Mike Smith believes that the teams that finish the regular season in good form will stand the best chance of Super Bowl success.
The Atlanta Falcons head coach's comments come after the NFC's top-seeded side lost for just the second time this season on Sunday.
Smith told reporters: "In recent history, the last two years, the teams that have won the Super Bowl were teams that got hot at the end of the season and that carried over into the postseason.
"The teams playing their best football at the end of the season are usually the teams that get to where they want to be in the last ballgame."
The reigning Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants, won three of their last four regular season games to secure a place in the postseason, before beating the top two ranked sides in the NFC on the way to the Super Bowl.
