If you were lucky enough to plunk yourself down on a couch somewhere for the two days of the NFL divisional round, you're probably pretty thrilled with your decision. The four games we saw over the weekend delivered just about everything we could have asked for: three upsets, four close games, a dethroning in Nashville, a defensive battle in the snow at Lambeau, a near-comeback for the ages in Tampa from Tom Brady and an all-time classic between the Bills and Chiefs to wrap up things Sunday night.
I strongly suspect this was the best four-game divisional round we've ever seen, given that we saw three games decided by kicks on the final play before the Chiefs tied their game with a 48-yard field goal at the end of regulation and won in overtime.
I would love to tell you that I have some coherent through line to discuss all these games, but given how wild the weekend was, I just have a collection of thoughts to run through here. These were all great games in their own right, but I have to start with the final game of the weekend:
Jump to a hot topic:
Tom Brady | Aaron Rodgers
Derrick Henry | Overtime rules
Bills-Chiefs was one of the greatest games in league history.
When I wrote about the 54-51 Rams-Chiefs game back in 2018, I laid out a series of criteria to help try to identify what great games looked like, at least to me. That matchup had 105 points, but after the Rams took the lead with 1:49 to go, the scoring stopped.
Inside the final two minutes Sunday, the Bills and Chiefs combined to score 24 points and gave away four different leads. Gabriel Davis, who had the game of his life with 201 yards and four touchdowns, buried Mike Hughes deep into the ground on a Dino route to convert a fourth-and-13 and give the Bills a 27-26 lead. After Josh Allen converted a spectacular 2-point attempt to Stefon Diggs to put the Bills up three, the Bills looked like they were in position to beat their AFC rivals.
Well, not so fast. After Travis Kelce picked up a third-and-10, Tyreek Hill somehow took a Patrick Mahomes pass 64 yards to the house, running away from corner Levi Wallace and All-Pro safety Jordan Poyer in the process. Throughout Sunday's game, the Bills played heavy doses of the two-deep coverages that took away big plays for the Chiefs this season and were in a two-deep shell on the Hill catch. The problem is that the wideout caught the ball in stride and simply ran through the deep defenders.
Allen got the ball back with 62 seconds left and three timeouts. The best player on the field all day was actually too good with the game on the line, as he drove his team 75 yards in 45 seconds and needed only one timeout in the process. This time, Davis beat two-deep coverage by running past slot defender L'Jarius Sneed, who had outside leverage. With the Kansas City pass rush gassed after an 18-play drive on the previous series, Allen had no trouble finding Davis for his fourth touchdown of the game, giving the Bills a 36-33 lead with 13 seconds left.
This would normally sink just about any team, but the Chiefs aren't just any team. With three timeouts, the Chiefs were able to advance the ball 44 yards in about the amount of time it took Dak Prescott to run that quarterback draw for the Cowboys last weekend. Facing four-man rushes and soft coverage behind, the Chiefs used what amounted to a downfield bubble screen to get 19 yards from Hill, then hit Kelce running up the seam for 25 yards. Kelce ran past the despairing tackle attempt of Wallace and went down with three seconds to go, setting up the Chiefs for a 48-yard field goal.
Harrison Butker hit the field goal and Allen never saw the ball again, with the Chiefs winning the coin toss. (I'll get to that in a second.) Facing what must have been an exhausted, demoralized Bills defense, they drove 75 yards on eight plays for the winning score, clinching one of the most dramatic victories in league history. There was more action packed into the final two minutes of regulation than there was in the entirety of some teams' 2021 seasons.
While acknowledging that we're often prone to recency bias and that great games are in the eye of the beholder, I think the game we saw Sunday night has a strong case for being one of the greatest football games ever. The best playoff game I've seen across 14 years of covering the NFL was the Saints-49ers playoff game in the 2011 divisional round, when those two traded the lead with four touchdowns across the final four minutes, culminating in Vernon Davis' game winner with nine seconds to go. The Bills-Chiefs game packed that much drama into half as much time.
