Can No. 1 seeded Colts, Saints get to Super Bowl?

NEW ORLEANS – For all the talk about the importance of home-field advantage in the NFL playoffs, the cruel truth for top-seeded teams is this: The last time both of them made the Super Bowl was 1993.

The Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints can’t like hearing that. Plus, both of them lost at home late in the regular season, albeit not in critical games.

Even so, both are favored to reach the Super Bowl on Sunday when they host conference championships.

The Colts welcome the surprising New York Jets for the AFC crown, while the Saints stage their first NFC title game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Only the Colts and Jets have won a Super Bowl, with one each in their current guises. The Saints have never been to the big game while the Vikings have four times without a win – the last in 1977.

The Vikings were a great team at home this season, but a mediocre one on the road. Not that star quarterback Brett Favre will be uncomfortable in the Superdome, where he earned his only Super Bowl victory (with Green Bay) and was home to the Saints team he cheered as a youngster growing up in Mississippi.

Favre picked apart the Dallas Cowboys 34-3 last week, and Dallas has a much better defense than New Orleans. The Saints, though, are very opportunistic, and will seize on any mistakes or bad decisions Favre makes.

The Vikings draw from Favre’s two Super Bowls and one win, and most wins for any quarterback in NFL history. (AP)