Hey, NFC fans? Remember the good old days? When the superior conference in the NFL was the National Football Conference?

When our teams won the Super Bowl every year from 1984-1996?

When each year, the gap between the two conferences was so large that the Super Bowl was little more than a coronation for the NFC squad?

Well, those days are gone. Long gone. Ever since the Denver Broncos ran over the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl 32, the NFC has struggled.

The Broncos won their second Super Bowl last year, beating an overmatched Atlanta Falcons team.

This season, there are no good teams in the NFC.

And by that, I mean one that could stack up to any of the 13 teams that took home the Lombardi Trophy between ’84-’96.

Let’s take a look at the top contenders for the NFC. At 6-1, you have the St. Louis Rams. Barring an impressive win over the 49ers, the Rams have gotten their wins over stalwarts like the Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, and Cincinnati Bengals.

Truly, they’ve beaten up the dregs of the NFL.

In their biggest challenge of the year so far, they traveled to Tennessee and were down 21-0 before you could say quarterback draw.

To be fair, the Rams, behind the best story in the NFL, quarterback Kurt Warner, did make a game out of it before missing a field goal that would’ve forced overtime.

They will now travel to Detroit, a team that has played well at home this season.

This game will say a lot about the Rams, and how good they really are.

But based on what I’ve seen so far, they have to be the favorite to emerge from this conference.

Then you have the Washington Redskins. Right now, they look to be the second best team in the conference. But let’s take a closer look, shall we?

The Skins are 5-2. They have beaten the Giants, Jets, Panthers, Cardinals, and Bears.

Hmm, seeing a trend here? They have been swept by the only good team they’ve played, the Cowboys, and gave up 76 points in the process.

They have looked great on the offensive side of the ball, but until they prove they are able to stop a good team, they have to be considered pretenders instead of contenders.

Another thing to note is that the Skins started 7-1 against a soft schedule in 1996, and in 1997 they were 4-2 before collapsing.

Now let’s move to the NFC Central.

The Detroit Lions, playing all year without Barry Sanders and much of it without outstanding receiver Herman Moore, are 5-2. How, I’m not sure.

The defense has been solid, but the Lions face a tough schedule down the stretch.

The Green Bay Packers are 4-3, and have not been impressive enough to merit consideration as serious title contenders.

If not for QB Brett Favre’s last second heroics, the team might have only one win. Clearly, not the stuff champions are made of.

The Vikings are also thrown into the mix, but at 4-4 and with a difficult remainder of the year, may not get a home game, which would spell the end for them.

San Francisco has lost Steve Young for the year, while Michael Irvin isn’t going to be back for Dallas in all probability.

The Giants are 5-3 on the strength of smoke and mirrors. Everybody else is bad.

So, at the end of January, one of these mostly mediocre teams will face a solid, well-rounded, physical team from the other conference.

And the physical team will roll over their opponents.

Again. Sound familiar, NFC fans?

---

Josh Flickinger is a senior in journalism and mass communications from Rockford, Ill. He is sports editor of the Daily