It’s the fourth quarter and the game is tied with less than five seconds remaining. The kicker heads out onto the field to attempt a kick that could send his team to the National Football League (NFL) conference championship. He takes the snap, and the kick goes up and goes straight through the uprights with no time remaining. Kickers Evan McPherson, Matt Gay and Robbie Gould sent their teams home happy. This is not a joke. Three out of the four divisional playoff games were decided by a field goal within the last five seconds. Additionally, the only game this weekend that wasn’t decided by a last second field goal had 24 total points within the last two minutes of regulation before the game went into overtime. There were four divisional playoff games and all four of them were exciting at the finish to create one of the craziest NFL divisional rounds of all time.
The first game was between the American Football Conference (AFC) number one seeded Tennessee Titans and the Cincinnati Bengals. Both teams had a lot of momentum on their side. The Bengals had just beaten the Las Vegas Raiders the week before in the Wild Card round, while the Titans got their star running back Derrick Henry back from injury. On the first play of the game, Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw an interception to quickly give the Bengals the momentum. However, this momentum was not used well by the Bengals as they proceeded to only score six points within the first quarter. The game had little scoring as both teams struggled to score touchdowns. Although Bengals star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase had multiple big plays, the team couldn’t put up more than 16 points in the first three quarters. The key factor was the pressure from the Titans defense, as the Titans tied a playoff record of nine sacks in a game. Even though the Bengals offense struggled to get their offense going, the Titans also had no luck. By the third quarter, Tannehill had thrown two interceptions. With both teams struggling to score, the game was tied 16-16 going into the final quarter. The teams had possessions back and forth, but no one could score. With time winding down, the Titans prepared for possibly their last drive as there were just under three minutes left in the game. After a few solid plays, one of Tannehill’s passes was deflected and ultimately intercepted by defensive back Eli Apple of the Bengals. This put the Bengals in prime position to win the game. With time winding down, the Bengals sent out their kicker McPherson. In a post-game interview, Burrow said that before the kick, McPherson took a warm up kick and said “looks like we are going to the AFC Championship”. That is exactly what happened, as McPherson kicked a 52-yard field goal right through the posts to send the Bengals to the AFC Championship.
Game two of Saturday was between the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers. These two teams had very different routes to this game. The Packers had been dominant the entire season and headed into this game as the number one seed in the National Football Conference (NFC), while the 49ers had barely made it to the Wild Card round and barely beat the Dallas Cowboys to advance to the divisional round. Green Bay was led by their controversial quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, who was facing off against one of the best defenses in the league. Rodgers started the game off with a very strong first drive, as he led the Packers to a quick touchdown. After that, the Packers offense went quiet as they did not score any more points until the fourth quarter. This was associated with great defense from the 49ers as both Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead had two sacks in the game according to NFL.com. The 49ers offense, on the other hand, did not fare so well. They did not score any points in the first half. The team managed to kick one field goal in the third quarter, but once the Packers kicked a field goal in the fourth quarter, the game seemed out of reach. With six minutes left in the game the Packers were forced to punt close to their own goal line. It seemed like a normal punt until it was blocked. The Packers had the worst special teams in all of football this season, and this play showed it. As the 49ers blocked the punt and returned it for a touchdown, the game was suddenly completely different. The game was now tied at 10-10. Green Bay had a chance to answer but ultimately had to punt again after just three plays on offense. 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo had a chance to lead his team to a victory that seemed impossible just a few minutes before. The 49ers drove halfway down the field to get into field goal range and as the time expired, Kicker Robbie Gould hit a 45-yard field goal to send the Packers home. The final score of the game was 13-10 in favor of the 49ers, even though they didn’t score a single offensive touchdown.
The first game on Sunday was between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Rams. The Buccaneers are the reigning Super Bowl champions and were led by former New England Patriot Tom Brady this season. Brady was having another top tier season before this game and had to lead a very injured team to victory throughout the regular season. The key for the Rams was a lack of turnovers from their newly acquired quarterback Matthew Stafford, as he recently had been throwing a high volume of interceptions. He stuck to the game plan and led to a 20-3 lead at halftime for the Rams. The Rams scored another touchdown and made it seem as if the game was out of reach. Brady did not have any time in the pocket as the Rams pass rush was crushing the Bucs offensive line. Then, all of a sudden, the Buccaneers caught up to make the score 27-27. How did this happen? The Rams got very sloppy toward the end of the third quarter and into the fourth. They fumbled the ball twice and had blown coverage on defense multiple times. Somehow, Brady made another comeback late in the game. Although Brady had brought the score back to even, the Buccaneers had to stop the Rams with less than a minute to play. Even though the Bucs had all the momentum, they continued to play poor defense and eventually let Stafford complete two deep passes to Pro-Bowl wide receiver Cooper Kupp. This sealed the deal as kicker Matt Gay hit a 30-yard field goal as the time expired.
The last game did not end in a game winning field goal, but it was perhaps the craziest game in the entire weekend. On Sunday night, the Kansas City Chiefs faced off against the Buffalo Bills. Although there are many players on a football team, the real battle was between Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Bills quarterback Josh Allen. These are two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and are going to be the best for many years to come. The first half of the game saw the defenses dominate as the score was just 14-14 going into halftime. In the third quarter both teams had another touchdown, but the Chiefs also had a field goal giving them a 23-21 lead going into the final quarter. Chiefs’ kicker Harrison Butker kicked a field goal to add to the lead with under 12 minutes left in the game. Then, Allen proceeded to lead a long 75-yard drive that took seven minutes and was capped by a touchdown on fourth down. This gave the Bills a 29-26 lead. Mahomes answered back with a 64-yard touchdown to wide receiver Tyreek Hill. This drive took just 52 seconds and gave the Chiefs a 33-29 lead. Although it seemed good for the Chiefs, it appeared that they left the Bills too much time. Allen had just over a minute to drive back down the field and score a go-ahead touchdown. After a couple deep passes, Allen threw a touchdown and gave the Bills a 36-33 lead with just 13 seconds left on the clock. There was no way that Mahomes could lead the Chiefs 40 yards to get into field goal range with just 13 seconds. It seemed impossible. On just two plays, Mahomes completed two deep passes to get the Chiefs into field goal range. He had somehow given the Chiefs a chance to bring the game to overtime. Butker proceeded to come on the field and nail a 49-yard field goal to tie the game at 36-36. In just over two minutes the game had three lead changes and 24 combined points. Both Mahomes and Allen showed that they are ready to take the NFL by storm for many years to come. In overtime, the Chiefs won the coin toss, so they received the ball first. They moved all the way down the field and scored a touchdown to end the game. After all that Allen did, he didn’t even get a chance to compete in overtime because of the NFL overtime rules. This game capped off one of the craziest and most exciting weekends of football ever, with three game winners and one overtime thriller.
