AFC vs. NFC - Has the power in the NFL finally shifted??

The 2008 NFL season has proven to be one of great disparity in comparison to last season. Different teams lie atop the standings with the exception of one, the New York "Football" Giants. Last season, these same Giants shocked the world when they made it into the playoffs as a Wild Card birth, and finished as Super Bowl champions. Their win ushered in changing of the guard, power-wise, for the NFC as a whole. This is definitely seen when looking at the bottom of the standings for this 2008 season. Now, I know what you are thinking; why look at the bottom of the standings?? This reasoning will be become evident as you read further.

Since 1998 we have only seen 3 NFC teams become Super Bowl champions and for nearly a decade we have seen the AFC be the most powerful conference. Prior to 1998, dating back to 1985 we were used to NFC Super Bowl Champions but as stated previously, here recently we have become accustomed to the AFC producing the best teams. It seemed an unlikely scenario at this point last year, that the New York Giants or any NFC opponent would be able to derail the mighty New England Patriots. The Patriots seemed destined to be this generation's own undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins; all they had to do was win Super Bowl 42. With this win it would also epitomize the dominance of power the AFC had come into since 1998. We all saw how that ended!! 

It seems that not only were the Patriots shell-shocked last year after being upset, but that the AFC (in general) took a power blow to the gut. Even still, at the beginning of this 2008 Regular Season, experts and "arm-chair quarterbacks" alike were content with saying that the AFC was still the more powerful conference; producing more powerful, viable playoff teams. OH HOW THE TIDES HAVE TURNED.

At this stage in the season, week 12 to be precise, we see that the NFC is actually churning out the power teams. The NFC has two divisions, the East and the South, where every team in these divisions has the possibility of making it into the playoffs. These two divisions are the only ones of the 8 total that can say this! If one looks at the standings right now, they will see that the NFC only has 4 teams with less than 5 wins. Whereas the AFC has 7 teams with less than 5 wins. One normally doesn’t look at the bottom of the standings to determine power of conference but in this case, the bottom of the standings show this power shift the best. In addition, the NFC is 22-19-1 against the AFC so far this season. Prepare yourselves for a decade of dominance out of the NFC!!