I'm heartbroken for Allen and the Bills, who were incredible this postseason. They're not going to disappear anytime soon, given their talent on both sides of the football, but this might end up as having been their best chance of making it to the Super Bowl. The Bills were relatively healthy outside of the season-ending injury suffered by star corner Tre'Davious White, something you can't guarantee heading into January. They were 13 seconds from hosting the AFC Championship Game in western New York against the Bengals, who were a league-average team this year by DVOA (at 0.0%). Allen was arguably the best player in the league this postseason.
Think about the 2017 Eagles, who rode home-field advantage to winning a Super Bowl, or the 2010 Packers, who got hot in January and won four straight games. We would have figured that those teams would be perennial contenders to compete for the Super Bowl. The Eagles have won one playoff game since, and Carson Wentz isn't even on their roster anymore. Aaron Rodgers is about to win his fourth regular-season MVP since that title run and hasn't been back to the Super Bowl. The NFL moves faster than any of us realize, and opportunity is not a lengthy visitor.
1:18
The Chiefs and Bills go back and forth until Patrick Mahomes finds Travis Kelce in overtime for the game-winning touchdown.
Of course, the discourse surrounding the game afterward broke down into two camps. One argued that the Bills were denied a chance to win the game by the league's overtime rules, which give a meaningful advantage to the team that wins the coin toss. The other argued that the Bills made their own luck and should have played better defense if they wanted to hold on to their lead or get a chance to win in overtime.
Both sides have a point, although the Bills' biggest mistake had nothing to do with their defense. Even without knowing what would happen, they made a major strategic blunder by kicking deep into the end zone for a touchback with 13 seconds left as opposed to attempting a squib kick. I'm sure they were a little nervous after Hill nearly took a punt return to the house earlier in the game, but with 13 seconds to go, the Chiefs' biggest enemy is time.
Running even four seconds off the clock with a squib kick and a return would have given the Chiefs better field position, but it also would have limited Kansas City to one offensive snap before attempting a field goal. A kick to the 5-yard line would have been even better, if more difficult. We have the benefit of hindsight in seeing what happened with two offensive plays, but most teams seem to prefer squib kicks in situations like this, and I'm inclined to agree. The chances of the Chiefs getting into comfortable field goal range are better with two offensive plays from the 25 than with a squib kick and one offensive play, say, from the 35.
As for what happened in overtime, well ...
There will (and should) be a long look at changing overtime rules this offseason.
I don't think anybody wanted to see that game decided by the team that won the coin toss. Normally, I would say that Chiefs fans probably preferred how things went, but I suspect they have their own memories of how painful that coin toss can be. In the 2018 AFC Championship Game, remember that the Chiefs launched a last-second drive just like the one in the fourth quarter here, going 48 yards in two plays and 20 seconds to set up a 39-yard Butker field goal and force overtime against the Patriots. New England won the toss and scored a touchdown without ever giving the football back to Kansas City.
The league did take a step to improve things years ago, when it eliminated the ability to win games with a field goal on the opening possession of overtime. It wasn't willing to go as far as guaranteeing each team a chance to possess the ball in the extra period, likely because it wanted to incentivize scoring a touchdown on the opening drive and didn't want to unnecessarily extend games when players have already been going all-out for four quarters.
Nobody needs to see two 3-12 teams get a chance to possess the football, but it's clear that there's an appetite for treating playoff overtime differently than we do overtime in the regular season. The NFL plays a full 15-minute overtime period in the playoffs, but drops down to 10 minutes in the regular season. The NHL, as an example, plays a shortened 3-vs.-3 overtime in its regular season before advancing to a shootout. In the postseason, the league plays traditional 5-on-5 hockey with sudden-death rules.
