After last week’s Wildcard round, the NFL Playoffs for the 2025-26 season have reached the Divisional round. The places in the Conference Championship games are up for grabs. But who would get them?
Let’s look back at the Divisional Round games!
All Over for the Bills!
The Denver Broncos entered the playoff bracket as the number one seed in the AFC in the divisional round. However, as we have seen all season, they have not played like a number-one seed. They faced the Buffalo Bills, a team that has been the bridesmaid but never the bride in the playoffs. This is their best chance to make the Super Bowl. Could they go into Denver to get the win?
The Broncos had the first drive of the game and scored the first points. Starting from their 26-yard line, the offense led by Bo Nix was able to get down to the Bills’ 10-yard line, where the drive stalled. Denver were luckly to get to this point, as a few plays earlier they lost possession due to a fumble. However, a penalty against the Bills’ defense allowed Denver to keep the ball. From the 10-yard line, Will Lutz made the field goal to give them the early lead.
In response, the Bills struck early. Josh Allen led the team down to the Broncos’ four-yard line. Then, as the first quarter came to an end, Allen found Hardman for the touchdown pass.
But Buffalo would make a big mistake on their next drive. Running back James Cook would fumble the ball on the Broncos’ 30-yard line, and the team would lose possession. This mistake would be costly, as Nix would lead the Denver offense down to the Bills’ seven-yard line on the subsequent drive. Here, he found Frank Crum for the touchdown pass to take the lead.
The lead would again be short-lived, as on the next drive, a 33-yard field goal from Matt Prater would again tie things up.
The Broncos would again strike just before halftime, when Nix found Lil’Jordan Humphrey for a 29-yard touchdown pass. In response to this, Allen would fumble the ball and lose possession on the first play of the Bills’ drive. This led to a Lutz field goal from 50 yards out on the stroke of halftime.
This meant that as the teams returned to the locker room, the Broncos had a 20-10 lead over the Bills.
Buffalo would continue their struggles to begin the second half. On the second play of the half, Allen would be sacked and then fumble the ball deep in his own territory. The Broncos would scoop the ball up and convert the possession into another three points with a Lutz field goal.
Luckily, the Bills’ next drive was more successful. No issues on this drive as Allen would find Keon Coleman for a 10-yard touchdown pass to get them back into the game.
It was then time for the Broncos to make an error, with Nix throwing an interception in Broncos ‘ territory. This would give the Bills a good opportunity to take the lead with a touchdown. Unfortunately, they did not do this, as Allen would throw an interception.
As we have seen a few times in this game, when the Bills make a mistake, their next drive is a lot stronger. This trend continued here, with Allen finding Dalton Kincaid for a 14-yard touchdown pass on their next drive to give them a one-point lead in the fourth quarter. This lead became four points when Prater found the uprights from 31-yards out with four minutes to play.
The Broncos needed to do something to keep the game alive. Luckily, this is the kind of thing they have been doing all season long. Starting from their 27-yard line, Nix and company quickly made their way down to the Bills’ 26-yard line. Here, he found Marvin Mins for the touchdown pass, giving them a three-point lead with a minute to play.
The Bills had one drive to at least find the uprights to send the game to overtime. Their drive stalled at the Broncos’ 32-yard line, setting Prater up with a 50-yard field goal attempt to keep their season alive. His kick was successful, meaning that this game was going to overtime.
Denver had the first possession of overtime but was unable to do anything with it, punting to Buffalo. Allen would then attempt a deep pass to Brandin Cooks. However, this pass was intercepted on the Broncos’ 20-yard line.
All Denver now had to do was score a field goal to win. Bo Nix would lead his offense down to the Bills’ five-yard line, where Lutz scored the game-winning field goal, to record a 33-30 win over the Buffalo Bills.
Another season, another post-season collapse from the Buffalo Bills. Mistakes cost them the game and potentially a Super Bowl appearance. Buffalo’s response to this was to fire coach Sean McDermott, putting another team in the search for a new head coach. As for Denver, the win puts them into the AFC Conference Championship, a game that they will host. However, they will do it without Bo Nix. The quarterback has been ruled out of the game (and the Super Bowl if they make it) with an ankle injury.
So, who would a weakened Broncos’ side face next week?
Mistakes cost Stroud and Houston
The New England Patriots have been the strongest team in the AFC for most of the season, and are the likely favorites to win the AFC, returning the team to the Super Bowl. In the wildcard round, they easily beat the Los Angeles Chargers. This set up a game with the Houston Texans, a team that dominated the fourth quarter to record a 30-6 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. This game seems more open than the team’s records suggest. Could Houston upset the Patriots?
The first few drives of this game went nowhere, with both teams struggling on offense. But it would be the Patriots who would take the early lead. Starting from their 34-yard line, Drake Maye led his offense down to the Texans’ 28-yard line. Here, he found Demario Douglas for the touchdown pass.
In response, Houston put something on the scoreboard. CJ Stroud moved the Texans’ offense down to the Patriots’ six-yard line, where the drive stalled. This set up Ka’imi Fairbairn with a 25-yard field goal attempt, which he made.
