Most years, the NFL playoffs are entertaining to the common viewer. The battle between the best of the best in the nation’s most viewed sports league provides fans with a quality viewing experience. However, this year’s divisional weekend will largely go down as one of the best weekends in football history. With four games all decided on the final play, many fans were left full of joy while others struggled to get out of bed on Monday morning.
To begin the weekend, the red hot 11-7 Cincinnati Bengals took on the number one seeded 12-5 Tennessee Titans in a battle that featured the return of star running back Derrick Henry. After being sidelined for nearly 12 weeks, the former NFL rushing leader failed to make his presence felt, having only 62 yards on 20 carries. The matchup was largely a defensive battle with the Titans’ defense sacking Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow eight times. Despite the constant pressure from the Titans, Burrow found a way to get his squad in field goal range late in the game following a Ryan Tannehill interception. The game finished with an Evan McPherson walk-off field goal as the Bengals won 19 to 16.
The next game on Saturday showcased the 13-4 Green Bay Packers hosting the 11-7 San Francisco 49ers. With kickoff temperatures around 10 degrees and wind chills below zero, the game was one of the coldest in recent NFL history. Although entering the game as six-point favorites, a special team’s collapse led the Packers to find themselves in a close game late. Following a 49ers blocked punt, the game was tied at 10 to 10 with under five minutes to go. With nearly three minutes remaining, 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppole drove his squad 44 yards down the field to set up a Robbie Gould game-winning kick.
Packers superfan and junior Cole Cunningham was not pleased with the result and feels bitter based on the previous expectations for the squad.

“I was extremely disappointed after the game,” Cunningham said. “To have such a great year with super bowl aspirations fall apart the way it did was frustrating.”
While Cunningham was angry with the results, he blames the loss on the special teams unit for their inability to perform when called upon.
“In all my years of watching football I have never seen a special teams unit lose someone a game quite like they did to the Packers,” Cunningham said.
The first game on Sunday featured the reigning super bowl champion 14-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosting the 13-5 Los Angeles Rams. The showdown pinpointed the skillful Rams offense versus the formidable Buccaneers defense. Throughout the first three quarters, the Rams dominated, reaching a 23 point lead. But in historical Tom Brady fashion, the Buccaneers came rumbling back to tie the game at 27 apiece. After looking shocked throughout the final quarter, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford found a bolting Cooper Kupp in field goal range with under 10 seconds remaining to set up a game-winning Matt Gay 30 yard field goal.
Despite the Rams victory, postgame attention was largely focussed on Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and his potential retirement. In the postgame press conference, Brady addressed the prospect of retirement but did not provide much clarity on when his retirement could occur.
“I haven’t put a lot of thought into it, so we’ll just take it day by day and kinda see where we are at,” Brady said.
In the final game of the weekend, the 13-5 Kansas City Chiefs took on the 12-6 Buffalo Bills in a clash between two of the most explosive offenses in the entire league. Despite a slow start, the game lived up to expectations later on with 40 points being scored in the second half, 25 of those being scored in the final two minutes of regulation. With nearly a minute left, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes found a streaking Tyreek Hill for a 64-yard touchdown strike to put the Chiefs ahead 33 to 29. However, the Bills responded with a Josh Allen 19 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Gabriel Davis, his fourth score of the night, to put the Bills ahead 36 to 33 with only 13 seconds remaining. While all hope looked lost for the Chiefs, Mahomes once again delivered late-game heroics to put the Chiefs in field goal range, setting up an eventual Harrison Butker game-tying 49 yard field goal that sent the game to overtime. In the extra period, the Chiefs’ offense continued to roll down the field, as Mahomes found tight end Travis Kelce in the endzone to seal the Chiefs’ 42 to 36 victory.
Following the dramatic conclusion to the game, students had mixed reactions. Sophomore Camden Green was happy to see such a great game but wishes that the overtime rules would have played out differently.
“The game was incredible,” Green said. “Although the ending was very dramatic, I do wish that Josh Allen and the Bills offense would have gotten the ball with a chance to score in overtime, but the rules just aren’t set up that way.”
While the weekend was very exciting for fans, the NFL saw a successful weekend as well. Viewership for the four games was off the charts, with broadcasts averaging 38.2 million viewers. The eight-digit figure was the largest ever seen in divisional weekend history and was up 20 percent from the 2020 number.