And yet, at the same time, I don't love the idea that a team needs to be guaranteed an opportunity to possess the football out of fairness. The coin toss puts one team at a disadvantage, but it's not unfair. Asking your defense to stop the opposing team from scoring a touchdown to keep the game going is a reasonable enough request, and while it's easy to remember the games in which a team did get the ball in overtime and score a touchdown, there are plenty of times where that doesn't happen. The Bills couldn't come up with a stop at the end of regulation or in overtime when they needed one. Offenses already have plenty of advantages; guaranteeing them an extra possession seems charitable. The Chiefs put this up to a vote after their loss to the Patriots and failed to get much traction. I don't think it'll succeed this time around, either.
What changes could the league consider? Four options come to mind:
Deciding the first possession of overtime before the end of regulation. The NFL could choose to forgo the overtime coin toss altogether and assign the opening possession of overtime to the team that wins the pregame coin toss or to the home team. By doing so, both teams will know who possesses the ball first in overtime before the game begins, and that could inform some of their late-game decisions. I don't think this would have impacted Sunday's game, but it might encourage some teams that know they're not getting the ball to start overtime to go for two after scoring a late touchdown in regulation as opposed to kicking an extra point and heading into overtime.
Playing out the full 15-minute overtime. There's no way the league would play a full fifth quarter in the regular season (out of player safety concerns), but doing so in the playoffs would give teams a chance to decide games in the closest comparable way to regulation football. This would be the best solution for fans, but I wonder whether players would be comfortable adding a significant amount of action to the postseason.
Play to eight points. I like some combination of the 15-minute overtime and the idea of playing to a number. If we do "first team to eight points wins," we're making it exceedingly difficult (but not impossible) for a team to win on its opening drive. If the coin-toss winner scores a touchdown, it could seal the game by converting a 2-pointer. This would reduce the chances of a team winning on the opening possession of the game by 50%. If it fails, of course, the opposing team could win by scoring a touchdown and getting its own 2-pointer. This could turn out to be a disaster if neither team can score, though, and there would have to be some rule about ending the game with sudden death after the 15-minute OT.
"Spot and choose." The Ravens pitched this overtime rule in March, and it could be the future of overtime. In this scenario, the overtime kickoff is eliminated and one team gets to choose the yard line from which overtime will begin. The other team then gets to decide whether it will begin overtime on offense or defense.
In this game, I don't think spot and choose would have been helpful, because these two teams were so dominant on offense. It's possible that the Bills would have taken the ball on their own 1-yard line and trusted Allen to drive for a winning touchdown, something that isn't true for the vast majority of offenses in the vast majority of overtimes. There are never going to be perfect overtime rules for every single type of game, which is the reality of football. There was no good way for this classic to come to an end, but there probably were better ways than the one we saw.
Special teams really, really mattered this weekend.
In each of the four games, special teams played a meaningful role in swinging the contest one way or another. I just mentioned the decision not to squib the final kickoff of regulation and the long punt return by Hill that set up a Chiefs field goal. Butker's 48-yard kick helped keep the Chiefs alive long enough to get to that coin toss and overtime. He was also one of the reasons the Bills were in position to win late, given that the usually reliable kicker missed a 50-yard attempt just before halftime and pushed an extra point off the uprights.
The Chiefs might be facing the Bengals in the AFC Championship Game because of the work done by another kicker. Rookie Evan McPherson hit all four of his field goal tries against Tennessee, including a 54-yarder with 1:35 to go in the first half and a 52-yard walk-off kick to win it for the Bengals. McPherson led the league in field goals of 50 yards or more (nine) this season, and he became just the second rookie kicker since 2000 to boot two 50-plus yard field goals in a single playoff game, joining Tyler Bass of the Bills.
In the Rams-Bucs game, both teams created their own problems. Ryan Succop missed a 48-yarder as the Bucs were flailing in the first half, handing the Rams a short field, which they eventually turned into a field goal. Bucs punter Bradley Pinion, who serves as the team's kickoff specialist, also pushed two of his kickoffs out of bounds, handing the Rams excellent field position in the process, while a 33-yard punt return by Brandon Powell set up a Los Angeles touchdown.
