NEW YEAR, NEW TEAMS: The Chicago Bears (12-4, NFC
North) and Houston Texans (11-5, AFC South) both completed “worst-to-first”
turnarounds and at least one team has won its division the season after
finishing in or tied for last place in 15 of the past 16 seasons. 2018 marked
the second consecutive season that two teams went from worst to first –
something that has never happened before in any other major US sport.
The teams to go from “worst-to-first” in their divisions and
appear in the Super Bowl since 2003:
|
SEASON
|
TEAM
|
RECORD
|
PRIOR SEASON RECORD
|
ADVANCED TO
|
|
2003
|
Carolina Panthers
|
11-5
|
7-9
|
Super Bowl XXXVIII
|
|
2009
|
New Orleans Saints
|
13-3
|
8-8
|
Won Super Bowl XLIV
|
|
2017
|
Philadelphia Eagles
|
13-3
|
7-9
|
Won Super Bowl LII
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2018
|
Chicago Bears
|
12-4
|
5-11
|
???
|
|
2018
|
Houston Texans
|
11-5
|
4-12*
|
???
|
*Tied for last place
This season, seven teams qualified for the playoffs after
missing the postseason in 2017 – Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis,
the Los Angeles Chargers and Seattle – and all seven will be in action on Wild
Card Weekend. Since the 12-team playoff format was adopted in 1990 – a streak
of 29 consecutive seasons – at least four teams have qualified for the
playoffs in every season that were not in the postseason the year before.
-- WILD
CARD WEEKEND --
FROM WILD CARD TO SUPER BOWL: Winners in the
Wild Card round have won the Super Bowl nine times. At least one Super Bowl
participant in six of the past 13 seasons played in a Wild Card game.
The Wild Card round participants to win the Super Bowl:
|
SEASON
|
TEAM
|
SUPER BOWL RESULT
|
|
1980
|
Oakland
|
Defeated Philadelphia in Super Bowl XV, 27-10
|
|
1997
|
Denver
|
Defeated Green Bay in Super Bowl XXXII, 31-24
|
|
2000
|
Baltimore
|
Defeated New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV, 34-7
|
|
2005
|
Pittsburgh
|
Defeated Seattle in Super Bowl XL, 21-10
|
|
2006
|
Indianapolis
|
Defeated Chicago in Super Bowl XLI, 29-17
|
|
2007
|
New York Giants
|
Defeated New England in Super Bowl XLII, 17-14
|
|
2010
|
Green Bay
|
Defeated Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLV, 31-25
|
|
2011
|
New York Giants
|
Defeated New England in Super Bowl XLVI, 21-17
|
|
2012
|
Baltimore
|
Defeated San Francisco in Super Bowl XLVII, 34-31
|
-- WILD
CARD WEEKEND --
WINNING WAYS: The BALTIMORE RAVENS and DALLAS
COWBOYS will each be playing on Wild Card Weekend.
The Cowboys (34) are tied with the GREEN BAY PACKERS (34)
and NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (34), the No. 2 overall seed in the
AFC, for the second-most postseason wins all-time. Only Pittsburgh (36) has
more postseason wins in league history.
Wild Card Weekend marks the 62nd playoff game in the history
of the Dallas Cowboys and surpasses Pittsburgh (61) for the most
postseason games played by a franchise in league annals.
The teams with the most postseason wins in NFL history:
|
TEAM
|
WINS
|
LOSSES
|
WIN PCT.
|
SUPER BOWL WINS
|
|
Pittsburgh
|
36
|
25
|
.590
|
6
|
|
Dallas*
|
34
|
27
|
.557
|
5
|
|
Green Bay
|
34
|
22
|
.607
|
4
|
|
New England**
|
34
|
20
|
.630
|
5
|
|
San Francisco
|
30
|
20
|
.600
|
5
|
|
*Plays this weekend
|
||||
|
**First-round bye
|
||||
Baltimore (.652) and New England (.630) own the top two
winning percentages in postseason history while Dallas (.557) ranks seventh.
