he deserved to get cut. And while everyone marveled at the turnaround season in Miami (1-15 to 11-5) and the success of Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco as rookie quarterbacks in Atlanta and Baltimore, nobody bothered to wonder if that was all possible because … the league was down?

Well, it was. But now Brady’s back. And the Patriots, 16-0 in the 2007 regular season, 18-0 before a stunning Super Bowl upset at the hands of the Giants, are loaded.

And the legions of Patriot haters — the same people who loved ‘em when the Pats were that cute little underdog team beating the Rams back in Super Bowl XXXVI — better brace themselves. In February, after a long, Patriot-centric season, New England will top off the decade by going to their fifth Super Bowl in the last nine years and winning their fourth. And the team they’ll beat? The Giants.

Yeah, everything's coming full circle.

Special feature NFL divisional previews, more A final look at the 2009 season, including a look at the key players, best offenses and coaches who have to win. NBCSports.com

That means squashing San Diego's hopes, which is tough. The Chargers have been pounding on the door for the last half of the decade and now — with Philip Rivers into his prime, L.T. back and healthy, dangerous weapons like Antonio Gates, Vincent Jackson, Chris Chambers and Darren Sproles all over the place behind a pretty capable offensive line — this seems like their time. They will be a regular-season monster thanks to playing in the Renovations-R-Us AFC West where everybody’s rebuilding.

Ironically, the Steelers also will be better. The offensive line should be more cohesive after an uneven 2008 that saw Roethlisberger getting chased all over the playground. And they have the AFC's best defense now that the Titans lost Albert Haynesworth. The Ravens don’t figure to be back in the mix after sustaining a ton of personnel losses in the offseason. And the Colts are about to do that slow fade from dominance, it seems.

The surprise team in the AFC? Houston. They break through this year and win the AFC South. Excellent talent on defense. Really good running game. Weaponry in the passing game with Andre Johnson and Owen Daniels.

In the NFC, the Eagles and Vikings did a terrific job this August of ruining their chances of getting to the Super Bowl.

The Eagles, you might have heard, added Michael Vick. This is going to be the equivalent of throwing a mouse into the elephant tent. Vick clearly is still a talented football player. His smooth, effortless delivery and electric running ability (does anyone remember he ran for a 1,000 yards in 2006?) is a sharp contrast to Donovan McNabb. McNabb is more plodding. He looks cartoonish on scrambles. He’s a better quarterback overall, but Vick has his merits. And that’s going to become clear to everyone. So Philly, which was just fine with McNabb in charge, now has a quarterback issue it didn’t need. Or at least the need to continually insist it doesn’t have a quarterback issue.

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Then there’s the Vikings. We’re reporting, at this hour, Brett Favre is still with the team. Yet with a partially torn rotator cuff, the race is on to get as many throws out of Favre’s right arm (preferably to his own team) before it comes undone. Of course, Favre being Favre, he’ll try and play too long through the pain, thereby mortgaging the fortunes of the team. And addled commentators will once again add to the bogus mythology of Favre being the consummate teammate by praising him for playing hurt when Pop Gun Sage Rosenfels throwing checkdowns all day would be preferable to Favre winging ducks his arm can’t deliver. Irony of ironies, the Green Bay Packers get fat on Favre’s presence and win the NFC North. Jay Cutler in Chicago? It works out. But the Bears’ aging defense lets them down.

As for the defending NFC champion Cardinals in the NFC West? It was nice while it lasted. Here come the 49ers. In the NFC South, the Saints are going to break through while the Bucs and Panthers swan dive a little bit.

And in the ultra-competitive NFC East, the Giants — tough-minded and battle-tested — take the title while the Eagles get the Wild Card.

Tom Curran’s 2009 predictions (*wild-card team) AFC EAST — Patriots — Dolphins — Jets — Bills NFC EAST — Giants — *Eagles — Cowboys — Redskins AFC NORTH — Steelers — *Bengals — Ravens — Browns NFC NORTH — Packers — *Vikings — Bears — Lions AFC SOUTH — Texans — *Colts — Titans — Jaguars NFC SOUTH — Saints — Falcons — Panthers — Bucs AFC WEST — Chargers — Raiders — Chiefs — Broncos NFC WEST — 49ers — Cardinals — Seahawks — Rams PLAYOFFS Wild-card round: Steelers over Colts; Bengals over Texans; Vikings over Saints; Eagles over 49ers. Divisional round: Patriots over Steelers; Chargers over Bengals; Packers over Eagles; Giants over Vikings. Championships: Patriots over Chargers; Giants over Packers. Super Bowl XLIV: Patriots over Giants.

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