1:00
Special teams comes up big for the 49ers as Jordan Willis blocks a punt that gets scooped up by Talanoa Hufanga and returned for a touchdown to tie the score.
L.A. kicker Matt Gay missed a much more important kick, as the Pro Bowler shockingly came up short on a 47-yarder that would have given the Rams a 17-point lead with 6:36 to go. With Gay reportedly limited by an undisclosed injury, the Bucs took advantage of his largesse and eventually tied the game, although he then hit a 30-yarder on the final snap of regulation to win the game.
The game in which special teams mattered most was in Green Bay, where the Packers imploded. This should have been no surprise to anyone who has paid close attention to Matt LaFleur's team this season, given that Green Bay ranked 32nd in special teams DVOA. Green Bay has had disastrous single games on special teams, like the one we saw against the Bears in December, but Aaron Rodgers has usually been able to do enough to paper over those problems.
With both teams struggling on offense, special teams was the difference for the 49ers. The Packers had a field goal attempt blocked at the end of the first half before having a punt blocked with 4:41 to go in the fourth quarter, which the 49ers returned for their only touchdown of the game. The Packers then had only 10 men on the field for Robbie Gould's winning field goal at the end of regulation. On top of all that, Green Bay also allowed kickoff returns of 45 and 32 yards to Deebo Samuel and JaMycal Hasty, respectively. Football Outsiders noted that the Packers produced the single worst special teams performance we've seen from a team all season in their stunning playoff defeat.
The 49ers played an old hit to beat the Packers.
I couldn't believe my eyes. In the 2019 NFC Championship Game, when the 49ers blew out the Packers, the contest turned on a third-and-8 in the first quarter. With the Packers salivating at the chance of sending their pass-rushers after Jimmy Garoppolo, Kyle Shanahan called for one of the oldest run concepts in the book and had the 49ers run trap. A stunned Green Bay defense blocked itself out of the play, the deep safety in the middle of the field took a poor angle at Raheem Mostert and the journeyman back took the ball 36 yards to the house for the first of his four touchdowns that day.
Well, guess what the 49ers did with the game on the line Saturday night? Facing a third-and-7 with a tie game in the fourth quarter, the Niners needed a first down to get into field goal range and avoid handing the ball to Aaron Rodgers. Again, this was a moment in which the Packers undoubtedly wanted to go after Garoppolo, who was having an uneven game in the snow. And yet again, in a key moment, the 49ers called trap and ran for a first down:
Two years later, tonight. 10-10 in the fourth quarter. Third-and-7. 49ers in no man's land. Guess what they called? A long trap. Deebo breaks Jaire Alexander's tackle in the hole, turns upfield and runs for a first down to set up the game-winning FG. pic.twitter.com/EYI44Gjl8Z
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) January 23, 2022
This one was better defended than the 2019 trap, admittedly, but while the speedy Mostert was able to accelerate his way to a touchdown, Deebo Samuel's physicality played up on this carry. The 216-pound hybrid weapon made this work by running past the outstretched arms of Za'Darius Smith and breaking a Jaire Alexander tackle at the line of scrimmage before turning upfield and riding a second tackle past the sticks for a critical first down. The 49ers kicked the winning field goal three plays later. Matt LaFleur & Co. are going to see a run concept you probably ran on your Pop Warner team in their nightmares for years to come.
You might notice that two of the stars the Packers got back figured in that Samuel run. While it seemed like the Packers were getting healthy, it didn't really work out that way in the long run. Smith had an early sack in his return to action, but he was limited to 19 defensive snaps. Alexander played just eight defensive snaps, all on third downs, where he was basically serving as a sub-package corner. Whitney Mercilus played 12 defensive snaps, while star left tackle David Bakhtiari had a setback after returning in Week 18 and missed the game altogether.
Derrick Henry wasn't a difference-maker in his return.
