MIAMI -- The first weekend of the National Football League playoffs offers up several intriguing story lines, including a matchup of two of the game's all-time marquee quarterbacks and a reprise of a game between New England Patriots Coach Bill Parcells and the Cleveland Browns' Bill Belichick, his defensive coordinator when both were with the New York Giants.


And, oh yes, the National Football Conference Central Division -- once and perhaps still appropriately known as the Black and Blue Division -- gets to beat up on itself all over again in the NFC wild-card games.


The quarterback duel will take place Saturday in Joe Robbie Stadium -- site of this year's Super Bowl XXIX -- when Dan Marino and the Miami Dolphins play host to Joe Montana and the Kansas City Chiefs.


Both teams have staggered to the finish line and both quarterbacks probably will be limping, Marino on a leg that has been bothering him since last year's Achilles' tendon surgery and Montana on a knee bruised in last Saturday's must-win against the Los Angeles Raiders.


The Minnesota Vikings 21-14 victory over the San Francisco 49ers contest determined two of the NFC wild-teams. The Detroit Lions will play against the Packers at Green Bay on Saturday.


Neither of these NFC Central teams is expected to go much farther, not with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco looming in the next round. The 49ers, whose 13-3 regular season record was the league's best, open their drive to the Super Bowl at home on Jan. 7. The two-time defending champion Cowboys (12-4) play Sunday, Jan. 8.


The Steelers, 12-4 and with the home field throughout the AFC playoffs, play at Three Rivers Stadium Jan. 7; the San Diego Chargers (10-6) play host on Jan. 8, with both teams' opponents to be determined this weekend.


The Dolphins come in as the mystery team of the playoffs because no one, including their own players, can figure them out. Will it be the team that scored 27 first-half points against the Lions on Sunday night or will it be a team that scored no touchdowns against Indianapolis the week before?


The previous Cleveland-New England game was the last time New England lost this season. The Patriots have since won seven straight after a 3-6 start and come into the game as the hottest team in the AFC. The Browns, on the other hand, looked dreadful two weeks ago in a loss to the Steelers with the AFC Central title up for grabs.


The road to the Super Bowl provided an early Christmas present for six National Football League teams Saturday as the last of the Super Bowl tournament berths were claimed on the eve of the holiday.


The Patriots celebrated a return to the playoffs for the first time in eight years, while the Chiefs happily advanced at the expense of their longtime rivals, the Raiders, 19-9.


"This was a playoff game for us," said Kansas City running back Marcus Allen, who once starred for the Raiders, who were eliminated by the result. Allen ran for 132 yards and became the ninth NFL player to rush for more than 10,000 yards.


New England took care of their playoff destiny on the road against defensive-minded Chicago. The Patriots, winners of their last seven games for a 10-6 record, prevailed 13-3.


In the National Football Conference, the Bears' loss to the Patriots -- combined with a victory by the Green Bay over Tampa Bay, 34-19 -- made it a banner day for the Central Division, which had four teams qualify for the playoffs including Chicago, despite its loss, and Detroit and Minnesota.


Green Bay's victory not only secured the Packers a playoff berth, it eliminated the New York Giants. And when the Giants defeated undermanned Dallas 15-10, that crushed the hopes of Arizona, which then lost 10-6 at Atlanta.


The Miami Dolphins wrapped up Detroit's Barry Sanders and the AFC East title -- and gave coach Don Shula another milestone National Football League victory. Regular-season victory No. 319 was achieved as Dan Marino threw for 285 yards and Bernie Parmalee scored three touchdowns in a 27-20 victory over Detroit.


Miami held Sanders, the NFL's leading rusher, to 52 yards on 12 carries. Sanders needed 169 yards to become the third 2,000-yard rusher in NFL history.


On Monday night, the Vikings snapped the 49ers 10-game winning streak as Rookie Dewayne Washington returned a fumble for a touchdown and John Randle had two of the Vikings three sacks in their victory over San Francisco.


The 49ers are guaranteed home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs, and will take next weekend off. Many of their key players got an early start on their rest time Monday night.


But not before Young and Rice combined for a TD and several records.


Young surpassed Joe Montana's passer rating of 112.4, set in 1989, with a 112.8. Young also eclipsed Ken Anderson's NFL record for completion percentage, set in the 1982 season at 70.55, with a 70.7. He hit on 325 of 460 passes this season. His 35 TD passes broke Montana's team record of 31. Young's TD total included a 6-yard pass to Rice on the second play of the second quarter to tie the game 7-7. That gave him the highest rating for a season. Rice has 820 career receptions, second to Art Monk.


The San Diego Chargers, champions of the AFC West, clinched an opening round bye with a wild 37-34 victory over AFC Central champion Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday.


The Cleveland Browns assured themselves of hosting a wild card game next week with a 35-9 win over the Seattle Seahawks.


Other scores from Saturday's games include: Indianapolis 10, Buffalo 9; Cincinnati 33, Philadelphia 30; Houston 24, Jets 10; Washington 24, Rams 21; New Orleans 30, Denver 28.


Sanders became the first player since 1987 to make the Associated Press All-Pro team as a unanimous selection, while San Francisco's Steve Young barely missed that distinction. Pittsburgh and San Francisco had five players named to the team and Dallas and Minnesota each had four.


(Washington Post, Reuters, AP)