HOUSTON (AP) — If the Carolina Panthers win the Super Bowl, it will be with power. If the New England Patriots win, it will be with finesse, deception, intimidation and experience.

So while today’s NFL championship game might not feature football’s biggest stars, it could be a fascinating chess match between two of the game’s headiest coaches — accomplished grandmaster Bill Belichick of New England and Carolina’s quickly ascending John Fox.

Don’t look for glamorous quarterbacks. The most famous are otherwise occupied. Joe Montana is making a promotional tour and John Elway was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend.

Today’s QBs are the quietly efficient Tom Brady of New England, who may someday be in that class, and Jake Delhomme of Carolina, who almost surely won’t. Delhomme spent six seasons on the bench in New Orleans and was even a backup in NFL Europe.

So look to Belichick and Fox, both defensive masterminds. That could make this one of the lowest-scoring Super Bowls since the days when the Roman numerals were in single digits: Between 1969 and 1975, only one loser scored more than seven points.

“It’s going to be a street fight,” said Carolina defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, an All-Pro in just his third NFL season.

The contestants approach the game from different perspectives.

The Patriots, Super Bowl champions two seasons ago, have won their last 14 games, including a 24-14 victory over Indianapolis in the AFC title game. No surprise. They were one of the preseason favorites.

Carolina, on the other hand, was 1-15 two seasons ago when Brady and the Pats were winning the title. Their final loss of that season, in fact, was a 38-6 thumping by New England.

Fox took over last season and the Panthers finished 7-9, then won the NFC South at 11-5 this season. They won three playoff games to get here, the last two on the road — a double overtime in St. Louis and in Philadelphia to win the NFC championship.

“The landscape in the NFL being the way it is, you can go from the outhouse to the penthouse pretty quickly,” Fox said. “You just have to make sure you slam the outhouse door behind you.”

The question is whether they will get to the penthouse or simply stop at a luxury suite in 2-year-old Reliant Stadium, where the game will be played.

The contrast starts at quarterback.

Brady doesn’t scramble like Elway or gamble like Brett Favre. By NFL standards, his arm is just average and he sometimes seems embarrassed to be considered a celebrity. “He’s a star who doesn’t want to be a star,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft said.