JIM LANG’S 10 NFL THINGS: DIVISION WEEKEND RUNDOWN

Hi there. There is a good reason why sports are the ultimate TV reality show. This weekend’s NFL Divisional playoffs had some of the most unpredictable and bonkers endings you could have imagined. The combined margin of victory for all four games was 15 points. That is the smallest margin of victory in the history of the NFL’s Divisional playoffs. With that being said, it is time to take a look back at what happened this weekend:

1 – Joe Burrow – Think about this for a second: Joe Burrow was sacked 9 times, and he still completed 28 passes for 348 yards in the Bengals win over the Titans. The more the Titans sacked him and beat on him, the cooler Burrow was under pressure. Not once did it Burrow ever look rattled in that game. Burrow’s 32-yard pass to Ja’Marr Chase set up Evan ‘Money’ McPherson’s game winning 52-yard field goal. After the game we discovered that McPherson looked at teammates before that kick and said, ‘looks like we’re going to the AFC Championship game.’ Indeed, they are. Burrow and the Bengals won the first playoff road game in the history of their franchise. and they are off to the AFC Championship game for the first time in 33 years. I have said it before, as the Bengals get better, Burrow is going to get better. Who Dey?

2 – Tannehill– The opposite of Burrow’s performance was the melt-down of Ryan Tannehill. You knew something was off when he threw an interception on the very first play of the game. Tannehill’s 3^rd interception of the game late in the 4^th quarter killed any chances the Titans had of winning that game. Once Joe Burrow went to work, it was over. Even with the return of Derrick Henry, I don’t understand what Mike Vrabel didn’t give the ball more to D’Onta Foreman? This loss will produce a lot of soul searching and potential personnel changes with the Titans in the off-season. As in, what to do with Ryan Tannehill?

3 – Karma – For a variety of reasons, far too many to mention, Aaron Rodgers isn’t exactly the most popular quarterback in the NFL. Personally, I don’t care about some his anti-vax ramblings. He is a big boy. He can do what he wants. I only care how he plays. Saturday night, we didn’t see the best of Aaron Rodgers. With Nick Bosa cleared to play, the 49ers defence sacked Rodgers 5 times and held the Packers offence to 263 yards of total offence and only 10 points. This was the same Packers offence that had been lighting up the scoreboard the past 6 weeks. Full credit to Bosa and the 49ers D, but this was a loss that had Rodgers-haters having a field day on social media. For those keeping track, that was the 4^th time that Rodgers has lost to the 49ers in the playoffs.

4 – Not-So Special Teams – There are three phases to football: offence, defence, and special teams. Saturday night, the Packers special teams were a complete train wreck. First, they allow the 49ers to walk right in and block a punt and tie the game. Then, on the game winning field goal attempt by Robbie Gould, the Packers only had 10 men on the field! After the game, Matt LaFleur said, ‘It’s unacceptable. That’s on me.’ How the hell does that happen in the Packers biggest game of the year? Now the Packers go into the off-season with big questions about the future of Rodgers, and a lot of salary cap headaches. It will be a long time before Packers fans get over this loss, especially with the god-awful performance by their special teams. Meanwhile, Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers coaching staff did a remarkable job of preparing their team.

5 – Cooper Kupp – In one of the craziest endings to a playoff game I have seen in a long time, Matt Stafford hit Cooper Kupp with a 20-yard gain with 35 seconds left to play. Then 8 seconds later, Kupp caught a 44-yard pass from Stafford. Matt Gay nailed the game-winner from 30-yards out to seal the win and punch the Rams ticket to the NFC Championship game. The Buccaneers had to know that Stafford was looking to throw to Kupp to set up a potential game winning field goal, and they still couldn’t stop them. Kupp ended the night with 9 catches for 183 yards, one touchdown and one incredible play to set up the game winning field goal. Kupp is a fitting example of what hard work and dedication to your sport can do for an athlete.

