For the past couple of weeks this NFL season has resembled an episode of American Chopper. Bits and pieces of drama, some minor uncertainties, and a good dose of kicking and screaming, but when all is said and done, you know the deadline is going to be met and the bike will get built. Apart from minor upsets and a scandal or two along the way, we've pretty much known how the season is going to end for some time. The only open questions now are the final wild cards.

In the NFC the division winners will be Dallas, Green Bay, Tampa Bay and Seattle. Dallas and Green Bay will get the byes. The Giants will get the first wild card. The Vikings, out of nowhere, are out front for the second one with New Orleans, Washington, Detroit, and Arizona one game back. Interestingly, if I understand the convoluted tiebreaker system correctly, the first wild card tiebreaker after head-to-heads is conference record. At the moment the Vikes are on top there also. The Cards and the Saints game on Sunday should thin the field by one. There's the possibility of an interesting game on 12/23 when the Vikes meet the 'Skins. That is the extent of the drama in the NFC at the moment, which is fairly amazing considering that at the outset of the season it looked like a free for all.

The AFC is equally set. Pats, Colts, Steelers and Chargers look to take the titles with the Pats and Colts getting byes. The Jags have a vice-like grip on the first wild card. The Jags/Steelers game should be good, but won't likely have a big affect on the final picture. The Browns appear to be within a game of the Steelers, but Pittsburgh has the tiebreaker, so they are really two back with three to play. That's the only remotely tenuous division race at this point. The Browns are up front for the wild card, with the Bills and Titans in pursuit. That puts the winner of Sunday's Bills/Browns game in the driver's seat — call it Super Bowl 41.87593. If the Bills win, it's still an open issue — the hated Titans are hanging around, and the Bills have a tougher schedule (Giants, Eagles) than the Browns (Bengals, 49ers). If the Browns win, things get even more settled. If the Browns win and Pittsburgh loses, then things may get interesting, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

In my midterm grade columns (NFC, AFC) I nailed all 8 division winners and got in the ball park on the wild cards. And as we all know, when it comes to futures I'm not the guy you want to follow, so this must have been blindingly obvious. We've known how this was going to end for half the year. Actually, since September we've been pretty certain how the season is going to end in February: Bill Belichick hoisting the Lombardi like Paul Sr. taking the finished chopper out for a test ride.