Considering that the playoff field wasn't even settled until the end of the day Sunday, who can say which of the 12 survivors will emerge as Super Bowl champions on Feb. 1?

If we are honest about it, nobody can. But everyone has a job to do and at the moment this one demands making a Super Bowl pick -- even before wild card weekend has at least cut the field down to a more manageable number of survivors.

Picks made under such duress are subject to review based on who gets eliminated early and what injuries occur when the collisons begin in earnest next Saturday afternoon. But for the moment the most likely survivors appear to be the two teams on the hottest streaks -- the New England Patriots in the AFC and the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC.

Looks, however, can be deceiving.

In the AFC, New England has won 12 straight games and holds homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. The Patriots will open the second round against either the Denver Broncos (if they beat Indianapolis in their wild card game), or the winner of the Baltimore-Tennessee game, depending on which of the three teams is the lowest seed. The Patriots have already beaten the Broncos and Titans, and seem perfectly suited to do the same to the Ravens, who have the kind of one-dimensional offense and inexperienced quarterback New England's defense has devoured all season long.

The Patriots have one of the stingiest defenses in the NFL, giving up barely two touchdowns a game. They also have the highest scoring defense in the league, having produced 38 points. That defense has allowed only one runner, Denver's Clinton Portis, to rush for 100 yards this season. In that game, the Pats were without the services of nose tackle Ted Washington and Pro Bowl defensive end Richard Seymour.

The Patriots' offense, however, has been somewhat suspect all season, producing an average of less than 20 points per game. But quarterback Tom Brady's uncanny ability to make plays when his team needs them has given the Patriots just enough points to win.

Brady is intelligent, well prepared and supremely confident in his abilities. This has helped him repeatedly come through when a play is needed most. As he enters the playoffs, his team could not be more sure of itself or of its leader.

"He reminds me of Joe Montana,'' said teammate Damian Woody this week. "I'm not saying he's Joe Montana. That's a big comparison. But he's come through for us like Joe Montana.''

If Brady leads the Patriots to the Super Bowl, it will be the second time he has done so in three years. That may not make him Montana, but it's a start.

Can the Patriots go all the way when their margin for error seems so slim? I think not. A Super Bowl title would put the Pats' winning streak at 15 games in a row, an unlikely occurence in any circumstance, but particularly so in this day of NFL parity.

New England may pull it off. But they beat the Broncos in the regular season by only four points on a night when Denver quarterback Jake Plummer was sidelined.

When the Patriots beat the Titans, Tennessee was not playing its best football yet, but the Titans nonetheless ended up in a tight contest eventually won by the Patriots, 38-30. Could the Patriots do that again in a rematch?

And the AFC South champion Indianapolis Colts, who host Denver next Sunday, had a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line, trailing by four as time was running out against New England. The Patriots stuffed them all four times to hold on for a 34-30 victory. But you have to wonder if any team that walks so regularly on the thin line between victory and defeat won't eventually tumble over the edge.

Although the Patriots will be the favorite to win the AFC title, it says here that it will be the Titans or the Colts who survive the long march to Houston. Since I can only have one pick, let's go with the Titans as they are the most playoff-hardened team in the AFC.

In the NFC, the Eagles have been nearly as hot as the Patriots. After a disastrous start that had noted pro football "expert'' Rush Limbaugh getting himself fired for critical comments about Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia righted its ship, and it's been smooth sailing for weeks now.

McNabb is again playing like the league MVP he once was, and the Eagles are responding. They have won 10 of their last 11 games and enter the postseason with a most unlikely homefield advantage that was gained only after the St. Louis Rams lost their final game of the season to the lowly Detroit Lions.

Rams' head coach Mike Martz was incensed at his team's performance and troubled by an injury to quarterback Marc Bulger, who he pulled from the game, claiming a forearm injury. Martz inserted two-time league MVP Kurt Warner, and insisted the move did not create a quarterback controversy. Surely it didn't, but this is no way to enter the playoffs. It is, however, a way to not stay there for long.

The Carolina Panthers won the NFC South and are the third seed, but they seem to share the Patriots' obsession with last-minute victories. Carolina has walked an even thinner line than New England, winning seven games in the final 70 seconds of regulation or overtime. That has made them one of the most entertaining teams in the league to watch. What it will not make them is NFC champions, because you can't walk that close to the flame in the playoffs without getting burned.

Of the remaining three NFC playoff teams -- Green Bay, Seattle and Dallas -- none have the kind of consistency and staying power to get to the Super Bowl. The Packers only got in because the Vikings lost seven of their last 10 games, including a season finale that would have made them division champions if they could have held on against the lowly Arizona Cardinals.

The Seahawks only got in because so many other teams lost when they shouldn't have. Seattle also beat the odds by acheiving so many tiebreaker options on the final weekend of the regular season that head coach Mike Holmgren is rumored to have immediately left for Las Vegas to take his chances there as well.

As for the Dallas Cowboys, head coach Bill Parcells has done a remarkable job transforming a team that had won only five games each of the last three years into a playoff team. But there is no way he can lead them all the way to the Super Bowl with the offense he has.

So where does that leave things in the NFC? More than likely coming down to a battle between the Eagles and Rams for the title. Had the Rams not blown Sunday's game against Detroit, they would have the homefield advantage, and the greatest show on turf would have made life very difficult for the Eagles. That's not likely to happen in Philadelphia's bitter January winds. What's more likely is that the Eagles finally win the NFC Championship after losing it the past two seasons, and go on to face the Titans in Super Bowl XXXVIII.

Who wins that game?

It's not an easy pick, but I wouldn't bet against Donovan McNabb. His team is coming on with a rush, and he's playing like a guy who wants Rush to admit he was wrong about something. That may not be the best reason to pick the Eagles to win the Super Bowl, but in this topsy turvy season, it's as good as any.

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