NFL play-offs – how final four can make it to Super Bowl

Four teams still have one more difficult task to complete before Super Bowl 60, which comes after another thrilling season-ending finish.

The Seattle Seahawks host the NFC Championship game against a Los Angeles Rams team that survived another Caleb Williams comeback from Chicago after an epic overtime run.

And on the AFC side, the Denver Broncos are hosts after they also emerged from an overtime thriller to end Josh Allen’s hopes of a first Super Bowl – and cost Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott his job.

Since the 2011 season, the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots have both played in AFC championship games, but even during Tom Brady’s days, Mile High has never had much of a fanfare.

This Patriots dynasty has resurrected, right?

There’s a lot of similarities between life under Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye and the ultimate dynasty of Brady and Bill Belichick – this play-off run with two brutal defensive clashes is one of them.

New England’s season has turned out very well, winning 16 games in its first two games in a row.

Given that only 16 players from the 2023 roster are left over, they had the second-most rookie starts this year, which is obviously in line with their spending patterns.

It’s true the Pats had an easy regular season schedule, but they’ll have to win it the hard way as – after facing the Chargers, Texans and now Broncos – Maye will become the first quarterback to beat three top-five defences in one post-season if victorious.

If he does, there will be even more proof that the Pats are back.

Can a backup quarterback win the Super Bowl?

Head coach Sean Payton has taken a little longer to turn things around, understandably given Denver’s salary cap issues. The $ 32 million in dead money that Russell Wilson’s illustrious contract has left is the biggest expense on their salary cap this year.

Denver were deflated when word of the quarterback’s broken ankle arrived just after the Bills beat them in a thriller.

Nix’s overall stat lines may not jump out at you, but leading his team to a 12-2 record in one-score games tells you everything.

The big question is whether Payton can use Jarrett Stidham as a back-up quarterback, who will compete for a spot in the Super Bowl after 749 days since he last threw a pass in the NFL.

Ironically enough, the 29-year-old was selected by New England and initially perceived as Brady’s replacement, but despite making more appearances for the Pats than the Broncos, his career quickly grew in Foxborough.

He has just four career starts, with one win, and hasn’t thrown a single pass in the past two seasons – playing just one snap this season which was a kneeldown.

This championship will be won by Defence in this match-up.

Denver hopes to have some positive signs. This is their third AFC Championship in 20 years – all three against the Patriots and they won the previous two.

Denver won the Super Bowl 50, which was held at Levi’s Stadium a decade ago when Peyton Manning defeated Brady in the previous match. Will lightning strike twice?

And there could be more good news with top running back JK Dobbins set to return from injury. Despite not playing since the beginning of November, he still leads the team in yards and carries (73).

As we all know that the NFL’s best sack unit will chase Maye and make life uncomfortable all night, it could be huge if they could help Stidham out.

Maye had four fumbles and was sacked five times by Houston – he needs to be better than that to stand a chance here.

The NFC West rivals played out two brilliant games during the regular season, and advanced metrics have this billed as the highest-quality play-off game on record.

The Rams are either lucky or good.

Can the offense pass this ultimate test, though, before a touchdown 38 seconds from the end guarantees a win for the Rams in Carolina and an overtime interception for Williams in overtime gives them a chance to win in Chicago?

Quarterbacks with under 50% completion of 40-plus passes and zero touchdowns had gone 0-99-1 in any NFL game before Matthew Stafford beat the Bears.

If the Rams want to change some trends, he needs more than that.

The Seahawks’ 0-6 passing yards lead the league in points allowed in play-off games, while the Seahawks’ top scoring offense was handled by the league’s top offense in their 2014 Super Bowl victory over Denver.

The home side is also 15-5 in Conference Championship games between divisional rivals, but if one side has the combination of experience and grit it’s Sean McVay’s outfit.

Darnold will the Seahawks need?

Despite having a stunning play-off victory over San Francisco, head coach Mike Macdonald’s team is Super Bowl favorites despite flying completely under the radar.

No other team has ever scored over 40 points, rushed for 150 yards, allowed no touchdowns or turnovers and scored on special teams, in any NFL game, ever.

The British defense, under the direction of Aden Durde, managed the league’s lowest points, and they were the most competitive side overall.

The Seahawks won 15 games by 235 points, only losing three of the season’s three. Talk about a complete performance.

Sam Darnold has to convince many of his play-off credentials after a letdown last season, but he is the only quarterback to have won 14 games in a row with two different teams.

In reality, he never had much of a game against San Francisco, and despite having a win over the Rams, he has had his issues, with four interceptions being a particularly low total.

Best play-off game ever, in our opinion?

Given how the two teams stack up against the rest of the NFL, according to an advanced metric called DVOA, which evaluates the teams’ performances against the league average.

And the two were so evenly matched in their NFC West games.

The Rams won by two and the Seahawks by one, making it 58-57 overall in total points scored and a crazy 830-829 total yards in favor of LA.

You can tell that Seattle’s second game was won by a remarkable comeback and overtime, and it might have the potential to turn around.

The Rams will hope they have the right formula against this Seattle defence, as Stafford has thrown five touchdowns with no interceptions or sacks in two games, while Darnold has six picks and four sacks against the Rams defence.

Conference seed in brackets, all kick-off times GMT

Sunday, January 25th,