This weekend was perhaps one of the best NFL weekends ever. We witnessed 3 game winning field goals, both top seeds getting eliminated, and a thriller in Kansas City. Al Michaels said “This is officially lunacy,” for the ending of the Rams vs Bucs game. You could say that for this entire weekend. All four games were decided by one score and all had end to end action.
The craziness began with the Bengals vs Titans game on Saturday afternoon. Ryan Tannehill threw three picks and his team eventually lost the game to a game winning field goal by the rookie Evan McPherson who drilled a 52 yard field goal as time expired. The whole team showed so much emotion after that clutch kick and you might not believe it but Cincinnati is going to the AFC Championship. Joe Burrow got sacked nine times and still managed to throw for 348 yards. It was a full team effort and this team is 1 win away from going to the Super Bowl in SoFi Stadium.
The Saturday night game between the 49ers and Packers went down to the wire but eventually it was Robbie Gould who won the game with a field goal in the snowy Lambeau Field. The Packers fell again to the 49ers in the playoffs and this time, their special teams let them down. The 49ers blocked a field goal right before halftime and blocked a punt to score a touchdown late in the game. The Packers’ weak special teams cost them and the 49ers took advantage of that to win this game 13-10. The 49ers are back in the Conference Championship for the 2nd time in 3 years and there is no question they deserved this win with their gritty performance.
The 1st game of Sunday started out as a one sided game but the ending was completely bonkers. The Rams were up 27-3 at one point and completely crumbled. They lost 4 fumbles that game and gave Tom Brady a chance to come back. He made it 27-27 and reawakened the Tampa Bay crowd to full throat. In the end, Matt Gay sent the Rams to the NFC Championship with a game winning field goal to win 30-27. A game which was at once separated by 24 points was eventually decided by 3 points.
The last game of this amazing Divisional Round was my favorite, the Bills against the Chiefs. It was a quarterback duel and both quarterbacks were the best I’ve ever seen. You could see how much they wanted to win and how determined they were to win. 25 points were scored in the last two minutes of the game which was spectacular. After the Bills scored the go-ahead touchdown to lead 36-33 with 13 seconds left, I felt they made a mistake. Instead of kicking it into the touchdown for a touchback, they should have done a squib kick or a short kick. Mahomes easily got in field goal range and Butker made the kick to send the game to overtime. In overtime, the Chiefs got the ball first and made no mistake with it. Mahomes went marching down the field and won it with a game winning touchdown reception for Travis Kelce. In the end, both quarterbacks were stellar but it is only the Chiefs moving on to the AFC Conference Championship for the 4th straight year.
All four games were nail biting and all had some type of twist in them. I loved it from the beginning to the end and hope we get another entertaining weekend of football.
THE END