The AFC, meanwhile, will pit Brandon Weeden, Alex Smith, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brock Osweiler and AJ McCarron against the Patriots for a Super Bowl bid. My team will almost certainly have to beat 2 of Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers and Carson Palmer to get there. This strikes me as lame. Rodgers and the Packers are barely a threat to mediocre teams at this point. It's an easy win for the Panthers unless they decide to suck. Beat the Bucs at home next week, and you've got to like the chances much better of playing a home game in the NFC championship, even if it's Arizona. You're right it's not a fair balance between the NFC and AFC, but there is a winnable path to the Super Bowl for the Panthers. I'm not feeling a whole lot of sympathy for you :-)