While I think it's safe to say Tampa's record was more indicative of playing a favorable schedule than actually being good, the fact is teams can only play the schedule in front of them. They have little control over their schedule, same as we do.
That said, their favorable schedule is also why we won the strength of opponent tie breaker over them. We had the same regular season record, the same conference record and the same non-conference record. The difference was the quality of the teams we beat vs. the teams they beat. Not a single win they had came against a team with a winning record, while several of ours did.
What's funny is, if we just pulled it together for one of those friggin games we dropped, we wouldn't even be talking about this. Make that damn kick against the Redskins, catch the damn ball vs. the Lions or don't commit 18 penalties and fumble the ball against the Bears, and we're in without the need of tie breakers. Hell, just hold Atlanta deep and force over time and we even have a shot to win that one.
Eh well. We won the Super Bowl. In hindsight, I wouldn't do anything over again.