The following drive was not as successful for the Texans, as Stroud threw an interception. However, they did not lose possession for long, as Maye fumbled the ball a few plays later. With the reduced field, Houston was able to take advantage. Stroud found Christian Kirk for a 10-yard touchdown pass to give them the lead.
Things then got bad for Houston. On the first play of their next drive, Stroud threw another interception, which was returned to the endzone by the Patriots defense for a Pick-Six touchdown. The Texans would be given the ball straight after this, but Stroud would throw another interception soon after. Luckily, New England did not turn this into a touchdown.
The Patriots did find the endzone a drive later, though, with Maye finding Stefon Diggs for a seven-yard touchdown pass. In response to this, another interception thrown by Stroud. This meant that at halftime, the Patriots led the Texans 21-10.
Houston would have the first possession of the second half and could get something from it. The offense made its way down to the Patriots’ seven-yard line, where it stalled. Fairbairn then successfully made the 25-yard field goal to make it a one-possession game.
The mistakes would soon return. First, on New England’s first drive of the half, Maye would be sacked and then fumble the ball. This was scooped up by the Texans, who did not have the ball for long. A few plays later, Woody Marks would fumble the ball in the Patriots redzone, denying the Texans a good chance to get themselves back into the game.
It wasn’t all bad for Houston, as another Fairbairn field goal to end the third quarter would keep them one touchdown from the Patriots as the game went into the fourth quarter.
New England would open the quarter by scoring a touchdown to extend their lead. Maye found Boutte for a 32-yard touchdown pass. Nothing much happened in this game, with the Texans’ offense struggling to find a first down.
This meant that the New England Patriots had defeated the Houston Texans 28-16.
This win seals the Patriots’ spot in the AFC Conference Champions. With the injury to Bo Nix, they are the favorites to win the conference. As for Houston, they had five turnovers in this game, and that cost them massively.
THE NFC Picture
Moving to the NFC, the Los Angeles Rams struggled in their win over the Carolina Panthers last week. They could not afford the same mistakes this week, when they traveled to the Windy City to face the Chicago Bears. The Bears have left it late in many important games this season and could do so again in this game. Who would win?
The Bears had the first possession of the game, but it would not go to plan. Caleb Williams would take his team down to the Rams’ 21-yard line, where an important fourth-down attempt would happen. But, on the one-yard line, Williams’ pass would be intercepted. This mistake would prove costly. On the following drive, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford moved the offense down to the Bears’ four-yard line. Here, Kyren Williams found the endzone for the rushing touchdown to take the lead.
The lead would not last long. Shaking off the mistake from the first drive, Williams would find DJ Moore for a three-yard touchdown pass on the Bears’ next drive to level the scores.
The scores remained level for most of the second quarter. The deadlock was broken when Bears kicker Cairo Santos made a 48-yard field goal. However, it was not broken for long, as Harrison Mervis found the uprights from 32 yards out on the stroke of halftime to again level the scores at 10-10.
The general offensive struggles from both teams continued into the second half. The third quarter consisted mostly of three-and-out drives. Williams would throw his second interception of the game, but Los Angeles would be unable to do anything with their new possession.
The Rams’ offense would be able to break the parity in the fourth quarter. Starting from their nine-yard line, Stafford and company were able to make their way down to the Bears’ five-yard line. From here, Williams found the endzone for his second rushing touchdown of the game. Now, all they had to do was prevent the Bears from finding the endzone, and Los Angeles would make the conference championship game.
They were able to do this for most of the remaining time left in the game. However, with under a minute to go, their defenses were breached. With 18 seconds left to play, Williams found Cole Kmet for a 14-yard touchdown pass to level the scores, and took the game to overtime.
The Rams had the first possession in overtime but were unable to do anything meaningful with it. In response, Chicago got down to the Rams’ 48-yard line. Here, Williams made a deep pass that was intercepted by the Rams’ defense. This meant that all LA needed to do was score a field goal, and victory would be theirs.
The Rams offense made their way into field goal territory, and Mevis would successfully make a 42-yard field goal to give the Los Angeles Rams a 20-17 win over the Chicago Bears.
The Bears left it late again, but this time it did not pay off. As for the Rams, this was not the best performance from them, but they capitalized on the mistakes made by Chicago to get the win and a place in the NFC Conference Championship.
As for who they would play, we turn to the game between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers. While every other game this weekend was a close affair, this one was a blowout. The 49ers were trailing before they had even touched the ball, as Rashid Shaheed scored a kickoff return touchdown to begin the game. It got much worse from there. Seattle would record a 41-6 win to book their spot in the Conference Championship. However, they will be without Zach Charbonnet for this game due to a knee injury.
So, the Conference Championships are set. In the AFC, the Denver Broncos will face the New England Patriots, while in the NFC, the Los Angeles Rams face the Seattle Seahawks. The winners of these games will face off for the Super Bowl.