The Serby Crystal Ball (TSCB) back from the repair shop, has rarely seen things this clearly. The AFC West is loaded, the NFC still houses Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers … but no team lit up TSCB the way our next Super Bowl champion did.
The Road to Glendale, Ariz., and Super Bowl 57
AFC Playoffs
Wild Card
Colts 28, Patriots 22: Matty Ice finds Michael Pittman Jr. and Nyheim Hines with TD passes and Jonathan Taylor runs one in, at which point it is 28-3, same as it was in Super Bowl 51, and he is stricken with horror. But Kenny Moore ends a late drive by intercepting Mac Jones and Bill Belichick goes home again without the Lombardi.
Chargers 31, Ravens 23: Lamar Jackson presses to keep up with Justin Herbert mostly because Derwin James throttles TE Mark Andrews. Because Marlon Humphrey is able to contain Keenan Allen, Herbert does most of his damage with checkdowns to RB Austin Ekeler against a heavy pass rush and a red-zone TD pass to Mike Williams.
Raiders 37, Chiefs 34: Perhaps if Patrick Mahomes still had Tyreek Hill he could have won this shootout. But he doesn’t, and Derek Carr has his old college friend Davante Adams alongside Hunter Renfrow and Darren Waller.
Divisional Round
Bills 31, Raiders 24: An arctic low settles over the visiting sideline, and the wondrous Josh Allen is able to escape the relentless clutches of Chandler Jones and Maxx Crosby to find both Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis for a pair of TD bombs to the delight of Bills Mafia.
Chargers 30, Colts 24: Taylor gashes Brandon Staley’s vulnerable run defense to keep Herbert off the field for long stretches, and Yannick Ngakoue pressures Herbert into a Stephon Gilmore pick-six. But Khalil Mack strip-sacks Matty Ice, and Herbert targets Joshua Palmer past CB Brandon Facyson for the solar-plexus blow that cinches it.
AFC Championship Game
Bills 34, Chargers 27 (OT)
The weather forecast proves to be a distraction because Chargers players are forced to answer why they won’t be psyched out the way the 1981 team was playing in The Freezer Bowl in Cincinnati. J.C. Jackson silences the crowd with a first-quarter pick and Allen is forced to lead a last-minute tying drive, mostly do to his rampaging legs. Micah Hyde wins the OT coin toss and Allen finds TE Dawson Knox in the end zone. With Herbert driving to tie the game, Gregory Rousseau sacks him on fourth down.
NFC Playoffs
Wild Card
Packers 32, Bucs 27: Rashan Gary overwhelms Tom Brady’s offensive line and Aaron Rodgers targets Aaron Jones over and over again out of the backfield with A.J. Dillon the goal-line hammer. Brady, in what will prove to be his last game before jumping into the Fox booth, throws a disastrous interception in the fourth quarter to Jaire Alexander.
Saints 27, Rams 24: Jalen Ramsey’s pick-six unsettles Jamies Winston, but a sturdy offensive line prevents Aaron Donald from wrecking the game. Matthew Stafford’s elbow is limiting him to short, quick passes to Cooper Kupp and Allen Robinson. Bobby Wagner keeps Alvin Kamara at bay before Winston’s home-run bomb to Chris Olave wins it.
49ers 28, Vikings 27: Fred Warner controls Dalvin Cook enough to put the big-game pressure on Kirk Cousins. Trey Lance rushes for 114 yards and throws a dagger TD pass to TE George Kittle, and Justin Jefferson’s fourth-quarter TD catch is too little, too late.
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Divisional Round
49ers 33, Eagles 24: Both Lance and Jalen Hurts rush for over 100 yards and a TD. Charvarius Ward breaks up a fourth-quarter, fourth-down pass in the end zone for A.J. Brown and Deebo Samuel imposes his will on the game in crunch time.
Packers 27, Saints 21: A snowstorm blankets the frozen tundra at Lambeau Field. Demario Davis hounds Jones and Dillon, but Rodgers and Romeo Doubs torch Marcus Maye deep in coverage, and Preston Smith plays the role of closer by sacking Taysom Hill on fourth-and-goal.
NFC Championship Game
49ers 26, Packers 24: A rematch of the Niners’ 13-10 win at Lambeau in the 2021 Divisional Round. Kyle Shanahan’s offense is more explosive with Lance at the controls, gashing the Pack with his legs and using Samuel and Kittle as decoys while targeting Brandon Aiyuk early and often.
Super Bowl 57
Bills 30, 49ers 27: The pressure to shed the Super Bowl monkey off the franchise’s back appears to debilitate the Bills early when Nick Bosa strip-sacks Allen and Warner takes the fumble for the first score. But OC Ken Dorsey remembers how former OC Brian Daboll used Isaiah McKenzie, and a jet sweep ties the score before Allen whistles a short TD pass to Jamison Crowder and a Tre’Davious White pick-six elicits hi-fives in the suites among Marv Levy, Jim Kelly and Bruce Smith. But Lance isn’t Jimmy G in the fourth quarter and he ties the game with a seam route to Kittle. But then Allen and Devin Singletary matriculate the ball into position for a 47-yard field goal for Tyler Bass. It starts Wide Right … but then the football gods, who have been so cruel to Buffalo, make sure the ball swerves inside the uprights, and the scoreboard shows :00, and the chicken wings are flying off the menus at Bar Bill Tavern and Duff’s and Anchor Bar — compliments of Scott Norwood! Champions at last.
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