Elsewhere, another long-awaited return also didn't go as planned. The Titans running back returned from a two-month absence with a steel plate in his broken foot, and with the Bengals missing defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi, the stage appeared to be set for a dramatic comeback. Henry did make his customary impact in the red zone, scoring from 3 yards out as a Wildcat quarterback in the second quarter, although he then came up short on a 2-point try from the 1-yard line.
With the ball in his hands, Henry wasn't close to his 2019 or 2020 self for the Titans. His 20 carries produced just 62 yards, five first downs and minus-4.4 expected points added (EPA). We saw some of his old burst, but he finished with six fewer rushing yards than an average back would expect to gain with the same blocking, per NFL Next Gen Stats. Henry came up short on the 2-point plunge and was stuffed in the backfield on a fourth-and-1 from Cincinnati's 35-yard line with 7:21 to go in the fourth quarter.
I can't fault the Titans for giving their star back the football, but they probably would have been better off with a more even split between Henry and D'Onta Foreman. Foreman's regular-season numbers were right in line with Henry's averages, and Foreman's four carries against the Bengals produced 66 yards and two first downs.
One disappointing game two months after foot surgery isn't disastrous in itself, but as I pointed out before the playoffs began, Henry's efficiency in 2021 had already dropped precipitously from his 2019/2020 heights, even before the injury. I doubt a foot injury helps matters there. He will get a full offseason to heal further, but if the Titans don't get the old Henry back next season, we might see a lot of games like the one we saw Saturday afternoon.
While the Bills could look back and rue not taking their chances, the Titans might be even more upset with themselves. Despite ranking as a below-average team by DVOA, the Titans finished as the 1-seed in the AFC and held home-field advantage throughout the postseason. It's tough for any team to repeat as the 1-seed, let alone a team that finished 20th in overall DVOA. Given that every other playoff team has to play three playoff games to the No. 1 seed's two, this probably was Tennessee's best chance to advance out of the AFC bracket for years to come.
The Bengals have to shore up their pass protection.
I have to applaud a banged-up Bengals defense for shutting down Henry and making the plays it needed to make in the passing game. Jessie Bates did a great job on the opening play of the game as he easily read a common Titans play-action concept and jumped it for an interception. Mike Hilton tipped a Ryan Tannehill pass to himself in the red zone for a spectacular pick, and Eli Apple finished the festivities by breaking up a third-down throw to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, with Logan Wilson collecting the deflected ball for a third Tannehill pick.
The defense held up its end of the bargain, but after weeks of impressive performances, the offense had one of its worst games of the season. The Bengals did an excellent job of protecting Joe Burrow against the Raiders, but they threw Burrow to the wolves Saturday. The 2020 No. 1 overall pick was sacked nine times on 46 dropbacks, often because the Titans were able to create blocking busts in the A-gaps and B-gaps and send free rushers after him.
It's easy to blame individual blockers, and the right side of the Cincinnati line had an ugly game. I also need to make it clear that Burrow, at times, was responsible for his own sacks. This was a sack in which the Titans sent more rushers than blockers, leaving Burrow hot and requiring him to get the ball out quickly, only for him to take a sack:
Titans send more blitzers than blockers on third-and-3. Burrow has to get this ball out. pic.twitter.com/LvvC86Pd3g
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) January 23, 2022
The Chiefs didn't have a great pass-rushing day against the Bills, although there were a couple of snaps on the 18-play drive in the fourth quarter in which Melvin Ingram destroyed his blocker and nearly took out Josh Allen in the process. With Ingram, Chris Jones and Frank Clark in the fold, the Chiefs have individual rushers who can win one-on-one. Steve Spagnuolo is also going to take what worked for the Titans this week and try to bring that back in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday.
Health is one of the biggest factors in January.