The teams with the highest postseason winning percentage in
NFL history:
|
TEAM
|
WINS
|
LOSSES
|
WIN PCT.
|
SUPER BOWL WINS
|
|
Baltimore*
|
15
|
8
|
.652
|
2
|
|
New England**
|
34
|
20
|
.630
|
5
|
|
Green Bay
|
34
|
22
|
.607
|
4
|
|
San Francisco
|
30
|
20
|
.600
|
5
|
|
Pittsburgh
|
36
|
25
|
.590
|
6
|
|
Oakland
|
25
|
19
|
.568
|
3
|
|
Dallas*
|
34
|
27
|
.557
|
5
|
|
*Plays this weekend
|
||||
|
**First-round bye
|
||||
-- WILD
CARD WEEKEND --
POSTSEASON DEBUTS: Several teams will feature a
quarterback slated to make his first career postseason start. Among those set
to debut on Wild Card Weekend are Baltimore’s LAMAR JACKSON, Chicago’s MITCHELL
TRUBISKY and Houston’s DESHAUN WATSON.
The players with the most passing yards in their first
career postseason start:
|
PLAYER
|
TEAM
|
SEASON
|
ROUND
|
PASSING YARDS
|
|
|
Kelly Holcomb
|
Cleveland
|
2002
|
Wild Card
|
429
|
|
|
Aaron Rodgers
|
Green Bay
|
2009
|
Wild Card
|
423
|
|
|
Randall Cunningham
|
Philadelphia
|
1988
|
Divisional
|
407
|
|
|
Kurt Warner^
|
St. Louis
|
1999
|
Divisional
|
391
|
|
|
Neil Lomax
|
St. Louis Cardinals
|
1982
|
Wild Card
|
385
|
|
|
^Pro Football Hall of Famer
|
|||||
-- WILD CARD WEEKEND --
TOP DEFENSE: The CHICAGO BEARS defense
led the league with the fewest points allowed per game (17.7) this season. In
three of the past four seasons, the teams with the top regular-season scoring
defense have advanced to the Super Bowl.
The teams with the top scoring defense in the regular season
to advance to the Super Bowl since 2002:
|
SEASON
|
TEAM
|
SUPER BOWL RESULT
|
|
2002
|
Tampa Bay
|
Defeated Oakland in Super Bowl XXXVII, 48-21
|
|
2003
|
New England
|
Defeated Carolina in Super Bowl XXXVIII, 32-29
|
|
2008
|
Pittsburgh
|
Defeated Arizona in Super Bowl XLIII, 27-23
|
|
2010
|
Pittsburgh
|
Lost to Green Bay in Super Bowl XLV, 31-25
|
|
2013
|
Seattle
|
Defeated Denver in Super Bowl XLVIII, 43-8
|
|
2014
|
Seattle
|
Lost to New England in Super Bowl XLIX, 28-24
|
|
2016
|
New England
|
Defeated Atlanta in Super Bowl LI, 34-28
|
|
|
|
|
|
2018
|
Chicago
|
???
|
-- WILD
CARD WEEKEND --
FANTASTIC FOLES: Philadelphia quarterback NICK
FOLES passed for 352 yards and three touchdowns in the 2017 NFC
Championship Game and had 373 passing yards with three touchdowns in Super Bowl
LII to help lead the Eagles to the first Super Bowl championship in franchise
history.
With 300 passing yards and three touchdown passes on Sunday
at Chicago (4:40 PM ET, NBC), Foles would become the second quarterback in
NFL history to record at least 300 passing yards and three touchdown passes in
three consecutive postseason games.
The players with the most consecutive postseason games with
at least 300 passing yards and three touchdown passes in NFL history:
|
PLAYER
|
TEAM
|
CONSECUTIVE GAMES WITH 300+ PASS YARDS & 3+ TD
PASSES
|
|
Matt Ryan
|
Atlanta
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nick Foles
|
Philadelphia
|
2*
|
|
*Active streak
|
||
-- WILD
CARD WEEKEND --
RATING RIVERS: Los Angeles Chargers quarterback PHILIP
RIVERS will make his 10th career playoff start on Wild Card Weekend.
Rivers, who has recorded a passer rating of 115 or higher in
each of his past two postseason starts and plays at Baltimore on Sunday (1:05
PM ET, CBS), can become the fourth quarterback to record three consecutive
postseason games with a passer rating of 115 or higher.
The players with the most consecutive postseason games with
a passer rating of 115 or higher in NFL history:
|
PLAYER
|
TEAM
|
CONSECUTIVE GAMES WITH 115+ PASSER RATING
|
|
|
Joe Montana^
|
San Francisco
|
5
|
|
|
Matt Ryan
|
Atlanta
|
3
|
|
|
Aaron Rodgers
|
Green Bay
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Philip Rivers
|
Los Angeles Chargers
|
2*
|
|
|
^Pro Football Hall of Famer
|
|||
|
*Active streak
|
|||
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