The Most Entertaining Playoffs Yet?

The 2022 playoffs have been nothing short of spectacular as nearly every game has ended on the last play and there have been multiple overtimes. Teams that snuck in the playoffs and teams that were never expected to be there made huge splashes and created major upsets, like the Bengals and 49ers. Every Game from the first wildcard game to the NFC and AFC championships have been must watch TV and have produced some of the best football in recent years. Wildcard weekend kicked off these spectacular playoffs with the Bengals winning their first playoff game since 1991, that was before the first text message was ever even sent. The Bills, Buccaneers, Chiefs and Rams all took care of business as well, completing dominating wins over their opponents. That's not where the story ends in Wildcard weekend, however, where the 49ers and the Cowboys would face off at AT&T stadium and one of the best games of the year was played. The Cowboys have been lackluster to say the least in the playoffs since the 90s and were going into the game a higher seed than the Niners. As the game went on both teams went back and forth being an even match for each, until the Niners failed a 3rd down attempt and the Cowboys got the all back with under a minute to go. Dak Prescott drove them down to the forty one yard line with fourteen seconds left, where then the next play will go down in history as he takes the ball up the middle with no timeouts. This would end the game in disaster and the Cowboys could not get to the line quick enough and they would lose the game.

Wildcard weekend is not where these crazy playoffs would end as each game seemed to top the next in the divisional round. The Bengals would once again shock the world by taking down the number one seeded Titans in the AFC with a game winning field goal in the last minute. The Titans would not be the only number one seed to be knocked off as in the NFC, the Niners went into the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field and made the Packers suffer the same fate, with a late game winning field goal to win it all. Then the Rams would go to Tampa to face the infamous Tom Brady and the Bucs, where they quickly jumped to a 27-3 lead over Tampa. While this was a very comfortable lead, no lead was safe with Tom Brady as he came back in the last minute of the game to tie it at twenty seven. With an overtime in sight, Matt Stafford lined up under center and dropped back where he would launch a cannon down the field to Cooper Kupp getting them in field goal range. They quickly ran down to the spot where they would spike it and kick the field goal, where Matt Gay would put it through the middle and the Rams would win the game. Little did anyone know that Matt Stafford would be the last quarterback ever to beat Tom Brady in a playoff game.

The final divisional game though would be one for the ages where Josh Allen and the Bills would travel up to ArrowHead and face Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. The game was a lightshow from the start as the Chiefs would march right down the field and score on the first possession. From then on it was a battle between both offenses where nearly one thousand yards of total offense was produced between both teams. With less than twenty seconds left Josh Allen would score a touchdown putting the Bills up, leaving the Chiefs with thirteen seconds left to tie the game. That's right, only thirteen seconds remained and somehow the Chiefs offense pulled off the impossible, getting into field goal range, where they would then score the field goal to tie the game. We were going to overtime with one of the most entertaining games the playoffs have seen yet. The coin toss went up and the Chiefs won the coin toss electing to receive the ball. They would put a dagger through the Bills and their fans as with an eight yard pass to Travis Kelce to win the game in overtime and end the Bills season. It was a game where there was not a single moment of down time and this game showed arguably the top two powerhouses of the AFC, or so we thought.

The conference games were underway a week later starting with the Bengals playing the Chiefs. The Chiefs would get out to an early lead scoring three touchdowns on their first three possessions and the Bengals with just a single field goal. Heading into halftime the Bengals magical season looked over. That would not be the end of the Bengals season, as Joe Burrow brought his team back to tie the game in the final minute holding the Chiefs to a single field goal all second half. Overtime was upon us again and the Chiefs won the coin toss again, but they would not be as fortunate this time as Patrick Mahomes threw an interception and the Bengals got the ball back. The ice cold killer that was Joe Burrow killed off the Chiefs season by taking them into field goal range and winning the game. The team that only had won four games last year and has not been in the playoffs since 1991 was going to the biggest game of the year. The second game would kickoff between the Niners and the Rams where Matt Stafford would complete a miraculous comeback on the Niners. He was down most of the game but rallied his team back, where they would win on a late game interception by Jimmy Garapolo. Now the stage is set Bengals, Rams who will take the famous Lombardi home? The new kid on the block forming a magical season for a forgetful franchise, or will it be one of the most underrated quarterbacks of all time and the LA Rams.