Liam Brown
Staff Writer
The 2022 NFL regular season has come to a close, leaving just seven teams in each conference with an opportunity to win The Super Bowl.
This season has been one to remember, from the 8-0 start with the Philadelphia Eagles, to Geno Smith getting written off and not writing back, to the 2022 NFL Mr. Irrelevant pick Brock Purdy hitting his stride at the end of the season. With many great games, teams and storylines throughout this season, it’s exciting to see it all start to come to a close.
The playoff seeding for the American Football Conference (AFC) has the number one seed Kansas City Chiefs with a 14-3 record, meaning they get a bye week, meaning they don’t have to play in the first round. The first round in the AFC has three matches: the two-seed Buffalo Bills v.s seven seed Miami Dolphins, the three-seed Cincinnati Bengals vs the six-seed Baltimore Ravens and the four-seed Jacksonville Jaguars vs the five-seed Los Angeles Chargers.
The Philadelphia Eagles are the one-seed in the National Football Conference (NFC), meaning they also get a bye week. The first round in the NFC also has 3 matches, the two-seed San Francisco 49ers vs the seven-seed Seattle Seahawks, the three-seed Minnesota Vikings vs the six-seed New York Giants and the four-seed Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs the five-seed Dallas Cowboys.
This year’s Super Bowl is still up in the air, and opinions on the contenders vary. Junior Grant Fraser and sophomore Tucker Wolf both believe the Cowboys will take part.
“I think the final is going to be [between] the Chiefs and the 49ers,” said sophomore Jefry Benevitez, who thinks Patrick Mahomes will help the Chiefs bring home the Lombardi Trophy.
Fan loyalty is out of the picture for sophomores Austin Holbrook and Henry Mead, who are both Chicago Bears fans but don’t see their team making the cut this season.
“I believe that the Bengals and the 49ers will be in the Super Bowl, because I think Mr. Irrelevant is gonna clutch up,” said Mead.
Holbrook expects the Buffalo Bills to take part in what would be their first Super Bowl appearance since 1993.
Still a fan favorite, Tom Brady remains a factor in many students’ decisions.
“Tom Brady or the Eagles, they’re gonna win,” said Wilmer Molina, a sophomore.
“[I predict] the Bucs vs the Bills or Chiefs, but the Bucs will win,” said sophomore Zachary Kenney. “Tom Brady hasn’t lost a Super Bowl on an even year since 2012”
The playoffs are fast approaching, and clearly there are some conflicting opinions about who is going to make the cut. Regardless, there will be a great matchup with many memorable moments, and it is going to be exciting to watch it all unfold.
Update: The first round of the playoffs has concluded, with several great games. The Buffalo Bills knocked out the Miami Dolphins 34-31 with a solid performance from Skylar Thompson from the Dolphins. Another close game was the Ravens vs Bengals, which ended with a 24-17 win for the Bengals. The Jacksonville Jaguars came back from a 27-0 deficit to defeat the Chargers, 31-30. There were also two blowout games in which the 49ers and Cowboys destroyed the Seahawks and Buccaneers, 41-23 and 31-14. The Giants and Vikings had a thrilling matchup ending with a 31-24 loss for the Vikings.
