What We Learned in the Divisional Round of the N.F.L. Playoffs (Published 2022) (2025)

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Jimmy Garoppolo screened his way back to a conference championship, the Bengals’ defensive front outshone its stars, and only Kansas City benefited from home-field advantage.

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What We Learned in the Divisional Round of the N.F.L. Playoffs (Published 2022) (1)

By Diante Lee

This weekend’s divisional-round games provided a few surprises, beginning with the top seeds in both conferences getting tossed, Joe Burrow’s being sacked nine times overcoming Ryan Tannehill’s three interceptions and Aaron Rodgers’s earlier-than-predicted consideration of his next team.

Perhaps the biggest shock, however, is this: Jimmy Garoppolo is one plane ride and 60 minutes of game time away from his second Super Bowl appearance in three seasons. In spite of an offensive performance in which yardage gains were hard to attain in Green Bay’s snowy weather, San Francisco escaped with a 13-10 win over the N.F.C.’s top-seeded Packers and will face the Los Angeles Rams on the road in the conference championship game.

On Saturday night, playing through injuries to a hand and a shoulder, Garoppolo had just 131 passing yards on 19 attempts, with no touchdowns and an interception. His just-enough performance won’t tamp down the excitement of 49ers fans who have eagerly awaited the emergence of his understudy, the rookie Trey Lance, who is set to lead the franchise into the future. But it was good enough, or as good as the Packers’ special teams, at toppling Green Bay, as was the case in the 49ers’ win in the N.F.C. championship game for the 2019 season.

Now, as then, the 49ers are finding success without needing much from their quarterback, an ethos that flies in the face of modern football orthodoxy. So much has been made of the kind of quarterback play needed to win playoff games — on the road, especially — and Saturday only solidified Garoppolo’s legacy as a caretaker. But the 49ers’ season has spotlighted everything (gesturing wildly) required of the other 52 men on the roster.

The 49ers complement, but do not depend on, Jimmy Garoppolo.

Start with the offensive line, which has two potential Hall of Famers in Trent Williams and Alex Mack. In Coach Kyle Shanahan’s scheme, which attacks the edges of defenses with the run game, having a center point out what is happening up front and a human steamroller at tackle puts the offense in position to feature the five players who are typically blamed before they are lauded.

Beside and behind the offensive line is a triumvirate of the most versatile players in football: Kyle Juszczyk, George Kittle and Deebo Samuel. While the field in Saturday’s game was too slippery to use all of Shanahan’s play-actions, bootlegs and misdirection, each of those nearly positionless players was able to make plays.

How Kansas City Won an Overtime Thriller

What We Learned in the Divisional Round of the N.F.L. Playoffs (Published 2022) (2)
Alanis ThamesReporting on the N.F.L. playoffs 🏈

How Kansas City Won an Overtime Thriller

What We Learned in the Divisional Round of the N.F.L. Playoffs (Published 2022) (3)
Alanis ThamesReporting on the N.F.L. playoffs 🏈

Kansas City and Buffalo combined to score 25 points in the last two minutes of regulation, a wild finish that sent their playoff showdown to overtime.

Here’s how the ending unfolded →

How Kansas City Won an Overtime Thriller

Alanis ThamesReporting on the N.F.L. playoffs 🏈

Quarterbacks Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes traded touchdowns the entire game. Allen led the Bills on a 17-play, 75-yard drive to take a 3-point lead with two minutes left in the fourth quarter.

How Kansas City Won an Overtime Thriller

What We Learned in the Divisional Round of the N.F.L. Playoffs (Published 2022) (5)
Alanis ThamesReporting on the N.F.L. playoffs 🏈

Mahomes has arguably the fastest player in the N.F.L. in receiver Tyreek Hill. When Hill caught a pass and sped into the end zone for a 64-yard touchdown, Kansas City regained the lead with 1:02 to go.

How Kansas City Won an Overtime Thriller

What We Learned in the Divisional Round of the N.F.L. Playoffs (Published 2022) (6)
Alanis ThamesReporting on the N.F.L. playoffs 🏈

Buffalo also has a game-changer in Allen. He connected with Gabriel Davis for Davis’s fourth touchdown of the night, and the Bills looked as if they had won the game with 13 seconds left.

How Kansas City Won an Overtime Thriller

What We Learned in the Divisional Round of the N.F.L. Playoffs (Published 2022) (7)
Alanis ThamesReporting on the N.F.L. playoffs 🏈

But 13 seconds was all Mahomes needed. He guided Kansas City into field-goal range in two plays, with Travis Kelce’s catch setting up Harrison Butker’s field goal to force overtime.

