What Teams are Left in the NFL Playoffs?

The NFL playoffs are in full swing and there are only a few teams left vying for the coveted Lombardi Trophy. Who are the frontrunners and who are the dark horses? Let’s take a look at the teams that are still in the running.

AFC

The Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs have already clinched their spot in the AFC playoffs. The New England Patriots and the Houston Texans are also still in the running for the AFC playoffs. The buffalo Bills and the Tennessee Titans are still in the running for the AFC playoffs as well.

New England Patriots

The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league’s American Football Conference (AFC) East division. Before the season of 2009, they played their home games at Foxborough Stadium, located 22 miles (35 km) southwest of downtown Boston in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The Patriots joined the NFL in 1970 as an expansion team, and played their home games in Foxborough Stadium from 1971 to 2001.

Pittsburgh Steelers

The AFC is made up of 16 teams, with the top six teams making the playoffs. The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of those six teams. They are the current AFC North champions and have a record of 11-2. The Steelers have one of the best defenses in the NFL, and their offense is led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional football franchise based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team plays its home games at TIAA Bank Field.

Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league’s American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team was founded in 1960 as the Dallas Texans by businessman Lamar Hunt and was a charter member of the American Football League (AFL). In 1963, the team relocated to Kansas City and assumed their current name. The Chiefs joined the NFL as a result of the AFL–NFL merger in 1970. The team is valued at over $2 billion. Hunt’s son, Clark, serves as chairman and CEO. While Hunt owns a controlling interest in the team, the majority of team ownership is held by public companies. The Chiefs have won three AFL championships, in 1962, 1966, and 1969. They became the second AFL team (after their cross-state rivals, the New York Jets) to defeat an NFL team in an AFL–NFL World Championship Game when they defeated Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback Joe Kapp in Super Bowl IV. The team’s victory on January 11, 1970,[8] remains the club’s last championship game victory and appearance to date, and occurred amidst the fiercestYears later he commented that “had that game been played ten years later it would have been called pass interference”, although no such penalty existed at that time.[9]

In 1971 he helped establish World Championship Tenniswith partner Allost present were twenty-six other players representing nine other nations who had qualified by winning their matches.” This made him one of only two men ever to sign professional tennis contracts with both Jack Kramerand Lamar Hunt.[10]

Richey was ranked among America’s top ten tennis pros for eleven years (1957–67), peaking at No. 5 in 1961.[11][12][13] He achieved his career-high singles ranking of World No.”

Richey was also ranked No. 16 in doubles that year (with Rosewall),[14] and he reached his highest doubles ranking of World No.” In Grand Prix play his best results were semifinal finishes at Cincinnati (1957),Threadgill retired from competitive tennis after his first-round loss to Arthur Ashe at Wimbledonin 1967.[17] He continued giving exhibition matches into his eighties.[3]

NFC

The NFC playoff picture is pretty clear. The top four seeds are the Dallas Cowboys, the Green Bay Packers, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Atlanta Falcons. These teams will have a bye in the first week of the playoffs. The fifth seed is the New York Giants and they will play the fourth seed, the Falcons.

Los Angeles Rams

The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team that compete in the National Football League (NFL). The Rams franchise was founded in 1936 as the Cincinnati Reds, and was based in St. Louis, Missouri from 1995 until their return to Los Angeles in 2016. The Rams play their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Saints currently compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The team was founded by John W. Mecom Jr., David Dixon, and the city of New Orleans on November 1, 1966. The Saints began play in Tulane Stadium in 1967.

The name “Saints” is an allusion to November 1 being All Saints Day in the Catholic faith, or more specifically, to the Catholic church located across from Tulane Stadium. Despite the vast majority of St. Louisans being of Catholic faith, making them seemingly natural fans of a football team named after a religious holiday commemorating saints,[citation needed] it is believed that MecomJr., Dixon, and Petersen purposely chose this suggestive name due to its connection with death given that New Orleans has one of the highest rates of murder per capita in the United States.[citation needed] Accordingly, local sportswriters dubbed them the “Aints” due to their lackluster 7–9 record and lack of on-field success during their first three seasons. Head coach Hank Stram was fired following a 3–13 campaign in 1969.

The 1970 season brought new head coach Tom Fears who helped lead them to an NFC Championship Game appearance against the Minnesota Vikings; however they lost 14–10 on a last-second 61-yard field goal by Minnesota’s Jan Stenerud. Despite having some success during his brief tenure as head coach including a playoff appearance and posting five consecutive winning seasons from 1987 to 1991, Jim Mora was fired following another disappointing playoff loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys in 1992; he would be succeeded by his offensive coordinator Mike Ditka who would lead them back to respectability and five playoff appearances including an NFC Championship Game berth in 2000 which they lost 30–27 on another game-winning field goal (this time by San Francisco’s rookie placekicker Jose Cortez).

Since then except for 2009 (when they finished 8–8), every season has ended with 7 or more losses (6 or more losses for 10 consecutive seasons from 2005 onwards), including three straight seasons with double digit losses from 2007 to 2009; moreover from 2000 onwards every head coach hired by Saints owner Tom Benson has been fired after just three seasons regardless of their success including Ditka himself who led them back into playoffs just two years later but was still shown the door despite having achieved a winning record during his tenure as head coach. In 2012, Head Coach Sean Payton led New Orleans back to prominence as he guided them to their first ever 13–3 record while also leading them back into playoffs en route to winning their first ever Super Bowl XLIV championship defeating Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts 31–17 behind Drew Brees’ MVP performance; but once again like all previous coaches since Mora’s departure in 1996 Payton was also fired 3 years later despite posting 3 consecutive winning seasons and leading them back into playoffs as he was suspended for an entire year due 25 days after their disappointing 7–9 2014 season finale loss against Tampa Bay for his role

Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) East division. They are Super Bowl LII champions.

Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League (NFL) as an expansion team in 1960, and first took the field for the 1961 season. The team competes in the National Football Conference (NFC) North division.