NFL Playoff Bracket 2011 Harder for Colts and Saints

The NFL playoff bracket 2011 has last year's Super Bowl teams. This makes the NFL playoff bracket 2011 different from many others over the years. Lately, there has been a Super Bowl curse, as the losers often drop to .500 or worse a year later, and even the defending champions have a share of trouble. For the Saints and Colts, they had a rougher ride back to the postseason than last season, as the Colts came closer to being left out than ever before. Yet the NFL playoff bracket still gives the Colts and Saints a chance for another ring.

Nearly every Super Bowl loser in the last several years has gone downhill the next season. However, Arizona defied that curse in 2009, when they reached the second round, although they finally did collapse this year. But for Indianapolis, they nearly fell apart sooner in 2010.

The NFL playoff bracket 2011 has the Colts as the AFC South champions, like countless others in the last decade. Yet this was their toughest division title yet, as they were 6-6 and behind to Jacksonville. But in the last four weeks, Peyton Manning has stopped throwing so many interceptions, and the banged up Colts patched together one more run.

Now Indianapolis has another chance to knock out the New York Jets, albeit in the first round this time. If they do, the Colts will go to Pittsburgh, and avoid facing the Patriots until the AFC title game. Still, their route to another AFC title looks more difficult than usual, although their recent winning streak has fueled new hope.

But the NFL playoff bracket 2011 offers a tough route for the Colts and Saints. Last year at this time, they both had bye weeks and No. 1 seeds, and stayed indoors to reach the Super Bowl. Now the Saints must start on the road - albeit against a 7-9 opponent.

If the defending champions actually lose in Seattle, it will be one of the great postseason upsets ever. Yet this doesn't mean things will get any easier later, as the Saints may meet the Falcons in the second round, or in the NFC title game. However, since New Orleans was the only road team to win in Atlanta, a trip to the Georgia Dome won't faze them.