The NFL concluded the regular season on Week 18 this year with a wild overtime finish. The Cincinnati Bengals and the San Francisco 49ers continued that theme into the playoffs.
On January 22, the first of two Divisional round matches took place, with the number one seed from both conferences facing off against the winner of the lowest-seeded games from Super Wild Card Weekend.
Both the Green Bay Packers, winners of the NFC North and the number one seed in the conference, and the Tennessee Titans, winners of the AFC South and the conference’s number one seed, were vanquished on field goal kicks as time expired. The losses marked the first time since the 2010 season that both number 1 seeded teams failed to advance to the Championship game.
The Cincinnati Bengals won their first playoff game in 31 years last week when they defeated the Las Vegas Raiders, who managed to get into the playoffs by being the benefactor of that last-second overtime victory to end the season. On Saturday, the Bengals did something no team in franchise history had ever done before by winning a playoff game on the road.
The Bengals did just enough to come out on top against Tennessee, including an interception on the first play of the game, another in the third quarter as Tennessee moved into the red zone, and a third that gave the Bengals the game-winning field goal attempt.
The Bengals defense also stopped the Titans on a fourth-and-one in the fourth quarter and a team total of five tackles for loss that held running back Derrick Henry, playing in his first game since Week 8, to 62 yards on 20 carries.
The game-winning field goal was made by Cincinnati kicker Evan McPherson, the only kicker selected in the 2021 draft and playing in only his second playoff game. The 52-yard game-winner split the uprights to break a tie, leaving no time remaining in the game.
The Divisional round victory marks the first time Bengals have advanced to the Conference Championship game since 1988. To put that into perspective, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor was age five the last time Cincinnati won the divisional round. That season, the Bengals advanced to the Super Bowl, only to lose to Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and the San Francisco 49ers.
The 49ers will be playing in their 17th Conference Championship next Sunday after defeating the Green Bay Packers on a snowy Lambeau Field in a rematch of the Conference Championship game from the 2018 season. The 49ers won that match also and now have posted a perfect 4-0 against Aaron Rogers and the Green Bay Packers in playoff competition.
Despite decades of prominence in the NFL Playoffs, the 49ers have been underdogs in each of their two games in the postseason. San Francisco defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card round after Dallas committed numerous penalties and failed to manage the game clock wisely. The victory over the Packers was much less controversial. As with the Bengals, it was the 49ers defense that stole the show, and outstanding play from special teams sealed the victory despite offensive struggles to move the ball throughout the game.
After backing the Packers up early in the fourth quarter, San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Jordan Willis beat a block to get his hands on the punt. The ball popped nearly straight up, landing on the Packers 1-yard line where it was scooped up by rookie safety Talanoa Hufanga for the game-tying touchdown. The 49ers special teams unit also blocked a field goal in the second quarter, denying the Packers an opportunity to lead at halftime.
