The NFL postseason is a horse of a different colour compared to the MLB playoffs.
In major league baseball, dark horses, like the lowest-seeded Texas Rangers two years ago, often advance to and win the World Series.
Such is not the case in the NFL's second season. Lower seeds winning it all are much more of a rarity.
Since 1970, only six NFL Wild Card teams have captured a Super Bowl victory, the last coming 20 years ago when the Pittsburgh Steelers shocked the field to win it all.
Meanwhile, only one lowest seed has managed to win a Super Bowl -- that SB XL-winning Steelers ballclub.
What this means is that one of the top seeded favourites is most likely going to survive the NFL's postseason starting this weekend and win Super Bowl 58.
So, you can pretty much write off the sixth and seventh seeds in both NFL conferences. Those ball clubs would include the solid but undermanned Washington Commanders and Green Bay Packers in the NFC and the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos of the AFC.
The Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions, division champs with the best record in the AFC and NFC respectively, have each earned first round byes.
They not only have the shortest route to the big game but also have history on their side.
But will this be the year when things do not go as usual? Let's take a look at the possibilities of that happening.
First off, the Chiefs have had innumerable scares and came out on top in many one score squeakers this campaign.
A wrong bounce of the ball here or there and KC's record is not nearly as gaudy as their final 15-2 mark.
But as long as the Chiefs have three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Patrick Mahomes, they have to rate as the favourites to win it all and become the first club to achieve a SB three-peat.
The top seeded NFC outfit, the 15-2 Detroit Lions, are offensively potent but defensively challenged due to the loss of many top players on that side of the ball, like pass rusher deluxe Aiden Hutchinson.
The Lions had to win numerous score-athons down the stretch. Against the NFL elite in the postseason that may not be possible.
The second-seeded clubs in each conference seem potentially more dangerous than the top seeds.
The NFC Philadelphia Eagles boast the league's top defence and offensive weapons galore in record-setting running back Saquon Barkley, wide receivers AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith as well as QB Jalen Hurts.
Meanwhile, the number two AFC-seeded Buffalo Bills, led by QB Josh Allen have been more impressive than the Chiefs but somehow managed one less win than KC when it counted.
Stubbing their collective toe at the wrong time cost the Bills the top seed.
The No.3 seed in the AFC, the Baltimore Ravens traditionally flame out in the postseason. But with Lamar Jackson healthy at QB and new running back Derrick Henry, the Ravens may have a realistic shot at winning it all this campaign.
Over in the NFC, the third seed, the hot-down-the-stretch Los Angeles Rams have looked better on the field lately than they do on paper.
The most logical long shot in this years' field -- seedings-wise -- are the Minnesota Vikings, the No.5 NFC club.
Led by comeback player of the year, QB Sam Darnold, the Vikings scratched and clawed their way to a 14-3 season.
Only a last day loss to Detroit kept them from being the No.1 NFC seed.
Though not overly impressive, all the Vikings do is win. So…
The rest of the teams in the field are either winners in weaker divisions or lower seeded Wild Card entries.
Though solid, they do not look as scary as higher seeded teams.
They include the division-winning Houston Texans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Wild Card entries Washington and Green Bay in the NFC as well as Pittsburgh, the LA Chargers and Denver of the AFC.
So, given the NFL's track record, look for more of the same old, same old this postseason and either the Chiefs or Bills representing the AFC against the NFC's Lions or Eagles in Super Bowl 58.
The No.1 and 2 seeds are once more the horses to beat.
Contact Wiggins' World at davewigg4350@gmail.com