A wild-card club winning three road games en route to the Super Bowl isn’t altogether unusual since the NFL moved to eight divisions in 2002.

Wild-card teams are seeded fifth and sixth in this format, and since the change, two of them have won the NFL title game in six seasons. One was the 2005 Steelers, who went 11-5 and won at Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Denver before defeating the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl 40. The other was last year’s New York Giants. They finished a distant second to Dallas in the NFC East, lost twice to the Cowboys in the regular season, but won at Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay before upending the defending champion New England Patriots for the title.

Recent wild-card success might suggest that the road to Super Bowl 43 isn’t a difficult one for a pair of No. 6 seeds playing on Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles. A case could be made that being a wild-card team is no more of an obstacle than being a No. 1 seed is an advantage -- ask the Titans and Giants about that -- but reaching the Super Bowl as a No. 5 or 6 seed still is a noteworthy accomplishment.

Prior to the 2005 Steelers and 2007 Giants, only one other fifth or sixth seed has reached the championship game.

Lowest Seeded Teams to Reach Super Bowl, All-Time
(only teams to win 3 road games in a postseason)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . Seed. . . . . . SB Result
1985 Patriots. . . . . 5. . . . . . . . . Lost
2005 Steelers. . . . .6. . . . . . . . . Won
2007 Giants. . . . . . 5. . . . . . . . . Won

The third team was the 1985 Patriots, who topped an 11-5 season by beating the Jets, Raiders and Dolphins on the road before getting roughed up by the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl 20.

This postseason has already had its share of surprises, with both No. 1 seeds bounced by No. 6 seeds last week. Now, the Ravens and Eagles could make history with wins on Sunday, setting up the first Super Bowl matchup of teams that have been seeded fifth or lower going into the playoffs.

A Ravens-Eagles Super Bowl is a strong possibility, as the still-standing, sixth-seeded clubs have been at their best for an extended period.

The Ravens are on an 11-2 surge that began with a convincing victory over Miami on Oct. 19, and the defense has allowed opponents an average of just 13.5 points per game in this span. Baltimore has given up just 19 points in playoff wins over the Dolphins and Titans.

The Eagles were sputtering near midseason and benched starting QB Donovan McNabb during a Week 12 shellacking by the Ravens. With two losses and a tie to the bumbling Bengals in their last three games, the Eagles had fallen to 5-5-1. McNabb returned and rebounded, and his team beat both the Giants and Cowboys in the final four weeks to secure the final NFC playoff berth. The Eagles have won six of their last seven games going into Sunday’s NFC Championship game with Arizona.

Wins by both the Ravens and Eagles on Sunday not only would set up an unprecedented Super Bowl matchup, but also would create a frenzy among East Coast football fans living between New York and Washington D.C. Philadelphia and Baltimore are separated by just 100 miles, a short jaunt down I-95.