The opening round of the NFL postseason has provided some memorable moments. Here’s a look at the best the Wild Card Playoffs has had to offer.
Although the Kansas City Chiefs were the first team to capture a Super Bowl (IV) as a non-division winner, the revamped NFL had an eight-team playoff field starting in 1970. There were three division champions and a “wild card” team in each conference.
In 1978, the league went from 14 to 16 regular-season games and both the AFC and NFC were awarded two wild cards. This is where this series begins. It includes the 1982 Super Bowl Tournament where there were eight first-round games and continues through the current Wild Card Weekend format which began in 2020.
Lists such as these, as always, are totally subjective. However, agree or disagree, they provide great memories.
NFL Playoffs: Best Wild Card games
10. Packers 28, Lions 24 (NFC: 1993)
Green Bay was making its first postseason appearance under head coach Mike Holmgren and the franchise was in the playoffs for the first time since the strike-shortened 1982 NFL season. This come-from-behind win featured a record-setting interception return for a touchdown by safety George Teague which covered 101 yards.
Against the rival Lions, Packers’ All-Pro wide receiver Sterling Sharpe finished the afternoon with five catches for 101 yards and three touchdowns, including a 40-yard score with just 55 seconds to play to rally Green Bay to a thrilling victory at the Pontiac Silverdome.
9. Steelers 26, Oilers 23 (OT) (AFC: 1989)
Some called the 1989 season the best coaching job of Hall-of-Fame sideline leader Chuck Noll’s career. The Pittsburgh Steelers entered the year off a 5-11 showing, a last-place finish in the AFC Central and a fourth consecutive season without a playoff appearance.
Things didn’t look good early on. The team was manhandled by the Cleveland Browns at home in Week 1 via a 51-0 setback. Seven days later, the Steelers were pushed around by the then-reigning AFC champion Bengals at Cincinnati, 41-10.
Noll rallied the troops, the team won nine of its final 14 games and earned a wild card berth. The club would make its way to the “House of Pain” in Houston looking to avoid a third loss to the Oilers in ’89. Pittsburgh owned a surprising 16-9 lead only to see Houston rally to take a 23-16 lead.
Steelers’ running back Merril Hoge scored on a two-yard run with only 46 seconds and the subsequent PAT tied the game and it was on to overtime. In the extra session, Oilers’ running back Lorenzo White was smacked by CB Rod Woodson, forced a fumble and recovered it. It led to kicker Gary Anderson’s game-winning 50-yard field goal to give Noll’s team the upset victory.
8. Seahawks 41, Saints 36 (NFC: 2010)
Sean Payton’s New Orleans Saints had finished 13-3 in 2009 and surprised the Indianapolis Colts in South Florida in Super Bowl XLIV. However, the club was dethroned as NFC South champions a year later as Payton’s 11-5 team was edged out by the 13-3 Atlanta Falcons.
The Saints made their way to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Seahawks. Pete Carroll’s club won the NFC West with a 7-9 record. Payton’s club got off to a quick 10-0 first-quarter lead and were up 17-7 before the contest turned into a back-and-forth affair.
Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck threw for 272 yards and four touchdowns (1 interception) and Carroll’s club would eventually take a 34-20 third-quarter lead. After New Orleans narrowed the gap to 34-30, Seahawks’ running back Marshawn Lynch iced the game with a memorable 67-yard TD run in which he broke numerous tackles and pushed around many of the Saints’ defenders on his way to diving backwards into the end zone.
Lynch finished the game with 131 yards rushing on 19 carries and the aforementioned score as his club played turnover-free football. Brees would throw for 404 yards and two touchdowns in the losing effort. Both clubs gained over 400 yards of total offense.
7. Colts 45, Chiefs 44 (AFC: 2013)
The transition from quarterback Peyton Manning took place when the Indianapolis Colts made Stanford University standout Andrew Luck the first-overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. He helped guide the club to a playoff appearance in his rookie season. In 2013, Chuck Pagano’s club won the AFC South and would host the Chiefs, who were back in the postseason in head coach Andy Reid’s first year with the organization.
