The Road to the Super Bowl Goes Through Seattle and Denver

The NFL wrapped up the regular season on January 3rd and 4th, finalizing the playoff picture. The top seeds are the Denver Broncos in the AFC and the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC. These two will get a first round bye in the playoffs and home field advantage throughout.

Seattle (14-3) earned its first round bye after beating the San Francisco 49ers on the road on January 3rd by a score of 13-3. The Seahawk’s defense held the 49ers to just 53 rushing yards and 127 receiving. Christian McCaffrey was held to 23 rushing yards and 34 receiving yards. QB Sam Darnold was 20 of 26 passing for 198 yards, and the Seahawk ground game was good for 180 yards, including 97 by Kenneth Walker and 74 by Zach Charbonnet, who scored the game’s only touchdown on a 27 yard run in the first quarter.

Besides being the #1 seed, the Seahawks won the NFC West. The top three in that division are in the playoffs; the 49ers and Rams are Wild Cards with both having 12-5 records. Other NFC division winners are the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears (both 11-6) and the Carolina Panthers, who are just 8-9. Tampa Bay and Atlanta were also 8-9, but the Panthers squeaked into the post season based on tie breakers. The Falcons finished with four straight victories, but the team fired head coach Raheem Morris and general Manager Terry Fontenot anyway. The other Wild Card in the NFC are the 9-7-1 Green Bay Packers.

In the AFC, the Denver Broncos beat the Los Angeles Chargers 19-3 in Denver on January 4th. The game’s only touchdown came on a Ja’Quan McMillian 45 yard interception return for Denver; otherwise, the placekickers were the show on offense. Denver finishes at 14-3. The New England Patriots (14-3) completed a remarkable turnaround by securing the #2 seed. The Patriots were 3-14 in 2024.

Speaking of remarkable turnarounds, the Jacksonville Jaguars were 4-13 in 2024, but are the winners of the AFC South with a record of 13-4 this year. The Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7) won the AFC North after an absolutely wild victory over the Baltimore Ravens. AFC Wild Cards are the Chargers (11-6), Houston Texans (12-5) and Buffalo Bills (12-5). The 1st round of the playoffs will run Saturday January 10th through Monday January 12th.