The NFL tournament bracket is set, with 14 clubs battling for the right to hoist Lord Lombardi on Feb. 9 in New Orleans.
In a one-and-done scenario, anything can happen on the path to Super Bowl LIX. While the Kansas City Chiefs have dominated the post-Tom Brady era, the Fighting Reids are far from a perfect unit. Yet, for all their flaws, they tilt the balance with the best QB on the planet right now, Patrick Mahomes, whose clutchness in January and February supersedes anyone in today’s game. A peat is there for the taking, but many obstacles lie ahead.
Ahead of Wild Card Weekend, my assignment from NFL.com editors is to select five Super Bowl showdowns I’d like to see.
First some rules: No repeat clubs. We don’t need three iterations with the same team. Constraining this list to five matchups meant some franchises were left out. Apologies to Buccaneers, Packers, Steelers and Texans fans. I do not hate your teams—rules are rules.
We were treated to highly entertaining barnburners the last two times the No. 1 seeds met in the Super Bowl—Chiefs versus Eagles in Super Bowl LVII and Eagles versus Patriots in Super Bowl LII. Given the makeup of the Lions and Chiefs, a matchup in Super Bowl LIX would be just as good.
The Lions’ climb to the upper echelon started in the 2023 opener in Kansas City, a game the Chiefs might have flipped in their favor if Kadarius Toney could have held onto the pigskin. That victory jumpstarted Detroit’s run, which included going 27-7 over the past two regular seasons.
The dynastic back-to-back Super Bowl champs facing a franchise finally punching its first ticket to the big game would be ripe with storylines and excellent matchups.
Patrick Mahomes and the offense started to find their way near the end of the season with the return of Hollywood Brown and the improved play of rookie Xavier Worthy. They’d be pitted against a snakebite but physical Aaron Glenn defense that never backs down. Even in a challenging year for Travis Kelce, you could bet your bottom dollar that he’d make a massive play or two in a big spot. A potential return of Aidan Hutchinson for the Super Bowl would add intrigue.
Then you have the battle of mad scientists in Lions OC Ben Johnson and Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo. Give those men two weeks to prepare for each other, and we could have fireworks both ways. Chris Jones would be lining up across from one of the best offensive lines in football. Amon-Ra St. Brown would be battling against Trent McDuffie. Touchdown leader Jahmyr Gibbs would face a top-10 run defense. This game is oozing with greatness.
Top it off with a week of quips and quotes from Andy Reid and Dan Campbell, and you have a matchup made in football heaven.
Give me MVP front-runner Josh Allen against Vic Fangio’s defense. Allen has made almost every defense he’s faced come away grasping at straws. With the Bills revamping the receiver room last offseason, Allen has shouldered a greater load and carried Buffalo. His combination of passing and rushing ability makes him a nightmare for defenses. Throw in the fact that he’s curtailed the bad turnovers and taken a career-low 14 sacks, and Allen is having a banner campaign.
Meanwhile, Fangio’s defense enters the postseason on a high, allowing the fewest yards (4,732 — 559 yards fewer than the next-closest team), yards per play (4.7) and first downs (293). I would pay good money to watch Jalen Carter corral — or attempt to corral — Allen for four quarters. The Eagles defense has been sensational all season, with rookies Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell playing beyond their years. Watching Allen battle against Philly would be a fantastic way to end the season.
Then there is the other MVP candidate in this matchup, Saquon Barkley, Mr. 2,005 yards. The Bills, dealing with injuries, have been run over at times, allowing 100-plus rushing yards 10 times. However, they’re better than the sum of their parts under Sean McDermott and have played well enough in big spots. Can they hold up against a dual-threat offense featuring Barkley, A.J. Brown, and Jalen Hurts, who, like Allen, can do damage with his arm and legs? Could Greg Rousseau, A.J. Epenesa, Ed Oliver, and Von Miller get enough pressure against one of the NFL’s best offenses?
We would also get the underlying storylines of McDermott, a former Eagles assistant, facing his old club in the biggest game of his career and Nick Sirianni searching for redemption after last season’s debacle and the Super Bowl LVII loss.