Kansas City looked like it was on its way to its first playoff win since 1993 despite the fact that Reid’s team kept on losing star players in the contest, most notably Pro Bowl running back Jamaal Charles in the first quarter. Thanks to a big outing from veteran quarterback Alex Smith, the Chiefs would build a 38-10 third-quarter lead. The former 49ers’ first-round pick did lose a crucial fumble in that quarter but he finished the afternoon with 378 yards through the air and four scores.
As for Luck, he would throw for 443 yards and four touchdowns but his three interceptions were one reason the team kept digging themselves into various holes. His five-yard fumble return for a TD with just over 10 minutes to play was huge, and his 64-yard touchdown pass to T.Y. Hilton with 4:21 to play (and Adam Vinatieri PAT) proved to be the difference in the second-biggest comeback in NFL postseason history.
6. 49ers 39, Giants 38 (NFC: 2002)
On the same day that the Pittsburgh Steelers rallied from 17 points down to beat the Cleveland Browns, 36-33, in the AFC Wild Card Playoffs, the Gold and Red did the Black and Gold seven points better.
The San Francisco 49ers were down, 38-14, to the visiting New York Giants in the third quarter when quarterback Jeff Garcia staged one of the greatest postseason comeback in NFL annals. Steve Mariucci’s club scored 25 unanswered points. Terrell Owens caught a 26-yard touchdown pass and Garcia followed that with a 14-yard scoring run. After both of those trips to the end zone, Garcia found Owens for two-point conversions.
Jeff Chandler kicked a 25-yard field goal and Garcia connected with wideout Tai Streets with one minute to play to give San Francisco a one-point lead.
The Giants moved down the field and the game ended in controversy following a botched snap by long snapper Trey Junkin on a field goal attempt and a non-call on possible pass interference when the Giants tried to salvage the play.
Garcia finished the game with 331 yards through the air and three scores (1 interception) and was also the 49ers’ leading rusher courtesy of 60 yards and a touchdown.
5. Packers 33, Seahawks 27 (OT) (NFC: 2003)
This back-and-forth affair at Lambeau Field had quite the ending. However, the beginning and the middle were awfully good as well. Mike Holmgren and the Seattle Seahawks looked to upend Brett Favre and head coach Mike Sherman.
Down 13-6 at intermission, the Seahawks seized the moment in the third quarter and took a 20-13 lead thanks to a pair of one-yard touchdown runs by Shaun Alexander. Down by seven points in the final quarter, Green Bay responded with two one-yard TD runs by Ahman Green. Trailing by seven once again, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck guided his team 67 yards in seven plays and Alexander capped the drive with his third one-yard TD run of the game with only 51 seconds to play. It was time for some extra football at Lambeau Field.
“We want the ball, and we’re going to score,” yelled Hasselbeck as Seattle won the overtime coin toss. However, Packers’ cornerback Al Harris apparently wanted the ball a lot more. He picked off the Seahawks’ signal-caller on the right side of the field and returned the prize 52 yards for the game-winning touchdown just 4:25 into the extra session. Hasselbeck’s miscue was the only turnover of the contest.
4. Titans 22, Bills 16 (AFC: 1999)
The Buffalo Bills were in the playoffs for the 10th time in 12 seasons dating back to 1988. The team finished with an 11-5 record and in second place in the AFC East. The club’s starting quarterback for the first 15 games that year was resourceful Doug Flutie.
However, Buffalo Bills’ head coach Wade Phillips opted for Rob Johnson in the season finale, a victory over the Colts. Johnson would also be the starter in this clash with the Tennessee Titans, the artist formerly known as the Houston Oilers. Seven seasons earlier in Orchard Park, New York, the Super Bowl XXVII-bound Bills rallied from 32 points down to beat the Oilers, 41-38 in overtime, in the wild card round.
It was a sluggish affair in Nashville as both defenses ruled the afternoon, but things got extremely interesting in the game’s final moments. Leading 16-15 with just 16 seconds to play, the Bills kicked off after a 41-yard field goal by kicker Steve Christie.
