NFC racing toward wacky finish

Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2004 | 11:01 a.m.

SUN WIRE REPORTS

By the end of the day on Sunday, Jan. 2, six NFC teams will have qualified for the playoffs. No joke. Really. We mean it.

No matter how bleak the NFL's second-rate conference appears these days, an unusual playoff race is shaping up for the final month of the season. After Dallas beat Seattle on Monday night, the NFC had more playoff spots (six) than teams with winning records (four).

As a result, four classes have emerged in the conference:

So while Vikings and Packers fans wrung their hands Monday, a day after their teams absorbed difficult road losses, there was little reason to fret. Both teams could finish 2-2 or even 1-3 and still make the postseason.

"I don't think we worry about that," coach Mike Tice said. "I think you just kind of worry about Seattle and let each game come one at a time, and try not to look at the overall picture. Because really, the overall picture doesn't affect us unless we screw it up."

Indeed, the Vikings would clinch the NFC North by winning their remaining four games and finishing with an 11-5 record. Yet with such below-the-border mediocrity filling the conference, the NFC North's second-place team could well get the NFC's fifth seed.

Barring a collapse by the Falcons, the NFC North winner probably will be the fourth seed in the conference and host a wild-card team in the first round of the playoffs.

One amazing fact, however, was clear: When both the Vikings and the Packers awoke Monday morning, their respective losses had changed virtually nothing about their postseason hopes.

You can thank the NFC for that.

Boston, who was charged with simple assault, did not appear in court.

Boston is accused of striking a US Airways customer service agent in the face after he refused to let him board a plane.

Gibbs, fired by coach Mike Shanahan Nov. 9, has informed the NFL and the NFL Coaches Association of his plans and has asked an arbitrator to rule on his salary.