 The Kansas City Chiefs are your 2023 Super Bowl Champions after one of the best Super Bowl matchups I've ever watched (up until the final two minutes).
The game was back and forth from the very start, with both teams scoring touchdowns on their opening drives. Each team stalled on their next drives, but the scoring picked back up immediately at the start of the second quarter when Jalen Hurts launched a 45-yard bomb to A.J. Brown to regain the lead for the Eagles. Philadelphia dominated the second quarter with the exception of a Jalen Hurts fumble that led to a scoop and score for the Chiefs to keep them in the game. It appeared as though Kansas City was on the precipice of a collapse as the first half came to a close when Patrick Mahomes came up limping after he was tackled around his previously injured ankle on a scramble attempt to set up a fourth down with lots of time for the Eagles to score again. But after holding Philadelphia to a field goal on the first half's last play, the tide began to turn in the third quarter.
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 It's just about time for the game we've all been waiting for. On Sunday at 6:30 pm EST, Super 57 will kick off at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
On one side, we have a team who has been here before. They've been the league favorite since their generational quarterback rose to stardom, and while the organization has swapped guys in and out at wide receiver and running back over the years, the head coach, quarterback, and top tight end have remained constant dominant forces. They suffered an unexpected early exit last postseason and have flown a bit under the radar as praise poured in for other teams in the conference. But in the end, the Kansas City Chiefs have kept finding ways to win, securing their third Super Bowl appearance in the last four seasons.  Both games on Sunday were very eventful, to say the least. They each had their own set of controversies, which I'm going to break down here. Let's get straight to it, starting with the NFC Championship.
San Francisco 49ers 7 Philadelphia Eagles 31  Well, the Divisional Round was not great for my playoff prediction bracket. I presented my bracket at the start of the postseason where I broke down how I thought each round would play out, which you can read here if you're interested: https://www.bucketsquadsportsreports.com/nfl/2023-nfl-playoff-predictions   Another weekend of playoff football is in the books, and we're left with four teams remaining heading into their conference championships on Sunday. I'm going to break down what we saw from all four games this weekend, which featured two late pushes from the underdogs that came up short, and two unexpected blowouts in what turned out to be a less than stellar slate of games than most people were expecting.
We'll start with the early game Saturday and advance chronologically. Jacksonville Jaguars 20 Kansas City Chiefs 27  With the opening round of the 2023 playoffs in the books, it's time to look ahead to the four games of the Divisional Round this upcoming Saturday and Sunday. But before we get into those matchups, let's see how my predictions fared in Wild Card Weekend. I presented my bracket in last week's article where I broke down how I thought each round would play out, which you can read here if you're interested: https://www.bucketsquadsportsreports.com/nfl/2023-nfl-playoff-predictions   Wildcard weekend lived up to the expectations in my book, as four of the six games were decided by one score. We saw a near record breaking comeback, an actual record breaking defensive score to decide a game, and a never before seen kicking performance (though not in a positive way).
As the dust from round one settles and the teams that advanced plan for their divisional matchups, I'm going to go through each game to give my brief thoughts about what transpired. We'll go in chronological order, starting with the first game played on Saturday. Seattle Seahawks 23 San Francisco 49ers 41  Postseason play is upon us, and before things get rolling in Wild Card weekend on Saturday, I wanted to document my picks for each game of this round and beyond.
This year's bracket is somewhat tough because it feels like both sides are rather top heavy, but those top contenders seem tough to pick between to win it all. Still, like we saw last season when the Cincinnati Bengals unexpectedly reached the Super Bowl, you can't discount anyone to make a deep run at this point in the season. I'll first give you my full bracket that displays each pick in every round, and then I'll talk a little bit about the notable aspects and selections of each round. Without further adieu, here's who I have advancing to and and winning the 2023 Super Bowl:  We've now seen five weeks of the NFL season, and it's time for me to update my predictions for how I think each division will shake by the end of the year. There have been some teams thus far that have vastly exceeded initial expectations, while there are others who have looked much worse than anticipated.
Surprisingly, my predictions I made in the preseason still hold up pretty well in my opinion, especially for the NFC. While I do, of course, take into account how each team has fared in their first five contests, I also am still looking at each team with more of a longer-term viewpoint to determine whether or not some teams will either continue their early season trends or shift one way or the other. In general, however, if it's close, I'll stay with my initial picks for now rather than jump to alternate conclusions too early. Let's go ahead and take a look at my predictions for where each team will finish in their division standings and playoff picture over the next 13 weeks. *Spoiler Alert* x - clinch division y - clinch wildcard  In the past few days leading up to the start of the 2022 NFL regular season, I've given out my official preseason rankings as well as my predictions for how each division will shake out by the end of the year. If you want to check out either of those articles, you can do that here:
Preseason Rankings Final Standings & Playoff Teams Predictions Today, I'll be discussing my projections for a few other notable season-ending accolades that should be even tougher to nail down than the predictions I've made so far. Here are the topics on which I'll be providing my best estimations in this article:
Let's go ahead and dive right in. |
AuthorExpert Nick Swatson discusses all the news, predictions, and outcomes surrounding the NFL. Archives
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Photos used under Creative Commons from All-Pro Reels, Jeffrey Beall
