Four teams remain. What happened last week and what is up next on the road to Super Bowl XVIII?
Entering the NFL’s Divisional Round playoffs, eight teams remained. They faced in each other in four matchups across the weekend. On Saturday, the Houston Texans faced the Baltimore Ravens, and the Green Bay Packers travelled to San Francisco to face the 49ers. On Sunday, the Detroit Lions faced the Tampa Buccaneers, and the Kansas City Chiefs faced down the Buffalo Bills.
Ravens 34 – Texans 10
The Houston Texans were travelling to Baltimore this week riding high. Led by quarterback CJ Stroud, they had thoroughly dismantled the Cleveland Browns the week before. Now, they faced their toughest test. The Baltimore Ravens entered this week rested, benefiting from the bye week granted to each conference’s number one seed.
In the first half, Texans fans’ optimism seemed like it may be rewarded. They traded field goals with the Ravens in the first quarter, and after Lamar Jackson drove the Ravens for a touchdown, the Texans responded on special teams when Steven Sims returned a punt 67 yards for a touchdown. At this point, it seemed like this game had the makings of a tight defensive battle. However, as the second half got underway, the Ravens took over.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson drove the Ravens straight down the field and scored a touchdown by taking the ball straight out of halftime. The defence continued to shut the offence down, not allowing the Texans any points. Jackson then led the Ravens on a 12-play, 93-yard drive over a span of 7:03 to increase the score to 24-10. This was followed by a Texans three and out. The Ravens then orchestrated another long drive, going 78 yards in 11 plays for another touchdown to make the score 31-10. They would tack on a field goal with just under two minutes left to play to round out the scoring, the final being 34-10.
Jackson again showed why he is the odds-on favourite to win the MVP this season. Despite a rocky start, he was largely perfect in the air, making few mistakes. Although he was not throwing for many yards, was extremely efficient. He finished 16-22 for 152 yards and two touchdowns through the air, and he added another 100 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
On the other hand, CJ Stroud finally demonstrated a lack of poise that you would expect from a rookie quarterback in the playoffs. He looked nervous and was under constant pressure from an excellent Ravens front seven. He finished 19-33 for 175 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions. The Ravens’ defence was also exceptional, holding the Texans’ offence to only 213 total yards and recording three sacks.
The Ravens will host the AFC championship this weekend.
49ers 24 – Packers 21
The San Francisco 49ers hosted the Green Bay Packers in a matchup featuring the NFC’s number one seed against the seven-seed Green Bay Packers. The Packers entered this game fresh off their shock win in Dallas, where they blew out the two-seed Cowboys. This marked the first time a seven-seed advanced past the first round since the NFL playoffs expanded to seven teams per conference.
The 49ers entered this game after the bye week afforded to the number one seed. Furthermore, in their final game of the regular season, the 49ers rested starters, meaning that much of San Francisco’s top talent had had two weeks of rest heading into this game.
However, for the 49ers, this rest seemed more like rust as the game got underway. The first half was a defensive battle, with the Packer’s offence gaining some traction but ultimately having to settle for field goals. The 49ers looked sluggish against a Green Bay defensive unit, which was incredibly mediocre during the regular season.
The one exception to this was Brock Purdy hitting his tight end George Kittle in good coverage deep over the middle for a 32-yard touchdown. Miscues were also a problem for the 49ers. With a chance to go up 10-6 before halftime, Jake Moody’s kick was tipped at the line and went wide left to keep the halftime score 7-6.
In the second half, things only got worse for the 49ers. The Packers’ offence, which had been so explosive against the Cowboys, found their groove. After driving down the field to open the half, Jordan Love found a wide-open Bo Melton for a touchdown to make the score 13-7. However, the 49ers’ offence had finally found some life. After a big completion to George Kittle on third down, running back Christian McCaffery took an up-the-middle carry 39 yards to the house to make the game 14-13.
The Packers struck right back. First was a long kickoff return, which featured a bizarre sequence in which the returner Keisean Nixon fumbled the ball, having it roll on the ground for several seconds before being recovered by the Packers. After that, Jordan Love found the endzone again, with a pass to his tight end Tucker Craft. A successful two-point conversion made the game 21-14.
The Packers were able to force a three and out the other way. But at this point, everything began to go wrong. On the ensuing drive, Love’s pass was batted up in the air, and intercepted by Dre Greenlaw. The 49ers were able to convert this into three points to make it 21-17.
The Packers showed some life as a long Aaron Jones carry brought them inside 49ers territory, and a few plays later, they seemed poised to kick a field goal to extend their lead. However, kicker Anders Carlson proceeded to push the kick just wide left to keep the score where it was.
The 49ers capitalized on this opportunity. They drove methodically down the field, finally punching it in to go up 24-21 with just 1:07 to go in the game. In a last desperate effort, Love threw a long pass across his body, which Greenlaw intercepted again to end the game.
The 49ers will host the NFC Championship this week.
Lions 31 – Buccaneers 23
Sunday’s slate of games kicked off with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers travelling to Detroit to take on the Lions. Both teams came into the game off huge wins, with the Bucs having blown out the Eagles and Lions having beaten their old quarterback Matthew Stafford and the Rams to secure their first playoff victory in almost thirty years.
