The longest-ever National Football League (NFL) regular season is over, having spanned 18 weeks and 272 games, and now the run to Super Bowl LVI begins in earnest this weekend, and following on the historic regular season, a play-off game will be played for the first time ever on a Monday (January 17).

The first of the remaining 13 games of the 2021/22 NFL season kicks off tomorrow (January 15), but the NFL’s first-ever Week 18 (last weekend) was eventful and laced with high drama, most of which surrounded the Pittsburgh Steelers in one form or the other.

Entering last weekend, the Steelers still had a mathematical chance of making the play-offs, but they needed to beat the Baltimore Ravens, then pray for miracles along the way. They pushed the Ravens to overtime for a 16-13 win, then the Indianapolis Colts somehow found a way to hand the Jacksonville Jaguars their third win of the season, thereby eliminating the Colts and giving the Steelers hope, while the Las Vegas Raiders and the Los Angeles Chargers matchup appeared to be headed for a tie until the Raiders pulled out the overtime victory in the wee hours of last Monday morning. Had the game ended in a tie, both the Raiders and Chargers would have made the postseason but, with the Raiders’ victory, the ticket was booked for the Steelers and the Chargers were eliminated. Who said that miracles don’t happen?

So, with the final kick in the final seconds of the regular season, every seeding in the postseason had been decided for both conferences, and Wild Card Weekend gets underway tomorrow with a double-header, followed by a triple-header on Sunday, then the Monday night game to cap the weekend.

The Tennessee Titans, with their win over the Houston Texans last week, secured the number one spot in the American Football Conference (AFC) and the Green Bay Packers locked in the number one position in the National Football Conference (NFC) a few weeks ago so they will both sit out this weekend, but the action starts with the Cincinnati Bengals welcoming the Raiders into Paul Brown Stadium tomorrow afternoon.

The Raiders contributed significantly to the Week 18 drama, and with their win, they are the first NFL team to switch head coach midseason and make it to the play-offs. Interim Head Coach Rich Bisaccia has done a remarkable job with the team, winning four overtime games in the process, but coming off their successful battle with the Chargers, their prize is a showdown with a high-powered offence, anchored by quarterback (QB) Joe Burrow and receiver Ja’Marr Chase. This should be an entertaining opener.

The Saturday night game should be a stinger as it pits the Buffalo Bills against the New England Patriots. These AFC East rivals have met twice this season, with each team winning on each other’s home turf. The Patriots prevailed 14-10 in the winds of Buffalo in Week 13, running the ball 46 times on 49 plays, including 32 straight run plays in one stretch. Three weeks later, the Bills stampeded into Foxborough and returned the favour in a 33-21 victory.

Those were two distinctively different and captivating games, but this one is for bigger marbles, and it could go either way. The Bills have the benefit of more talent on their roster, but Head Coach Bill Belichick is on the other sideline, and he still has some tricks up his sleeve – don’t miss this one.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will look to shoot down the Philadelphia Eagles early Sunday afternoon in Raymond James Stadium. The Buccaneers are 7-1 at home this season, and it’s no surprise they are in the play-offs, but their opponents were never expected to be here. QB Tom Brady guided the Buccaneers to a 28-22 victory in the most recent meeting in October 2021, but these were two different looking teams at that time. Tampa Bay now has a slew of injuries on both offence and defence, plus receiver Antonio Brown was thrown off the ship, while the run game of the Eagles has been soaring of late.

The Buccaneers rank first in the NFL in passing offence and second in the league in points scored, but most of that was accumulated when all hands were on deck. However, Brady has been to this dance a few times and is expected to do enough to see them through the storm.

The Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers meet late Sunday afternoon to revive the rivalry of the ’80s and ’90s. The Cowboys have scored the most points of any team this season (including a couple of 50+ points games) and their defence has been top shelf. However, the 49ers are no slouch and, considering the magnitude of the event, they are expected to make it memorable.

The Steelers miraculously tip-toed into the play-offs and their reward is an encounter with the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday night. The Chiefs enjoyed a 36-10 victory in Week 16 over the Steelers but, now with Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill banged up, the going may be a bit tougher. Additionally, Pittsburgh’s star pass-rusher TJ Watt equalled Hall of Famer Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record last week, recording 22.5 total sacks this season and will be looking for more. This is the retirement run for Steelers’ QB Ben Roethlisberger, and it has been a wild ride, but it may not be over just yet.

The first play-off game on a Monday will feature the Los Angeles Rams hosting the Arizona Cardinals in what will be the third meeting this year between the teams. They split the wins earlier in the season, but the Cardinals stumbled into the play-offs, going 2-4 since their bye week (after starting the season 7-0). The Cardinals are 8-1 on the road this season, but will need to step up their game if they have any ambition to go deeper into the play-offs. Add this to the interception woes of Rams’ QB Matthew Stafford – multiple interceptions in each of the last three games and four pick sixes for the season – and this game can go either way. Are you ready for some football?

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Super Bowl LVI Champion

Team Odds

Green Bay Packers 4.50

Kansas City Chiefs 5.50

Buffalo Bills 8.50

Tennessee Titans 9.00

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9.00

Los Angeles Rams 11.00

Dallas Cowboys 13.00

Cincinnati Bengals 20.00

New England Patriots 21.00

Arizona Cardinals 26.00

*Only Top 10 odds shown (see website for full list)