The Bengals snapped a 31-year winless streak in the NFL playoffs to advance to this season’s Divisional Round, where they will face the AFC number one seed Tennessee Titans while the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills will star in the other conference matchup. In the National, the 49ers advanced, who will face the Packers, who passed the wild card round bye, while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers await a rival in the duel between Rams and Cardinals.
Total euphoria filled the Cincinnati jungle as the Bengals earned their first playoff victory since 1991 with a 26-19 victory over the Raiders on Saturday. Quarterback Joe Burrow led an efficient offense that scored on six drives, including two touchdown passes and four field goals by rookie Evan McPherson.
After going from worst team to first in the AFC North with a young roster, the Bengals ended a long postseason drought that spanned eight straight losses in those 31 years. At the same time, coach Zac Taylor’s team extended the drought for the Raiders, whose last postseason victory came in 2003, when they blew out the Super Bowl.
On the other hand, the Bills’ 47-17 victory over the Patriots on Saturday in the wild card round was historic with a ‘perfect’ game from the Buffalo team. Sean McDermott’s men scored points on each of their seven possessions and became the first team in postseason history to finish a game without punting, attempting field goals or losing possession on the field of play.
Quarterback Josh Allen threw for 308 yards and a team playoff-record five touchdowns, including two to Dawson Knox, to beat New England for the second time in three weeks.
The Bills scored their second-most points in a postseason game behind their 51 in the 1990 AFC Championship Game. By contrast, the margin of loss was New England’s worst in managing the trainer Bill Belichick, who started in 2000.
In Sunday’s final game, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 42-21. Unlike the Steelers, who entered the wild card game with nothing to lose, the Chiefs charged, and will continue to charge the rest of the postseason, with the weight of great expectations.
Andy Reid’s team has not only won the last two AFC titles, but they’ve contested the last three Conference Finals and just claimed a record sixth West Division title. The organization that once went nearly three decades without winning a playoff game at home has now won six in a row, thanks to a group of talent surrounding quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
This also ended the campaign and the career of iconic Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. In 18 years of professional career, ‘Big Ben’ played 23 playoff games. His record is 13-10 and two of those victories were in the Super Bowl, in the XL and XLIII editions. In the game against Kansas City, Roethlisberger passed Joe Montana and Brett Favre to become the third-highest passing yards quarterback (5,860) in NFL playoff history, trailing only Tom Brady (12,720). and Peyton Manning (7,339).
In the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Dallas Cowboys at home by a score of 23-17 in a dramatic finale. In the last three seasons, San Francisco is the team with the most road wins with 18, behind only New Orleans with 19 and Kansas City with 20.
The 49ers did not reach the playoffs in 2020, but this year they have already secured their place in the Divisional Round in what represents another step on the road to the Super Bowl, which they last reached in 2019 but have not won since 1995. While the Cowboys, the most valuable sports franchise on the planet, extended their streak without Super Bowl championships to 28 years.
Those led by Kyle Shanahan will face the number one seed in the National Conference, the Green Bay Packers, who will arrive with rest by exempting the wild card weekend.
Also in the National, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sealed their great regular season by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 31-15 and thereby securing their second consecutive divisional round, something they had never achieved before.
Tom Brady got his 35th postseason victory, the same amount that the Dallas Cowboys franchise has in its entire history, and at 44 years old he will seek the eighth Super Bowl title, but now he will focus on his next test, whether it is the Arizona Cardinals or Los Angeles Rams, who meet in the final matchup of the wild card round on Monday.
Although Tampa Bay headcoach Bruce Arians has more than 45 years as a football coach, this is only the third time he has made it past the wild-card round. The first was when he lost the NFC championship game against the Panthers, leading Arizona (2015) and the second was the Super Bowl LV title with the Buccaneers against the Chiefs.