We are now down to the final four of the NFL season as the Conference Championship games are set after a weekend of Divisional playoff football starting on Saturday afternoon. Here is how we got to the games before the game.

It all started in Denver, as the Broncos hosted the Buffalo Bills in one of the AFC matchups. Denver’s opening drive was a thing of beauty, until they got inside the 10 yard line. It ended in a field goal to put them up early 3-0. That drive was 14 plays, 64 yards, and 7:27 possession. Buffalo’s ensuing possession, and their first offensive possession of the game was also a thing of beauty. The difference was the Bills ended their drive with a touchdown to put them up 7-3. It left only 5-seconds left on the 1st quarter clock as both teams ate up time. That Buffalo drive was 12 plays, 67-yards, and 7:19 possession. The next scoring opportunity went the Broncos way as they recovered a Bills fumble and tossed a TD pass to re-take the lead 10-7, and the Bills tied it right back up after that with a field goal of their own 10-10. Bo Nix tossed another TD pass and a Denver field goal sent the teams to halftime with the Broncos leading 20-10. The 3rd quarter saw another Denver field goal and a Buffalo touchdown pass to head to the 4th quarter with Denver still up 23-17. The Bills opened up the 4th quarter with a touchdown and another field goal to take the lead 27-23. A TD by Denver and a field goal by Buffalo late sent this game to overtime. When Buffalo got the ball Josh Allen threw a deep ball that was caught by Cooks, but the referees turned it into an interception by Denver, and gave them the ball. Through the help of the officials calling multiple bad pass interference calls, they walked the Broncos down the field and handed them the win. The Broncos were given a 33-30 victory to move on. It is to be noted that Bo Nix broke his ankle on one of the last plays of the game and he is out the rest of the way.

Next up, on Saturday night saw the San Francisco 49ers head to Seattle to face the Seahawks again, and it was blowout from the opening kickoff. The Niners won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. They in-turn started the game by kicking it off to Seattle, and Rashid Shaheed took it back 95-yards for the touchdown to jump right up 7-0. The Seahawks then kicked a field goal to go up 10-0. They finished up the 1st quarter with Darnold finding Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the end zone to go up 17-0. The 2nd quarter saw SF try and get two field goals to make it 17-6 with a thought of this being a game. Then Seattle punched their first one in on the ground from 7-yards out and went up 24-6. After halftime, the Seahawks got a field goal and another TD from Kenneth Walker III on the ground to put this thing away early, now up 34-6. One more Walker touchdown run in the 4th quarter put the final nail in the coffin for the 49ers as the game ends with Seattle running away with a 41-6 victory.

The first game on Sunday afternoon was the New England Patriots playing host to the Houston Texans. The Pats opened the game with a 28-yard touchdown pass to go up 7-0. The Texans responded with a field goal to cut the lead to 7-3. In the 2nd, CJ Stroud found Christian Kirk from 10-yards out for their first TD of the game, and take their first lead 10-7. It didn’t take long for New England to respond, and they did so twice before halftime. One was a pick-6 by the NE defense, and the other was a Drake Maye 7-yard TD pass to Stefon Diggs to head to the break up 21-10. Stroud had 4 interceptions in the first half alone. Houston tried to comeback with two 3rd quarter field goals to make it 21-16 Pats, heading into the final quarter. A 32-yard touchdown pass by Maye to Boutte made it 28-16 and end the game with that score as the Texans could get nothing going as the Patriots ran a lot of clock in the 4th quarter to move on.

Last, but certainly not least is the Sunday night game in Chicago, as the Bears hosted the Los Angeles Rams. Chicago started with the ball and drove down to the Red Zone until Caleb Williams threw his first of 3 interceptions in the game. The Rams went right down and scored a touchdown to go up 7-0 early. On the ensuing drive, the Bears responded and got into the end zone themselves to tie it up 7-7. The Bears took their first lead of the game with 1:15 left in the first half by way of a Santos 48-yard field goal, 10-7. Right after that, the Rams went down the field and made a field goal of their own to send the game to halftime in a 10-10 tie. It stayed 10-10 through the 3rd quarter, as the only thing that happened in that quarter was the second of those Caleb Williams 3 INT’s. Los Angeles finally got another TD with 8:50 left to go in the game, as they retook the lead 17-10. Caleb led the drive that tied it up with :18 remaining, the extra point was good, and that sent it to overtime 17-17. After both teams had at least one possession, Caleb threw his third interception of the game as they were about to enter field goal range to win it, but instead, Matthew Stafford led his team into field goal range and the Rams made the walk-off field goal to beat the Bears 20-17. Chicago goes home and the Rams move on to next week where they will play the Seahawks in Seattle for a chance to go to another Super Bowl.