While the New England Patriots are no longer in contention for the Vince Lombardi Trophy — the defending Super Bowl champions were eliminated from the playoffs in last weekend’s wild card round — the postseason continued on Saturday with four of the remaining eight teams going at each other in the first patch of divisional games. And while game number one saw the favorites prevail, the second featured one of the biggest upsets in recent playoff memory.
With that being said, let’s take a look at Saturday’s games:
- NFC: #6 Minnesota Vikings (10) at #1 San Francisco 49ers (27)
- AFC: #6 Tennessee Titans (28) at #1 Baltimore Ravens (12)
The first of the two games featured the NFC’s number one seed, the 49ers, who hosted Minnesota and played a strong game on both sides of the ball: the offense controlled the clock by successfully running the football and gaining 188 yards on 45 rushing attempts, while the defensive front-seven dominated at the point of attack. The combination of the two allowed San Francisco to pull away in the second half, and now to host the NFC title game next week.
On the AFC side, meanwhile, Tennessee went on the road for the second Saturday in a row to eliminate a top favorite for the Super Bowl. After eliminating New England on wild card weekend, the team of ex-Patriot Mike Vrabel went on the road again to take on the Ravens in Baltimore. But despite being 10-point underdogs, the Titans jumped to an early two-touchdown lead and never looked back while playing a similar game as the 49ers: the ground attack — led by an outstanding Derrick Henry — dominated, while the defense held the league’s top scoring offense in check.
The Titans will therefore play in the AFC title game for the first time since 2002 either against the fourth-seeded Houston Texans or the number two seed in the conference, the Kansas City Chiefs. San Francisco, on the other hand, will host either the Seattle Seahawks (fifth seed) or the Green Bay Packers (second seed).