Only three of the 12 playoff teams from a year ago have a winning record.
By Dave Goldberg
AP Football Writer

The Kansas City Chiefs, Carolina Panthers and Minnesota Vikings can take heart from this: The last time three teams were unbeaten six weeks into an NFL season was five years ago. Denver won the Super Bowl and Jacksonville and Minnesota made it to the conference championship games.

The only other time that happened since the 1970 merger was in ’78, when Pittsburgh, the Los Angeles Rams and Washington all did it. The Steelers won the Super Bowl (their third of what turned out to be four in six years), the Rams made it to the NFC title game …

And the Redskins crashed, losing eight of their last 10 to finish 8-8.

The players know that can happen.

“It’s only five games. You can’t win a Super Bowl after five games,” Carolina safety Mike Minter said after the Panthers rallied from a 13-3 deficit Sunday to knock off previously unbeaten Indianapolis 23-20 in overtime.

The numbers so far reflect the same topsy-turvy kind of season the NFL has had each year since 1999, when the Rams went from 4-12 to a Super Bowl victory.

There’s another link – Dick Vermeil, the coach of that St. Louis team is now the coach of the 6-0 Chiefs.

All three unbeatens are turnaround teams, a combined 21-27 last season – Minnesota, which was off Sunday, was 6-10, Carolina 7-9 and Kansas City 8-8. And in a reverse turnaround, only three of the 12 teams that made the playoffs last season have winning records: Indianapolis (5-1), defending champion Tampa Bay (4-2) and Tennessee (4-2).

Of the three unbeatens, Kansas City looks the best after coming back from a 31-14 deficit to win 40-34 in overtime at Lambeau Field.

One reason is Vermeil, who (see above) gets things together in his third year with a team.

Another is Dante Hall, who might have had a return for a TD for the fifth straight game if he hadn’t been tripped up by (gasp!) Green Bay punter Josh Bidwell.

A third is the breaks – Kansas City has won every coin flip this season and gotten a myriad of other good bounces. Still, the skill level is high, especially on offense.

“They’re so explosive that I don’t know if you ever feel like a game is yours,” Brett Favre said after the Packers lost their 17-point lead. “We were in the driver’s seat, but against Kansas City, you never know.”

Beyond the unbeatens, the most surprising turnaround belongs to Dallas, which at 4-1 effectively leads by two games in the NFC East over the Redskins, Giants and Eagles and have wins over New York and Philadelphia that will help with potential tiebreakers. Even Bill Parcells, who has been downplaying his team’s success, was upbeat after the 23-21 win over the Eagles on Sunday.

“I thought we’d be well-prepared,” Parcells said. “I could tell. We did a lot of film work and our players were very attentive. I’m real happy about my team.”

Parcells probably should be real happy about himself – the Cowboys are where they are because he tactically outmaneuvered Jim Fassel and Andy Reid in wins over the Giants and Eagles. He also was lucky – botched kickoffs played a major role in Dallas victories.

The first was Matt Bryant’s squib out of bounds with 11 seconds to go that allowed Dallas to kick a game-tying field goal against the Giants and win it in overtime. On Sunday, Randal Williams returned Philadelphia’s attempt at an onside kick on the opening kickoff 37 yards for a touchdown after special teams coach Bruce DeHaven told him to be ready for it. (Aside: DeHaven was the guy fired by Buffalo after Tennessee scored on the “Music City Miracle” in the playoffs after the 1999 season.)

Much of this is premature, as the 1978 Redskins demonstrated and Minter noted.

Tennessee was 1-4 last season and won 10 of 11 before losing to Oakland in the AFC title game, an encouraging sign for the highly rated teams that have started slowly.

Denver barely lost to the Chiefs and will contend with them for the AFC West title and the Bucs won’t surrender their title easily; Seattle looks legitimate at 4-1; the Colts and Dolphins certainly are, as are the Patriots despite all their injuries.

But let the unbeatens bask for now in their unbeaten-ness, especially teams like the Panthers, who lead Tampa Bay by two games in the NFC South and already hold a road win over the Buccaneers. Like the Chiefs, they’re getting the kind of performances from backups that winners need – when Stephen Davis went out with a bruised arm after carrying 15 times for 76 yards in Indy, DeShaun Foster replaced him and got 85 more on 16 carries.

Nor do the Carolina players care that they’re not yet taken seriously.

“As long as everyone in here believes, that’s all we need,” defensive tackle Kris Jenkins said. “I don’t really care what even my father thinks, in all honesty. As long as we keep on doing what we’re doing, I’m happy with that.”