February is coming up; that means the Superbowl is almost here! On February 11, the 58th Superbowl will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada. What teams made the playoffs and what are the standings?
Every year, 14 of the best NFL teams make it to the playoffs and get the chance of winning one of the most watched sporting events worldwide. There are 7 teams that make the playoffs in the AFC (American Football Conference), and 7 in the NFC (National Football Conference). The seed (seed being what their ranking is in the playoffs) they’re placed in depends on what their record is, as well as other teams’ records. The team that gets the number 1 seed (meaning they have the best record in their conference) will get a first-round bye week. The first and second seeds get home field advantage until they play each other, then the first seed will get home field advantage.
What teams made the playoffs this year? In the NFC, the 1st seed was the San Francisco 49ers having a 12-5 record. The 2 seed is the Dallas Cowboys, who have a 12-5 record. (With these 2 teams records tied, the 1 seed goes to whoever has the most wins in their division, that being San Francisco). The third seed was the Detroit Lions, who also had a 12-5 record. The 4 seed was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a 9-8 record. The reason they hold such a high seed is because the Philadelphia Eagles lost 4 of their last 5 games, dropping them to the 5 seed at 11-5. The 6 seed was the Los Angeles Rams with a 10-6 record. The 7 seed was the Green Bay Packers with a 9-8 record.
In the AFC, the first seed belongs to our hometown Baltimore Ravens, who have a 13-4 record. The Ravens are widely considered the best team in the NFL currently. The 2 seed in the AFC is the Buffalo Bills with an 11-6 record. The 3 seed is the raining Superbowl champion, Kansas City Chief’s with a 11-6 record, although being last year’s champions, they have had a rough season with lots of dropped passes. The 4 seed is the Houstin Texans with a 10-7 record. This Texans team is one of the youngest teams in the league, which means they have a great future ahead of them at this moment. The 5 seed is the Cleveland Browns with an 11-6 record, they are led by 36-year-old Joe Flacco, who at the start of the season was watching the games from his couch. The 6 seed is the Miami Dolphins with an 11-6 record. The 7 seed is the Pittsburg Steelers with a 10-7 record.
As of 1/22/24 the AFC championship will be the Kansas City Chiefs playing the Baltimore Ravens in M&T Bank stadium in Baltimore. The NFC championship will be the Detroit Lions playing the San Francisco 49ers in Levi Stadium in San Francisco. The Ravens are favored to beat Kansas City in M&T Bank stadium to send the Ravens to their 3rd Superbowl. The 49ers are favored to beat the Lions in Levis stadium to send San Francisco to their 8th Superbowl. If the Lions were to pull off the upset, it would be their first Superbowl appearance in franchise history. The Chiefs have been to 3 of the last 4 Superbowl’s, winning 2 of those, this would make one of the craziest stretches of an NFL team having so much playoff success since the Patriots when they had Tom Brady.
2 of the 4 teams have a lot riding on these games. The Ravens need to prove that they are capable of not only winning a playoff game, but making the big game with Lamar Jackson at quarterback. San Francisco has the last pick in the draft as their starting quarterback, recently he has been under fire for being on such a good team, being called a system quarterback (system quarterback meaning they are only good because of how good the team around them is). If they made the Superbowl, this would show that Brock Purdy is a legit quarterback and not a system quarterback. The Lions have nothing to lose- they weren’t expected to make it this far in the playoffs, so even if they lose, they’ve have had a largely successful season to be proud of. The Chiefs have been to 3 of the last 4 Superbowl games, winning 2 of them, so not many are rooting for them. Even if they do lose in the AFC championship game, it will still be a successful season. At the end of the day, all these teams are competing for one thing, the Superbowl trophy, and each team must fight until the end of the season to make it to the game that is most important to them.
As of 1/29/24, the playoffs have concluded, and we have our 2 super bowl teams have finished the gauntlet and made it to the promised land. What 2 teams made it? The 3rd seed Kansas City Chiefs will be taking on the 1st seed San Francisco 49ers. Both teams have fought hard to get to this moment, and many people doubted the Chiefs due to receiver issues, but Patrick Mahomes pulled his magic to make his 2nd Superbowl in a row as well as his 4th Superbowl in 5 years. This Superbowl should be a great matchup between 2 powerhouse teams.