Think about what we saw this weekend. The Bills marched up and down the field and attacked the Chiefs' safeties after Tyrann Mathieu was knocked out of the game by a first-quarter concussion. The Packers didn't have some star players back at anywhere close to 100 percent, and they badly missed wideout Marquez Valdes-Scantling, whose absence left them without a field-stretching threat. The 49ers didn't score an offensive touchdown with Jimmy Garoppolo dealing with thumb and shoulder injuries. The Titans ran their offense through a limited Derrick Henry in his return, and they were able to create havoc on defense by targeting Bengals right tackle Isaiah Prince, who was in for the injured Riley Reiff.
No game might have been more defined by how each team dealt with injuries, though, than Rams-Buccaneers. Los Angeles was without left tackle Andrew Whitworth, but replacement Joe Noteboom was able to deliver a solid job in his stead against Jason Pierre-Paul. Special-teamer Nick Scott, filling in at safety for Taylor Rapp, continued to play excellent football and set up what should have been a touchdown with a first-half interception of Tom Brady, only for Cam Akers to fumble on the 1-yard line.
The Bucs, who were one of the league's healthiest teams during their Super Bowl run a year ago, weren't as effective at dealing with their own injuries. Right tackle Tristan Wirfs was out with a high ankle sprain, and replacement Josh Wells also left the game briefly with his own ankle concerns. Center Ryan Jensen was also limited by an ankle issue. The Rams simply beat up the Buccaneers at the line of scrimmage.
Aaron Donald was the best player on the field in Tampa, moving around the formation to beat multiple Bucs linemen as the game went on. Tampa Bay finished the game with a pass block win rate (PBWR) of 41.2%, its second-worst mark of the season. Its worst mark came against the Eagles in the wild-card round, when Jensen and Wirfs tried to play through injuries and the line posted a 30% PBWR. We know how important getting pressure on Brady can be in the postseason, and the Rams pressured him a season-high 29.8% of the time Sunday. He went 4-of-14 for 77 yards under pressure.
Sean McVay needs to trust Matthew Stafford to close out games.
The reason the Rams and 49ers are playing in the NFC Championship Game comes down to what happened in Week 18. The Rams could have sealed their win over San Francisco and knocked the 49ers out of the playoffs with a first down.
Instead, with 1:50 to go, McVay ran the ball three times. The 49ers used their timeouts, but they stopped Sony Michel well short of a first down. The Rams punted, and the 49ers drove downfield for a game-tying touchdown before winning in overtime. If the Rams throw on third-and-7 and pick up a first down, the Saints are in the postseason, starting Trevor Siemian at quarterback (or calling any retired future Hall of Fame QB they can find), and the 49ers are regretting their Week 18 collapse.
Fast forward to the Buccaneers game. After the Rams snapped the ball over Stafford's head with 14:33 to go, 11 of their next 13 plays were runs. Many were handoffs to Akers, who was bottled up by one of the league's best run defenses and committed two disastrous fumbles. Stafford completed an 18-yard pass to Van Jefferson and then threw a swing pass to Michel for no gain on third down. The Rams took their foot off the gas, and while they were unlucky to miss a field goal and lose a fumble, they let the Buccaneers back in the game by basically shutting down on offense.
0:23
Cooper Kupp hauls in a 44-yard reception, and Matt Gay kicks a 26-yard field goal as time expires to send the Rams to the NFC title game.
Stafford was very good in this game, although maybe not quite as good as his final numbers seemed. He was lucky to get away with a first-quarter throw through Jamel Dean's hands in the end zone, and his 75-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp was more about a blown (or overzealous) coverage from Buccaneers safety Mike Edwards than it was Stafford's throw.
Still, though, the Rams traded for Stafford to take advantage of those opportunities and make big plays when the other team knows they have to throw. And after that massive Bucs comeback, what did Stafford do? Well, he inexplicably tried to scramble on the first play of his two-minute drill and then got to work. He hit Kupp for 20 yards on an out route with 35 seconds to go, and then, with the Buccaneers struggling to communicate on a Cover 0 blitz, hit his star receiver in stride against Antoine Winfield for a 40-yard reception, setting up the Rams for their game-winning field goal.
