Using conference title-game participants as one barometer, the NFL has hit a new height — some critics contend it's a low — in its quest for parity.

        For the second season in a row, there are no holdovers in either the AFC or NFC championship game. That's the first time in 35 Super Bowl seasons there have been eight different teams contending in two consecutive years.

        And looking at the past three years, 11 teams have filled the 12 slots. Only Minnesota, which lost to Atlanta in the 1999 NFC title game, has returned.

        Baltimore, the only remaining wild-card qualifier, is one of the three title-game participants this season that did not have a winning record during the 1999 season. The Ravens and host Oakland were 8-8, and the Giants, who will entertain the Vikings, were 7-9.

        The games are Sunday.

        One reason for the turnover at the top, say some NFL experts, is the free-agency system implemented in 1993.

        In the five years before free agency, the NFL averaged 10.2 franchises with at least 10 victories and 13.6 with winning records. And in those five seasons, playoff teams won an average of 10.9 games.

        But from 1993 through '99, 8.4 teams a year won 10 or more games, and 13.2 teams a year had winning records. Playoff teams averaged 10.5 victories.

        Free agency has turn rosters upside down. Teams averaged four new starters of 22 positions a year from 1993-99.

        While some critics say poor play is a result, fans must like it. The NFL set an attendance record a third consecutive season.

        This season, all six divisions had new champions, only the third time since 1970 that has happened (1992, 1998).

        That makes it 23 new division winners out of a possible 30 the past five seasons.

        Cincinnati is one of the seven teams without a division championship. The Bengals, who last made the playoffs after the 1990 season, have the longest postseason dry spell in the league.

Complete playoff coverage from Associated Press

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