After nearly a month of playoff action, the dust has settled, and this year’s Super Bowl contenders are set. However, there was certainly plenty of controversy and heartbreak for fans across the nation along the way. Games in the first round are often expected to be blowouts, and while that mostly held true this year, there were some highlights.
Starting off in Houston, the Texans played the Chargers in a game that started quite slow, but quickly got out of hand. Justin Herbert, the Chargers quarterback, had thrown only 3 interceptions throughout the 17 regular season games. However, a rough game in which he threw 4 ended up costing the Chargers their season, as the Texans won 32-12 and earned a date with the back-to-back defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Next, a heated divisional rivalry had two teams that came into the postseason on opposite ends of the spectrum. The Pittsburgh Steelers had lost five of their final six regular season games, while the Baltimore Ravens and their potential MVP quarterback, Lamar Jackson, were on fire. This trend continued as the Ravens took care of business by a score of 28-14. Another major MVP candidate also picked up a blowout win in the first round, as Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills steamrolled the Denver Broncos 31-7, setting up a dream second-round matchup between Jackson and Allen.
In the NFC, the heavily favored Eagles was able to take out the Packers in a pretty pedestrian 22-10 win that featured lots of rushing the ball on both sides. On Sunday Night, the only close game of the first round was played, as runaway rookie of the year Jayden Daniels, and the Washington Commanders went into Tampa Bay and hit a game-winning field goal as time expired to earn a 23-20 upset. While another upset occurred in the final game of the Wild card round on Monday night, it was in blowout fashion as the LA Rams terrorized the Vikings, sacking Sam Darnold eight times as they win 27-9.
Moving forward to the quarterfinals, the “best weekend in football” lived up to its name. Starting in Kansas City, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs continued their unparalleled playoff dominance (with some help from the referees, whether Chief fans want to admit or not) as they held on for a 23-14 win.
Next, the biggest upset of the entire playoffs took place as the upstart Commanders came into a raucous Detroit building to play the number-one seeded Lions. Daniels and Washington put on an absolute offensive clinic in a thriller that featured 52 total points in the first half, as a game-sealing interception by the Washington defense sent them to the semifinals after a 45-31 win.
They were to meet the winner of the Eagles vs. Rams game, an incredibly tight contest that was back and forth the whole way through in heavy snow and freezing temperatures. The Rams, who were down 28-15 with four minutes left after Philly running back Saquon Barkley’s second massive touchdown of the game, nearly pulled off a miracle comeback featuring an incredible catch by sophomore receiver Puka Nacua, but fell just short as they lost 28-22.
That game would have been the most thrilling of the four, if not for the showdown in Buffalo between the Bills and Ravens. Down 27-25 and needing a 2-point conversion to tie and likely send the game to overtime, Lamar Jackson threw a perfect pass to Ravens tight end Mark Andrews in the endzone that was dropped, and the Bills earned a trip to Kansas City to etch another chapter into one of the most bitter rivalries in the modern NFL. In the first semifinal, the Commanders’ Cinderella story came to an end at the hands of the Eagles as a combo of self-inflicted mistakes and relentless defense proved too much in a 55-23 loss. Still, this season was a huge success for Washington as a franchise, and they have a very bright future.
However, the game everybody was truly waiting for was Buffalo and Kansas City. The bitter hatred the two teams and fanbases foster for each other (especially in Buffalo’s case, the Chiefs have beaten them in the playoffs four of the last five years and went on to win three Super Bowls in that span). The Bills came up heartbreakingly short once again, as they fell 32-29 with a few questionable calls and crucial drops. Josh Allen, who played a near perfect game himself, could be seen in tears after the game. Junior Gabe Tavares, a Bills fan, was devastated by the loss: “We played a great game and just came up short again, but Bills Mafia will be back in force next year.” However, the Super Bowl matchup has been set, and we’ll either see the first threepeat in the history of the big game, or Philly take down another all time great quarterback, just as they did against Tom Brady for their last championship in 2018. In terms of who is favored by LHS students, many seem to be in favor of Philly. Freshman Warren Zhang cited the Eagles defense as “the key factor in stopping Patrick Mahomes and winning.” Whether or not Mahomes can be dealt his first playoff loss in three years will be seen Sunday night.