It's easy to play Monday morning quarterback with run/pass splits (just take a quick look back at 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan's Super Bowl LI performance with the Falcons). Given the strengths of this Bucs defense and how well Stafford was playing, though, I was surprised McVay didn't put the ball in his quarterback's hands more frequently as the lead was slipping away. It came back to bite him against the 49ers and nearly did so again here.
Tom Brady will be back. Right?
Let's finish up with the two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks who lost in the NFC. Harassed by Aaron Donald and old rival Von Miller all day, Brady didn't have a great game. He struggled with his accuracy early, seemed to get frustrated with his receivers at times and even drew the first unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of his career after barking at the officials. (Remember this the next time someone tells you Brady gets all the calls.)
And yet, somehow, he drove the Bucs back into the game. Despite failing on a pair of fourth downs in the fourth quarter, he got the ball back and hit Mike Evans for a 55-yard touchdown over Jalen Ramsey to shorten the Los Angeles lead to seven. After Cam Akers fumbled, Brady got the Bucs into fourth-and-short near the goal line, and with the Rams selling out to stop the famous Brady sneak, his gravity created a running lane off the edge for Leonard Fournette, who slipped a tackle and ran in from 9 yards out to tie the game.
Brady is going to be disappointed by how this season ended, but it's difficult to imagine him leaving on these terms. The Bucs are still one of the NFL's best teams, and he made a credible case for being no worse than the league's second-best quarterback this season. Comments Brady made to the NBC broadcast suggested that a Super Bowl win might have led him to retire, but his season instead ended with a disappointing loss at home in the divisional round. Outside of the man himself, nobody knows what he will do, but it's hard to imagine him being satisfied with this to end his career.
The Aaron Rodgers meter ticked back toward a trade.
If we started the season virtually assured that Rodgers would play one more year with the Packers before being dealt to a new team, we ended the regular season assured of something different entirely. Rodgers completed what is likely to be his second consecutive regular-season MVP campaign, with the Packers going 13-2 in their quarterback's complete games. They clinched the 1-seed in the NFC and, with his relationship with general manager Brian Gutekunst seemingly improving, everything seemed hunky-dory.
What happened Saturday night didn't wipe all that away, but it was hard to feel good about what went down. After Rodgers and the Packers marched up the field for a touchdown on their opening drive, the 49ers closed up shop. DeMeco Ryans' defense delivered one of the best performances of their season, limiting Rodgers to one 75-yard completion on a busted coverage and otherwise shutting down one of the league's best offenses. The Packers scored three points and racked up nine first downs across their final nine drives. They had just one drive with more than one first down across the final three quarters of the game.
Rodgers finished the game with a QBR of 19.3, his worst mark since the Packers' blowout loss to the Saints in the opener. For the third straight season, the Packers lost ignominiously in the playoffs, but the offense will shoulder more of the blame here than it did in either of their other defeats under LaFleur. Since 2000, teams that held their opponents without an offensive touchdown had gone 34-3 in the postseason. The Packers made it 34-4.
What happens next for Rodgers suddenly seems more up in the air. After the game, faced with the suggestion that the Packers' cap issues might force Green Bay to make changes on offense, Rodgers suggested that he didn't have the appetite to play through a rebuild. I'm not sure I would characterize what will happen with the Packers as such, but it's clear that they will look different in 2022 than they did from 2019 to 2021. I still think Rodgers will be back in Green Bay, but the chances of a separation grew with Saturday's defeat.
Sports - Latest - Google News
January 24, 2022 at 09:02PM
https://ift.tt/3tZkXAL
Greatest NFL playoff round ever? 10 takeaways from Bills-Chiefs, struggles by Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, plus how the Rams, 49ers and Bengals won - ESPN
Sports - Latest - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Mbsnt7
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Greatest NFL playoff round ever? 10 takeaways from Bills-Chiefs, struggles by Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, plus how the Rams, 49ers and Bengals won - ESPN"
Post a Comment