Watch Washington Redskins vs Seattle Seahawks Live Online - NFL Wild Card Weekend Preview

Almost four years ago, Mike Holmgren found himself at yet another scouting combine. He bumped into old pals, fellow veteran NFL coaches.

Bill Parcells. Mike Sherman. Bill Cowher. ... Joe Gibbs?

The same Joe Gibbs who was Southern California's line coach in 1969, when Holmgren was a senior quarterback? The same man who had left coaching a decade earlier to run a NASCAR team?

"What are you doing? Are you sure you want to do this?" Holmgren asked Gibbs that spring day in 2004, knowing Gibbs was thoroughly enjoying life outside of football.

"Yeah, I think so," Gibbs told him of returning to the game.

Saturday, the men who are 1-2 in victories among the league's active coaches will be across the field from each other. Gibbs' Redskins will be in Seattle to play Holmgren's Seahawks in the NFC's wild-card playoffs.

And sometime after this game, the 59-year-old Holmgren will revisit Gibbs (171-100 in 16 seasons) to ask about stepping away from coaching and beginning a new life.

"I will have a conversation with him at some point about that," said Holmgren, who is 169-109 in 16 seasons.

Sooner than later?

"Yeah, probably," Holmgren said.

He and longtime wife Kathy have four daughters, and Holmgren relishes being a grandfather. He owns a boat and a house in an upscale Seattle suburb. He also has homes in the coastal hills of his native Northern California, and in Arizona, where he escapes football by riding motorcycles across the desert. He did that again during Seattle's bye week in late October.

After these playoffs, Holmgren has one season remaining on the two-year contract he signed after the Seahawks lost in the Super Bowl to Pittsburgh 23 months ago.

Holmgren agreed to that deal only after some soul searching. Then 12 months ago, after Seattle lost in the second round of the playoffs in overtime at Chicago, Holmgren again took his time before deciding to return. Now, as he is trying to reach a sixth Super Bowl as a head man or assistant, he acknowledges this could be his last go-around.

"Where I am in my coaching life, I've got more years behind me than I have ahead of me, that's for sure," Holmgren said. "You think about it (being the last chance). If you get into the playoffs, you probably think about it every year.

"My mindset has not changed. ... At the end of each season Kathy and I will get away from here for a week and just kind of bang (the possibility of retiring) around a little bit and think about how we're going to do this in fairness to everybody -- the players, the owner, everybody.

"You have to take some time and let things settle in. It's an important decision."

Watch Tennessee Titans vs San Diego Chargers Live Online - NFL Wild Card Weekend Preview

For the second straight season, the San Diego Chargers are on a roll heading into the playoffs. This time around, they're trying not to be overconfident, especially with a matchup against a Tennessee Titans team that is thrilled to be getting another crack at the AFC West champions.

San Diego brings another long winning streak into the postseason on Sunday when it meets visiting Tennessee for the second time in five weeks.

The first matchup between these teams resulted in a 23-17 overtime victory for San Diego in Nashville on Dec. 9 -- the Titans' only loss in their last five games.

In that contest, the Chargers (11-5) rallied from 14 points down in the fourth quarter, tying the game at 17 on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Philip Rivers to tight end Antonio Gates with 9 seconds remaining. San Diego won on LaDainian Tomlinson's 16-yard TD run in overtime.

The game was extremely physical, with four players getting fined a total of $32,500 by the NFL and Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman accusing the Titans of a cheap shot that left him with an injured knee.

"I know that there's a lot of things that went on a few weeks ago when we played them at our place, a lot of bad blood in this game," said Tennessee center Kevin Mawae, who was docked $5,000 for a hit on Merriman. "So it'll be interesting to see. We're going to try to stay focused this week and not get caught up in the locker room trash talk and just focus on ourselves.

"We go out to San Diego and give them our best shot."

Tennessee (10-6) is still upset about the last meeting, believing it was on the wrong end of a call on a crucial fourth-and-5 play for San Diego during the final drive of regulation. Rivers threw a pass downfield to Chris Chambers, who had to dive back for the ball, and the officials ruled it a catch.

It was replayed because it came in the last two minutes, but not overturned because of a lack of camera angles.

"If people missed the first one that we played, tune in," Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck said.

Rivers, though, isn't ready to label this wild-card game as a grudge match.

"Nah, I mean, we won the game. That's all that matters to us," he said. "It's a new game now. We get to play them at home. It's going to be another fun, physical game. I'm looking forward to it."

Watch Jacksonville Jaguars vs Pittsburgh Steelers Live Online - NFL Wild Card Weekend Preview

Maybe no team in NFL history has gone through a more difficult path through the playoffs to win a Super Bowl than the Pittsburgh Steelers did two years ago.

The one they now face could easily top it.

With possibly the least momentum of any playoff team and missing their Pro Bowl running back, the Steelers host the only visiting team to win at Heinz Field all season when they meet the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday night.

Even if Pittsburgh (10-6) can get by Jacksonville (11-5), which beat the Steelers 29-22 on Dec. 16, its road back to the Super Bowl could include road games against unbeaten New England and defending Super Bowl champion Indianapolis.

Before they can think about going on the road next week, the Steelers must knock off a Jaguars team which won six of seven before losing a meaningless regular-season finale. One of those victories included the trip to Heinz Field, preventing Pittsburgh from finishing with an 8-0 home record.

The Steelers even had Willie Parker for that game and he ran for 100 yards, but his season ended four days later when he broke his leg in a game at St. Louis. That leaves Pittsburgh without the NFL's fourth-leading rusher.

Parker has been replaced by Najeh Davenport, who came off the bench against the Rams to rush for 123 yards before being held to 27 last week on 12 carries in a 27-21 loss at Baltimore. Pittsburgh came out flat in that game, falling behind 17-0, despite entering with a chance to claim the AFC's No. 3 seed.

"A lot of things are of concern. What lies ahead is an enormous playoff game versus a great football team at our place," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "If there is any hesitation, they better quickly get over it because the ball is going to be kicked off here shortly."