It's December, and it's still early?

The bitter temperatures and frigid December weather tell us it’s time to start judging who is for real in the NFL.

However, the nature and reality of the most competitive professional sporting league tell us it’s anything but.

This time of year, records are not indicative of what team has the potential to do come January.

Just look at the defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers, who returned almost all of the key personnel who secured their sixth Lombardi Trophy a year ago.

At 6-6, the Steelers are still in the hunt for a wild-card spot. That means, should they make the cut, they would play three road games before the Super Bowl.

Sounds eerily familiar to the 2005 Steelers, who finished the regular season 11-5 and reeled off three straight road wins in January before winning the world championship in Jerome Bettis’ hometown of Detroit.

How about the 12-0 Indianapolis Colts?

I remember a Colts team, the most talented one from position to position in franchise history, which started 13-0 and went on to fumble their Super Bowl hopes in a home loss to those Steelers; the same Steelers they beat in double digit fashion with a 26-7 win earlier that year.

Take the 7-5 New England Patriots.

If forced to slot a team for South Beach and the Super Bowl right now, I’d have a hard time not putting my money on Brady & Co.

Call me crazy, but it’s the NFL. It’s “any given Sunday,” as the cliche states.

New England coach Bill Belichick’s track record said he usually has his team playing their best football come January.

After the Steelers’ 27-24 loss to the lowly Oakland Raiders on Sunday, Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said his team would “unleash hell” the rest of this month.

Message to Jim Caldwell, Sean Payton, Belichick and other coaches looking to make noise in January: Watch out.

This is a team that finally has former first-round draft pick Rashard Mendenhall healthy at running back, with the ever-dangerous Troy Polamalu and behemoth Casey Hampton on the defensive side.

Running the ball in January is a must.

We hear it every year after a team, often Indianapolis, gives up an obnoxious amount of yards on the ground en route to an early playoff exit.

So, why not keep the 5-7 Tennessee Titans in the conversation? Titans running back Chris Johnson is having an MVP-caliber season with 1,509 yards with four games to play. The team could grab a lingering hope for a wildcard spot if it goes 9-7.

Should Tennessee make it, they have the personnel and experience of playing in January after last year’s 13-3 run, although Kerry Collins, the quarterback who led that team, has been benched for the season in favor of Vince Young.  

A common misconception in professional football is the Bill Parcells prophecy, stating “you are what your record says you are.” Sure, that’s true at the end of the year.

The fog lies in the fact that in the NFL, there aren’t teams whose players are slower or whose offensive line isn’t as strong as those on the clubs tallying higher numbers in the win column.

Look at the 12-0 Saints, who Sunday remained unbeaten only after Redskins kicker Shaun Suisham missed a 23-yard field goal in overtime.

It’s going to be an exciting two months, as it should. Stay tuned.