6 – Tampa – What a strange ending to a strange season in Tampa. Despite being sacked 3 times and throwing an interception, Tom Brady still gave the Bucs a chance to win the game. The Bucs dealt with Antonio Brown, injuries to key players, a leaky offensive line and a hot-and-cold secondary. The Bucs dealt with all this drama because at the end of the day, they have Tom Brady. Brady is 44 years-old and is still one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL and he is still healthy. It will be interesting to see what changes takes place in Tampa in the off-season. It will also be fascinating to see what Brady decides to do this off-season. Maybe the next time the Bucs play the Rams, they should play a different coverage when trying to cover Cooper Kupp!

7 – Mahomes – What a game, what a player. In the final two minutes of regulation between the Chiefs and the Bills, the two teams scored a combined 25 points. 25 points, in two minutes of football! The Bills did everything right Sunday night, everything but stop Mahomes when the game was on the line. After taking the lead late in the game, the Bills kicked off to Chiefs and there was 13 seconds left on the clock. 13 effing seconds. Before taking to the field. Andy Reid told Mahomes, ‘When it’s grim, be the Grim Reaper.’ Listening to his coach, Mahomes did the impossible, completing two long passes to set up the game tying field goal by Harrison Butker. Bills fans are still crying over the NFL’s overtimes rules. Who cares? It never should have come to that. Why didn’t they do a time-wasting squib kick instead of kicking it off deep? And if the Bills defence makes one stop on that final drive, Butker would never have been in position to tie the game. Josh Allen is a great quarterback, and the Bills are a good team. But Patrick Mahomes is just that much better, and his supporting cast is better as well. The legend of Mahomes grew to another level Sunday night.

8 – NFC – With the top seed in the NFC out, it will be a show-down between the 49ers and the Rams in the NFC Championship game. This battle of California will take place at SoFi Stadium Sunday in LA. The Rams have a chance to play in the NFC Championship game AND the Super Bowl in their home stadium. Before the Stafford to Kupp heroics, the Rams played some sloppy football in the 2^ndhalf of their win over the Bucs. They won’t get away with those kind of mistakes against the 49ers. The 49ers will need to find a way to block both Von Miller and Aaron Donald. So far, nobody has been able to figure that out.

9 – AFC – The top seed is also done in the AFC, and the team that knocked them out, the Bengals will take on the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game. This is the 4^th straight year that Mahomes and the Chiefs are in the AFC Championship game. On paper, this is a huge mismatch. However, Joe Burrow and the Bengals have proven a lot of people wrong over the past month. One thing is for certain, Burrow won’t be rattled by the magnitude of the game, and he won’t be rattled by anything the Chiefs throw at him. Burrow is one most mentally tough young quarterback we have seen in a long time. For the Bengals, stopping Mahomes will be a lot tougher than stopping Tannehill and the Titans. I can’t wait.

10 – Final Thoughts – Here it is, down to the final four in the NFL season, and we continue to be subjected to sub-par and questionable officiating. For all the money and the power of the NFL, they still struggle to find officiating crews who can consistently call solid games. The human factor of the NFL or any kind of sport is impossible to predict. For all their training, preparation, and expertise, NFL Head Coaches make mistakes, and they make bad decisions at the worst possible moments in a game. The physical and mental toughness of elite athletes never ceases to amaze me. Everyone makes jokes about kickers not being real football players. But ask the Bengals, the 49ers, and the Rams what they think of their respective kickers. All three teams moved one step closer to the Super Bowl because their kickers put it through the uprights with the game on the line and all the pressure in the world on their shoulder. Heck, Harrison Butker had a ton of pressure on him when they he lined up for that 49-yarder to tie the game. And like McPherson, Gould and Gay, he came through in crunch time.

When I filed this, ticket prices to both upcoming games are going through the roof. It will cost you well over $1,000 to buy a ticket to the Chiefs game and over $3,000 to the Rams game!

That is all for now, take care during the rest of the week and I will talk to you after Championship Sunday.

(Jim Lang is Canada’s foremost expert on the NFL. Follow him on Twitter @JimLangSports)