On the last Sunday of the National Football League (NFL) schedule, the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles won their respective division titles, and the San Diego Chargers earned a wild card spot in the playoffs. The Packers and Eagles just had to beat division rivals, while the Chargers needed to win and for the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens to lose, which both happened.
Even though the Green Bay Packers were only 7-7-1 going into their last game, they still could win the National Football Conference (NFC) North division with a win over the Chicago Bears, This rivalry is the oldest in the history of the NFL. The Packers welcomed back starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers after he missed their previous 7 games. The game was close throughout, with the Bears having the biggest lead at 28-20 early in the 4th quarter.
Green Bay scored a touchdown on an Eddie Lacy 6-yard run with 11:38 remaining, which cut the lead to 1 point, after they kicked the point after touchdown. The score remained that way until the final minute. The Packers started their last drive at their own 13-yard line. They converted 3 different 4th downs, including a 4th down and 8 from the Chicago 48-yard line. On that play, Packer receiver Randall Cobb was left open deep downfield, and Rodgers hit him for a touchdown. The Bears’ last drive ended in an interception, and the Packers earned a home field playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
The Eagles also had a game against a division rival, the Dallas Cowboys, to decide the winner of the NFC East division. The Cowboys had just lost their starting quarterback, Tony Romo, in the previous game. Dallas was home, but had a tall task in beating the hot Eagles, who had beaten the Bears 54-11 in their last game. Back-up quarterback Kyle Orton played well for the Cowboys, until the very end. With 1:49 remaining in the game and down 24-22, Orton threw his only interception of the game, which virtually ended the game, and made the Eagles division winners, and home for the first round of the playoffs against the New Orleans Saints.
The San Diego Chargers needed a win, and help from other teams, to clinch the final wild card spot in the American Football Conference (AFC). Fortunately for the Chargers, by about the time their game started, they did indeed receive the help they needed. The New York Jets had beaten the Dolphins 20-7, and the Cincinnati Bengals eliminated the defending champion Baltimore Ravens 34-17. Now San Diego just had to beat the reserves for the Kansas City Chiefs, in San Diego, and they were in the playoffs. Easy right? No.
Since the Chiefs couldn’t help or hurt their wild card status, and were playing the next week, they rested almost all their starters for the game. However, the Chiefs still led 24-14 in the 4th quarter. The Chargers scored a touchdown and a field goal on long drives in the 4th quarter, to tie the game, and after a missed 41-yard field goal by Chiefs’ kicker Ryan Succop with 4 seconds left in regulation, the game went into overtime.
The Chargers attempted a successful fake punt from their own 28-yard line in overtime, and eventually kicked a 36-yard field goal by Nick Novak, which proved to be the game winner. The Chargers became the 6th team under the current playoff format to make the playoffs after starting at 5-7 or worse after 12 games. San Diego also accomplished this feat in 1995 and 2008. Yes, it’s happened 6 times, and the Chargers have done it 3 of those 6 times. San Diego will go to play the Bengals in the playoffs on Saturday. The Chiefs will also play on Saturday, in Indianapolis, against the Colts.
In the NFC, I think the Eagles will probably beat the Saints, because the Saints stink on the road, and it might be snowing in Philadelphia. If the Saints would have won their division and been home, they would have been very hard to beat. The Packers will need a big improvement from their defense, or win the turnover battle, in order to beat the 49ers, although the cold weather in Green Bay will help also.
In the AFC, I would pick the Chiefs against the Colts, except for the Colts have beat some of the best teams during the regular season, and the Chiefs really haven’t beat any good teams, and the game is in Indianapolis. The Chargers will need to play a lot better on defense to beat the Bengals in Cincinnati, but if Bengal quarterback Andy Dalton throws multiple interceptions, like the 4 he threw in their last game, the Chargers will win the game.
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Sports With Frank Thomas