Lamar Jackson, playing the best football of his career, against a blitz-happy Brian Flores defense would be entertaining on every level. We would see Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel try to corral the slippery quarterback, who has improved as a pocket passer. Derrick Henry would be facing a defense that has been burned by the ground game at times this season. How the Ravens handle the Vikings’ unique blitz schemes and coverages would tell the story of the contest. The last time Jackson faced a Flores-led defense, the former Dolphins coach got the best of the quarterback with Cover 0 pressure. That came in 2021. Jackson is a far different player now.
On the flipside, in this scenario, Sam Darnold would have overcome his horrific Week 18 performance against the Lions and steered the Vikings back on course. Darnold hitting a pothole in Detroit but not flat-tiring in the postseason would be one of the great storylines of any potential Super Bowl matchup.
Who wouldn’t want to see Justin Jefferson in the big dance, taking centerstage with an explosive Vikings offense? He’d face a Ravens defense that struggled for the bulk of the regular season but shined down the stretch. Baltimore allowed 17 points or fewer in each of its last four games and hasn’t given up more than 24 points since Week 10 against Cincinnati. If they hold their own against the AFC powers, they’ll have earned the right to face the likes of Jefferson with confidence they can slow the NFL’s highest-paid wideout. Of course, Jefferson would see what Ja’Marr Chase did to Baltimore’s D this season (21 catches, 457 yards, five TDs in two games) and undoubtedly feel he could replicate it.
The SoFi Stadium flatmates will have to navigate a tough road to reach the Super Bowl, with the Rams kicking off against a 14-win Vikings squad and the five-seeded Chargers facing the potential of three road games. However, we’ve seen worse teams make a run to the Super Bowl.
In Justin Herbert, the Chargers have a quarterback who can step up in the big moments. Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston have shown the ability to make plays, and with J.K. Dobbins back, the offense has its engine. The key matchup would be Defensive Rookie of the Year favorite Jared Verse against the Bolts’ offensive line, including fellow rookie OT Joe Alt. The Rams rookies, from Verse to Bradley Fiske to Kamren Kinchens to Omar Speights, have shined all season. How would they react on the biggest stage of all?
Matthew Stafford is the old hat by every standard. The 36-year-old has playoff pedigree and a Super Bowl under his belt. His rapport with Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp is uncanny. With Kyle Williams plowing through holes and Stafford’s ability to win in the clutch, the Rams own the firepower to compete with anyone in the NFC. A matchup against Jesse Minter’s defense would be sensational. The Chargers have stifled many offenses this season with good pressure and creative coverage. They allowed 17.7 points per game in 2024, the fewest in the NFL.
Offensive guru Sean McVay leading his young club back to the Super Bowl against a Jim Harbaugh team getting to the dance in his first year back in the NFL would be a heck of a coaching matchup.
Two rookie QBs making it to the final game would be mind-blowing, considering no rookie QB1 has ever started, let alone won, a Super Bowl. Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix are not your average rookie QBs, though. Both entered the NFL with extensive starting experience in college—55 for Daniels, 61 for Nix—and the rookies shined, leading their respective clubs to the postseason in Year 1. The playoffs are a different gauntlet, but if they make it through, each will have proven their mettle.
Daniels has been a sensation, leading the Commanders to an array of comeback wins with both his arm and legs. He’s been as cool as a cucumber since the first drive of the preseason. Given his demeanor, it would be stunning if the postseason tourney proved too big for the rookie. However, if this scenario played out, Daniels, who took 47 sacks this season, would face a Denver defense that led the NFL in QB takedowns (63). Vance Joseph’s crew has been sensational. The matchup between Terry McLaurin and Pat Surtain II would be worth the price of admission.
Nix might not have garnered as much national pop as Daniels, but Nix finished with the third-most offensive TDs by any rookie QB in NFL history (34—three more than Daniels). The former Oregon Duck fit perfectly in Sean Payton’s system, showing the ability to diagnose and get the ball out quickly. As Nix’s play surged, so did the Broncos. Denver used a shutdown defense and timely plays from Nix to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2015 season. After years of shuffling through quarterbacks with no luck, it would be legendary if Nix took the Broncos back to the Super Bowl in their first postseason dance since Peyton Manning retired.
Leave a Reply