For football fans the start of January is either a time of happiness or disappointment. For 14 of these teams they brought happiness to their fans by making the NFL playoffs. There are many teams that were in the playoffs last year, but also some new teams.
The teams representing the National Football Conference are the Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, and the Green Bay Packers. For the American Football Conference side the teams are the Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, Jacksonville Jaguars, Pittsburgh Steelers, Houston Texans, Buffalo Bills, and the Los Angeles Chargers.
In the last game of the regular season the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers played to see who would win the division. In the fourth quarter the Steelers were up 26-24 with barely any time left on the clock, but the Ravens were setting up for a game winning field goal. As the clock expired, rookie Tyler Loop missed the kick sending the Steelers to the playoffs.
“I was extremely happy about the Steelers win, it felt like we always came short at the end of most seasons, but this year we did not disappoint,” junior Aleko Politis said.
Another game deciding the division was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs the Carolina Panthers. The Buccaneers won the game 16-14. Even though the Buccaneers won and now had the same record as Carolina, Carolina made the playoffs due to winning the tiebreaker.
The first games of the playoffs start on Saturday the 10th with the Rams playing the Panthers and the Packers playing the Bears. For the Panthers this is their first playoff appearance since 2017 and for the Bears this is their first playoff appearance since 2020, so these franchises are hoping for a success they haven’t had in a long time. The rest of the key matches are on Sunday, then to finish off the Wild Card round there is one game on Monday between the Steelers and Texans.
Every year, the NFL playoffs provide competitive games and entertainment for the fans. Each team is working towards the goal of winning the Super Bowl. With sports being unpredictable it will be interesting on who will win.