How Kansas City Won an Overtime Thriller

What We Learned in the Divisional Round of the N.F.L. Playoffs (Published 2022) (8)
Alanis ThamesReporting on the N.F.L. playoffs 🏈

Kansas City got the ball first in overtime, and on its eighth play Mahomes hit Kelce again for the winning score, sending Kansas City to the A.F.C. Championship game. Allen never got a chance to respond.

It was a perfect finish to a wild playoff weekend in which the first three games were decided by last-second field goals.

  • Matthew Stafford, in a reversal, seals a Rams win in the final minutes.
  • Two upsets of No. 1 seeds. Two last-play field goals. Lots of wild defensive plays.

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What We Learned in the Divisional Round of the N.F.L. Playoffs (Published 2022) (2025)

FAQs

How does the divisional round of the playoffs work? ›

The Divisional Round features four teams per conference –– the three Wild Card winners and the 1 seed from each conference –– for a total of four games across the league. The two winners from each conference's Division round will then play each other in the Conference Championship.

What happens after the NFL divisional round? ›

The two surviving teams from each conferences' divisional-round playoff games then meet in the respective AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, hosted by the higher-seeded team.

What is the most watched NFL divisional round game? ›

CBS Sports' presentation of Chiefs-Bills is the most-watched NFL Divisional Playoff Game ever and the first to surpass 50 million viewers, averaging 50.393 million viewers and up +10% vs. last year's comparable window (Cowboys-49ers, 45.659). The previous record was 48.522 million viewers for Cowboys-Packers on Jan.

Why is it called the divisional round of the playoffs? ›

The Divisional Round is round two of the NFL Playoffs. In theory, the Divisional Round is named the Divisional Round as the four division winners should play in this round. Each conference has four division winners, and they will play their round one games at home against the wildcard teams.

How does the new playoff system work? ›

Who qualifies for the college football playoff? The five highest-ranked conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked teams will earn a spot in the 12-team bracket. There is no limit to how many teams from one conference can qualify. The rules also don't guarantee spots for certain conferences.

How do the NFL divisions work? ›

The NFL consists of 32 clubs divided into two conferences of 16 teams each. Each conference is divided into four divisions of four clubs each. During the regular season, each team is allowed a maximum of 55 players on its roster; only 48 of these may be active (eligible to play) on game days.

What NFL team is most watched on TV? ›

The Dallas Cowboys were the most watched team in the NFL in the 2023 regular season, with their games drawing in an average TV audience of over 25 million fans. Meanwhile, the games of the Kanas City Chiefs, the winners of the Super Bowl that year, averaged just over 23 million viewers.

Was the Peacock NFL game a success? ›

Our exclusively streamed NFL Wild Card game was a big success this past quarter,” he said. “We added and then retained even more new Peacock subscribers than we expected.

How many people watched Bills vs. Chiefs? ›

The @NFLonCBS scores the most-watched NFL Divisional Playoff Game ever as Chiefs-Bills is the first to surpass 50 million viewers (50.393). Sunday's game peaked with more than 56 million viewers (56.250).

Which NFL division is the oldest? ›

Most experts agree that the oldest division is the NFC North, because the Chicago Bears, the Detroit Lions, the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings have all been in the same division or conference since the Vikings joined the league in 1961.

What is the purpose of playoffs? ›

The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade.

What does divisional mean in NFL? ›

The league's 32 teams are split into two conferences — the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The 16 teams in each conference are split into the East, North, South and West divisions; every division has four teams.

How is the NFL divisional setup? ›

The league's 32 teams are split into two conferences — the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The 16 teams in each conference are split into the East, North, South and West divisions; every division has four teams.

How does the new NFL playoff format work? ›

The NFL expanded its current playoff format to 14 teams in 2020. Seven teams from the AFC and seven from the NFC will make up the field. The previous system saw six teams from each conference qualify. Now, three wildcard teams will join the four divisional winners.

Does the NFL reseed for the divisional round? ›

While there is no reseeding in the NFL playoffs, the host of each game is determined by seeding number, not position in the bracket.

How does the play-in playoffs work? ›

Initially implemented during the 2020-21 NBA season, the play-in tournament expanded the NBA's postseason to 20 teams (10 from each conference). The top six teams from each conference automatically qualify for the playoffs, while the 7- through 10-seeds enter the play-in tournament for a chance to extend their seasons.

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