Bill Barnwell , ESPN.com: "The NFL's final four doesn't include any mistakes. You have the league's most explosive passing attack (Arizona) and the league's most efficient passing game (New England). There is the NFL's most dominant running game (Carolina) and while the Denver Broncos haven't had much of an offense this season, they feature the league's top defense by just about every advanced metric. These are teams that excel at an extremely high level, that force you to adapt and make it extremely difficult to counter or shift strategies midgame."

Mike Tanier, Bleacher Report: "You don't reach the NFL's Final Four without a few lucky bounces, weird calls, magical curveball field goals, injuries that look devastating but turn out to be manageable and perhaps a little help from the toss of a coin. You also don't reach the conference championship round without exceptional talent, hard work, strategic brilliance, excellent management and outstanding leadership from the front office to the locker room. Every team that reached the Final Four this year survived a massive challenge to get here. Three of those challenges came from coaches and quarterbacks with Super Bowl rings. The Broncos, Panthers, Cardinals and Patriots are lucky to be here, but none of them are here because of luck. A weekend of strange reversals, surprising comebacks and hard-fought, closer-than-they-had-to-be victories made it clear that all four remaining contenders, while great, are vulnerable. That vulnerability should be celebrated, not criticized. These four teams overcame shortcomings to get here. They will face opponents with shortcomings of their own. The winner of the Super Bowl will have to overcome its own flaws, maximize its strengths, exploit its opponents' weaknesses and make sure to make the most of any lucky breaks."