Titans’ running back Lorenzo Neal fielded the ball, handed it back to tight end Frank Wycheck, who lateraled to wide receiver Kevin Dyson. He ran down the left side of the field and scored on a 75-yard kickoff return with just three seconds remaining. The “Music City Miracle” was complete.
3. Cardinals 51, Packers 45 (OT) (NFC: 2009)
In a game that featured 1,024 yards of total offense and a NFL postseason-record 13 combined touchdowns, the Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers teamed for 96 points in what remains the highest-scoring game in playoff history.
The then-defending NFC champion Cardinals got a great performance from quarterback Kurt Warner, who would throw for 379 yards and five scores. Ken Whisenhunt’s club took advantage of some early Green Bay turnovers and opened up a 31-10 third-quarter lead.
However, Packers would score five touchdowns in the second half, the final with 1:52 remaining to tie the score at 45-45l. Arizona would drive for a winning field goal attempt but kicker Neil Rackers missed a 34-yard attempt in the final seconds and the teams were headed into overtime.
Talk about the most unlikely of endings? Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers (making his NFL playoff debut as a starter) wound up throwing for 423 yards and four touchdowns (1 interception) and also ran for another score. He was sacked in the extra session and fumbled. The ball was kicked in the air by Rodgers and wound up in the hands of Cardinals’ linebacker Karlos Dansby, who returned the prize 17 yards for the game-winning score.
2. 49ers 30, Packers 27 (NFC: 1998)
Green Bay and San Francisco were meeting in the postseason for the fourth straight year. The Packers had gotten the best of the 49ers in both the 1995 and 1996 NFC Divisional Playoffs as well as the 1997 NFC title game. The ’96 postseason clash took place at Lambeau Field and the other two contests were in San Francisco.
Mike Holmgren’s team had dethroned the then-Super Bowl champion Niners in ’95 and went on to hoist a Lombardi Trophy a year later. Hence, the Packers were looking to reach the Super Bowl for the third consecutive season. The Packers followed their Super Bowl XXXI title with a loss to the wild card Denver Broncos a year later (XXXII).
Hence, Green Bay was a wild card team in the NFC Central behind the 15-1 Minnesota Vikings. Likewise the 49ers, who finished behind the 14-2 Atlanta Falcons in the NFC West.
For much of the afternoon, 49ers’ wide receiver Terrell Owens struggled. But the future Hall of Famer would save his best for when it counted most. With the Packers down 23-20 in the fourth quarter. Brett Favre led a march that concluded with a 15-yard TD pass to WR Antonio Freeman with only 1:56 to play, giving Green Bay a 27-23 advantage.
Steve Young retaliated with a 76-yard march and found Owens in a crowd down the middle with a 25-yard strike in the end zone with just three seconds to play.
1. Bills 41, Oilers 38 (OT) (AFC: 1992)
It’s hard to believe it’s been 30 years since this memorable contest. This game owned the title of the greatest comeback in NFL history until 2022 when the home-standing Minnesota Vikings fell behind the Indianapolis Colts, 33-0, in Week 15 and rallying for a 39-36 overtime victory.
In any case, this wild card matchup saw Warren Moon and the Houston Oilers open up a 35-3 third-quarter lead against Marv Levy’s club. The latter was led by backup quarterback Frank Reich, starting for an injured Jim Kelly. Houston’s fifth touchdown of the game came when Reich had an interception returned 58 yards for a touchdown by Oilers’ safety Bubba McDowell.
Then things got interesting. The Bills would come all the way back and scored 35 consecutive points to take a 38-35 lead in the fourth quarter. However, Jack Pardee’s club wasn’t finished and a field goal sent the teams into overtime. On the third play from scrimmage of the extra session, Moon was intercepted by Nate Odomes and the Bills picked up an extra 15 yards on a personal foul.
Bills’ kicker Steve Christie’s 32-yard boot capped a remarkable rally that saw Reich finish with 289 yards through the air and four touchdowns.