The game started out like both of the others that preceded it: a defensive battle. The first quarter saw both teams trade field goals. The Lions’ defence proved particularly adept, recording multiple sacks on Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield and intercepting him once.
This level of play would eventually be complimented by their offence who, as the first quarter ended and second began, put together a long drive which ended in a touchdown from Jared Goff to Josh Reynolds.
This time the Bucs struck back. Baker Mayfield skillfully led the Bucs’ offense down the field, making several impressive plays, including a clutch run on third and one, and a pair of long completions to Mike Evans which got the Bucs to the goal line. From there, a toss to Cade Otton tied the game 10-10 going into the half.
The Bucs got the ball to start the second half and began a promising drive, seemingly on their way to scoring points. However, an Aidan Hutchinson sack on third and four forced the drive to a halt. Both teams proceeded to trade punts, but after that, the Lions got their offence going again.
They embarked on a long drive down the field, going 64 yards in 10 plays, capping it off with a Craig Reynolds 1-yard touchdown to put the Lions up 17-10. The Tampa Bay offence, once again, rose to meet them. They responded by driving 75 yards in 7 plays to tie the game going into the 4th quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Lions took over. They immediately embarked on a drive, which was capped by a 31-yard touchdown run from Jahmyr Gibbs. The Bucs then went three and out. The Lions’ offence stayed on their run, going 89 yards in 10 plays and scoring to make the game 31-17.
Despite this, the Bucs refused to go away quietly. They orchestrated a long drive of their own, including a huge 4th down completion to Mike Evans which kept the drive alive. A few plays later, Mayfield went back to Evans for a touchdown which cut the Lions lead to eight. The Bucs’ defence was then able to get the Lions to punt, setting them up in position for a final drive.
However, this final drive ended quickly. On just its second play, Mayfield’s pass was intercepted by Derrick Barnes to seal the game for the Lions.
The Lions will travel to San Francisco this week, looking to win a trip to the Super Bowl.
Chiefs 27 – Bills 24
In the weekend’s final game, the Kansas City Chiefs travelled to Buffalo to take on their rival Buffalo Bills. This was the third time the Bills and Chiefs had met in the playoffs in the past four years. Both previous games were in Kansas City, and both resulted in Chiefs wins. It therefore seemed the perfect scenario for a revenge game as the Bills were the hosts for this matchup.
One of the major concerns going into this game was the ability of each defence to stop the opposing team’s offence. The Bills’ defence was extremely banged up, with multiple injuries to starters concerning the Buffalo side and Josh Allen’s ability to elevate his game in playoffs concerning the Chiefs side.
With regard to this prediction, the game went as expected. Both offences opened the game with long drives, eating up over half of the first quarter in game time, and both ended in field goals.
The Bills continued to flash their offensive talent on the second drive, taking apart the Chiefs’ defence with a consistent mix of running and short passes. This was capped off by a Josh Allen rushing touchdown to make the game 10-3.
The Chiefs’ offence once again hit right back, orchestrating a long drive of their own, getting down to the redzone before finally stalling out and being forced to kick a field goal. After forcing the Bills to punt, the Chiefs went on yet another long drive, this time highlighted by a long run from Clyde Edwards-Helaire for 28 yards and a 22-yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce to end the drive.
The Bills kept the back-and-forth contest going, going 75 yards in 3 minutes to give the Bills a 17-13 halftime advantage after a 2-yard Josh Allen rushing touchdown.
The Chiefs got the ball to start the second half, and quickly seized their opportunity to retake the lead. On the drive’s first play, Mahomes hit Marquez Valdez-Scantling for 30 yards, and then two plays later, Mahomes scrambled 18 yards deep into Buffalo territory. Isaiah Pacheco would get the Chiefs down to the goal line on a 14-yard run, and on the next play, Mahomes threw a screen pass to Travis Kelce to retake the lead.
The Bills continued their first-half offensive successes on their opening drive of the second half. They drove 75 yards in 15 plays in over eight minutes of game time, marching methodically down the field to the Chiefs 13-yard line. From there, Josh Allen made a spectacular throw to Khalil Shakir, who made an equally spectacular catch in the corner of the endzone for the touchdown. Unfortunately for Bills fans, this would be their last reason to celebrate.
The Chiefs responded with a touchdown to go up 27-24. From there, they would force the Bills to turn it over on downs after a bizarre fake punt attempt by the Bills was unsuccessful. After another bizarre sequence in which the Chiefs fumbled the ball out of the endzone — resulting in a touchback — the Bills and Chiefs traded punts, and the Bills got the ball back with a chance to tie or win the game.
They drove methodically again, reaching field goal range inside the two-minute warning. However, the drive stalled, and the Bills were forced to attempt to kick the field goal. Tyler Bass lined up from 44 yards away, with the wind swirling, and his kick, initially looking like it was on target, veered right about halfway through its ark. The kick was missed, and Bills fans could only hear the two words most dreaded by their fanbase, harkening back to previous playoff heartbreak, “Wide Right”.
The Chiefs will travel to Baltimore this week for the AFC Championship. That’s a wrap on the Divisional Round weekend. The AFC and NFC Championships will be played this Sunday, January 28th. Check game times here.
