From the Sidelines: Packers may not be your best bet

Walter Mondale ran for president, Halley's Comet passed, and Larry Legend patrolled the parquet in hip-huggers. What do these events have in common? They have all occurred since the last time the Amateur Football Conference won the Super Bowl.

The year was 1984, and the Los Angeles Raiders hammered the Washington Redskins. Since then, the NFC has won all 13 Super Bowls by an average margin of more than 20 points, kicking ass on the football field in the same manner that Marv Albert bites ass in the love chamber. Even rarer than an AFC triumph on Super Sunday is the presence of a wild card team in the ultimate game. Of the four previous wild card teams that have come to the brink of a championship, only one hoisted Vince Lombardi's stainless steel: the 1980 Raiders, led by rubber-armed quarterback Jim Plunkett.

More alarming to the Denver Broncos' faithful is their sordid Super Bowl history. John Elway, outscored 136-40 in his three previous appearances, is in danger of matching the prime-time showcase incompetence of Greg Norman and the Boston Red Sox, and his mile-high team is facing the dubious distinction of becoming the first franchise ever to lose five Super Bowls.

The Super Bowl's most important matchup is between Denver running back Terrell Davis and the Packer defense. Surprisingly, the league's top running backs have had some big games against the Packers. Meanwhile, Davis has had some of his biggest games against the league's best defenses.
DAVIS IN THE CLUTCH 171 yds. vs. NE (10/6) 101 yds. vs. KC (1/4) 139 yds. vs. PITT (1/11)	TOP BACKS VS. GREEN BAY B. Sanders, 139 yds. (9/28) W. Dunn, 125 yds. (10/5) M. Faulk, 116 yds. (10/16)

So there's a lot of history conspiring against the Broncos. Before the two conference championships had even started, the Las Vegas oddsmakers had already installed the NFC champion as a two-touchdown favorite. Well, history and Vegas can get themselves to the fiery depths of Hell, because the Broncos will eat the cheese off of Brett Favre's head. The goat cheese will spoil, the cream cheese will spread, and the Swiss cheese will become one giant hole. It will be a fairy-tale ending for the Broncos, as Elway will, at the age of 37, finally taste victory--for a number of reasons.

First, Terrell Davis will rush more than 25 times. One main weakness hindering this year's Green Bay Packers that was absent during their championship run last year is the startling lack of endurance displayed by the two most intimidating presences on the Green Bay defense. Reggie White is unable to play on every down, and, more significantly, Gilbert Brown appears to have eaten one too many cheeseburgers, rendering him largely ineffective in the second half of games all season long.

Davis is the second-best running back in football. In the second half, he will run roughshod through the tiring Packer defense. In losses to Indianapolis and Detroit, Marshall Faulk and Barry Sanders each torched the Packers for over 100 yards. With Brown sitting at the oxygen pumps, the immortal Bob Kuberski will fill up the middle and employ his matador defense, allowing Davis to run between the tackles and grind out large chunks of real estate.

Meanwhile, Denver's time-consuming drives will be significant not only for scoring points, but also for keeping Brett Favre and his high-octane passing attack roaming the sidelines. Green Bay defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur, in an attempt to keep Davis in check, will routinely place eight in the box and throw run blitzes into the teeth of the Denver front-line. Elway will call the play-action pass and find his fellow Stanford alum, the crafty "Easy" Ed McCaffrey, over the middle in single-coverage. Shannon Sharpe will stay on the line and come off the bump-and-run in the seam wide open, as Packers safety Eugene Robinson surrenders the deep middle to assist on run defense.

While Davis is the heart of the Denver attack, it is the passing game that fuels the Green Bay offense. Dorsey Levens strikes fear into opposing defensive coordinators about as much as Tyrone Wheatley. Unfortunately for the Big Blue, Wheatley doesn't have the opportunity to ride Favre's arm to Honolulu.

Denver has little hope of keeping Favre off the scoreboard. But they would do well to make sure that the idiot Bill Romanowski doesn't get Favre too riled up. Darrien Gordon and Ray Crockett have the speed to stay with Green Bay wideouts Robert Brooks and Antonio Freeman, and if Freeman forgets to leave his butter at home, Favre's passes and the game itself will slip through his fingers. The Broncos pass rush is lethal, and left end Neil Smith will get into the facemask of the three-time MVP, while right end Alfred Williams breathes down his neck.

In a decade, Steve Sabol will be sitting in his NFL Films library with his Paul Tagliabue-signed ball, reminiscing about Elway's final drive in Super Bowl XXXII in the same breath as the "Immaculate Reception" and Montana's floater to Dwight Clark in the back of the end zone. With the clock winding down, the Broncos' number-one AFC-ranked defense stuffs Levens on two straight running plays. Elway jogs onto the field to lead his team to one more last-second comeback. As the Packers focus on Davis and Sharpe, Easy Ed flashes open over the middle on a crossing pattern. Elway fires and exorcises his demons. And, somewhere, an ex-sportscaster could be heard, "A spectacular move by Ed McCaffrey; yes, and it counts!"

Final: Denver 27, Green Bay 24. MVP: Ed McCaffrey

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