The NFL playoffs are set to begin after a fantastic finish to the regular season in Week 18. Denver set itself up with the top seed in the AFC after beating Los Angeles on Sunday, duplicating Seattle's feat after the Seahawks' huge win over the San Francisco 49ers ensured the road to the Super Bowl on the NFC side will go through Lumen Field.
Even though the NFC side of the bracket appears more fearsome than the AFC's, Seattle appears poised to return to the Super Bowl for the first time in 11 years. As the NFL Stock Watch gears up for the postseason, let's look at why the Seahawks are set up for a playoff run to remember.
NFL Stock Watch: Rising
Seattle Seahawks
Aside from the fact that the Seahawks' 14-3 record is their best in franchise history, Seattle has all the makings of a championship team. Mike Macdonald's defense has earned its Dark Side moniker by snuffing the life out of its opponents, surrendering a league low 17.2 points per game and ranking fifth in yards allowed per game at 285.6.
Seattle has also been dominant at home in the playoffs, going 12-2 at Lumen Field since the building opened in 2002, with one of the two losses coming in the COVID-impacted 2020 postseason with limited capacity allowed in the building. The previous three times Seattle had home field throughout the playoffs saw them ride it to the Super Bowl, so Seahawks fans should start planning their trips to Santa Clara in early February if the trend holds.
AFC South
After years of being mocked by fans as the league's weakest division that saw the Saturday 4:30 slot of Wild Card Weekend given the nickname of the AFC South Invitational, the division has two legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Jacksonville finished a win shy of home field advantage throughout the playoffs as Trevor Lawrence broke out late in the year under head coach Liam Coen, who ended his first year on an eight-game winning streak.
That streak isn't even the longest in the league since Houston can top it with a nine-game winning streak, graduating from the Saturday afternoon Wild Card slot to a Monday night showcase against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Texans have arguably the best defense in football and have gone 12-2 since an 0-3 start, making them a popular sleeper pick to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.
The MVP Race
The nip-and-tuck nature of the MVP race was exciting to watch all season and came down to the wire as Matthew Stafford's late-season stumble opened the door for Drake Maye to make up ground. Maye was a bit quiet in Week 18 after his five-touchdown masterpiece against the Jets a week earlier, allowing Stafford to bounce back with a four-touchdown performance against Arizona to end the regular season.
The numbers are eerily similar for the two star quarterbacks, who saw Stafford throw for about 300 more yards and 15 more touchdowns while Maye posted a higher completion percentage (72 to 65) and quarterback rating (113.5 to 109.2). Those touchdown passes, which came against a much tougher schedule than Maye had to deal with, should prove to be the difference maker to push Stafford over the line for the first MVP of his career but both men are deserving winners.
Prime Video
While the playoff schedule is filled with intriguing games, the one matchup everyone wanted to get their hands on was the NFC's 2-7 matchup between Chicago and Green Bay, also known as the oldest rivalry in the league. Reports indicated that every network televising playoff games made a pitch to get Packers-Bears as either their top or second choice, the NFL awarded the matchup to Prime Video, marking the second straight year the streamer has landed one of the biggest rivalries in the postseason.
The NFL clearly views streaming as a big key to their future growth and is trying to use games like this one to encourage people to sign up for Amazon Prime, which may not have been as popular an option for a game like Chargers-Patriots or Bills-Jaguars. The spread on that game is one of the tightest of the week so Al Michaels and company should have a classic on their hands if the oddsmakers are right.
NFL Stock Watch: Falling
Baltimore Ravens
Tyler Loop's missed field goal at the end of Sunday night's classic between the Steelers and Ravens was an embodiment of Baltimore's season as a whole, falling behind before nearly coming back and ripping their fans' hearts out at the end. The Ravens' underachieving ways cost John Harbaugh his job as Baltimore fired their head coach just months after giving him a three-year extension.
Harbaugh will now shoot to the top of the list for teams looking for a head coach while the Ravens will face questions about the future of Lamar Jackson, who has received a ton of criticism over his ability to stay on the field for the Ravens. There is a good chance Harbaugh is still employed next week if Loop makes that kick and it is fair to wonder whether the Ravens are starting to blow things up as an aging roster gets more expensive.
NFC North
While Detroit and Minnesota deserve props for finishing with wins to bring their records above .500, the season didn't end very well for the division. Its two playoff teams, Chicago and Green Bay, ended the year on a combined six-game losing skid with their last wins coming against each other, a streak that should continue as they face off in the Wild Card round on Saturday night at Soldier Field.
Neither the Bears or Packers look like a true Super Bowl threat at this point and it should lead to an interesting offseason in the division as Detroit is looking for a new offensive coordinator, Minnesota is looking for quarterback insurance and Matt LaFleur's job may not be safe if Green Bay loses on Saturday night. Even though the fact all four teams finished with winning records would indicate the division is trending up, it certainly feels like the opposite is the case.
Accountability In New York
On a busy Black Monday, both of New York's underachieving football teams opted to stand pat. The Jets, coming off a historically bad finish to the regular season, gave Aaron Glenn a reprieve as he and GM Darren Mougey are being given the keys to rebuild the organization despite producing one of the most inept rosters the league has seen in years.
Things may be worse in East Rutherford where John Mara opted to keep GM Joe Schoen, who has a record of 22-45-1 in four years at the helm, instead of cleaning house entirely. When Atlanta, which finished on a four-game winning streak and fired both Raheem Morris and GM Terry Fontenot, shows more interest in improving from 8-9 than the Giants do at 4-13 it's a sign the bar has been lowered significantly for one of the league's most prominent franchises.
Indianapolis Colts
Another baffling decision came in Indianapolis, where the Colts opted to stand pat with both GM Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen after they became the first team in 30 years to miss the playoffs after an 8-2 start. Ballard has yet to win the division since he took over as GM in 2017, with every other AFC South squad claiming multiple division titles in that span, and made an all-in trade for Sauce Gardner that has backfired quickly with the Colts handing the Jets the 16th pick in this year's draft and another first rounder next year.
Owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon indicated in her postseason press conference that the Colts' strong start to the season was enough evidence for her to stay the course, essentially blaming the rash of injuries Indianapolis suffered down the stretch for their failure to get to the postseason. That assessment appears flawed since the Colts were beginning to slide before Daniel Jones tore his Achilles in Jacksonville and it is fair to wonder why Ballard keeps getting chances to build a team after five consecutive postseason misses.