From the ugliness of 1-15 to the beauty of an AFC East title. That's the Miami Dolphins' story this season.

The Dolphins won five straight and nine of 10 to close the season and qualify for the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons.

The tale was nearly as good for the Atlanta Falcons, who went from 4-12 to an NFC wild-card berth. And for the NFC South-winning Carolina Panthers, who surged from 7-9 to 12-4.

Minnesota improved by two games to 10-6 and that was good enough for the NFC North crown.

While Miami, Carolina and Minnesota were clinching divisions Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles were joining the Falcons as wild cards. Already in were the New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals in the NFC, the Tennessee Titans, Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts in the AFC.

San Diego completed the playoff field in the final game of the regular season, beating Denver to win the AFC West with an 8-8 record.

Next weekend, Atlanta is at Arizona at 2:30 p.m. MST on Saturday and Philadelphia is at Minnesota at 2:30 p.m. MST on Sunday in the NFC. Indianapolis visits San Diego Saturday night and Baltimore is at Miami in the 11 a.m. MST game Sunday in the AFC.

The Giants, Panthers, Titans and Steelers have byes.

Tennessee will host the first game of the divisional round on Jan. 10 at 2:30 p.m. MST. The night game that Saturday will be at Carolina.

On Sunday, Jan. 11, the Giants will be the host for the 11 a.m. MST game, followed by a
2:45 p.m. MST kickoff in Pittsburgh.

The NFC title game will be a 1 p.m. MST kickoff, followed by the AFC championship game at 4:30 p.m. MST on Jan. 18.

The Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., is scheduled for Feb. 1.




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