2025-26 NFL Playoffs Thread

[HarryDoyle]

Just now, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Miserable game from Sean Payton. Passing up that FG early on before the weather had turned, with a chance to go up 10-0 with a backup QB playing, just dumb. No commitment to the run game at all, no rhythm, all that talk of his creativity and it was all very vanilla until the weather made it impossible to throw, at which point he keeps throwing. Legitimately one of the worst prepped games I've ever seen. 

And now The Genius is 1-3 in conference championship games and only one Super Bowl. Just like that buffoon Mike McCarthy.

[adambr2]

Wow, good for Patriot fans, has to be so rewarding to see their team finally make it back, So deserved, can’t imagine how tough the dark ages of 2022-2024 were for them after the Brady/Bellichick era.

Next time someone utters the words, “Packer fans are so spoiled,” I’m going to move to Boston so I can be as spoiled as they say I am.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

4 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

Wow, good for Patriot fans, has to be so rewarding to see their team finally make it back, So deserved, can’t imagine how tough the dark ages of 2022-2024 were for them after the Brady/Bellichick era.

Next time someone utters the words, “Packer fans are so spoiled,” I’m going to move to Boston so I can be as spoiled as they say I am.

Yeah that spoiled Packers fan thing has been dumb for a while but especially now that the cliche of how hard it is to sustain success has fallen completely flat with like 5 different teams in the last decade. There is nothing spoiled about Green Bay. Osama Bin Laden watched their last Super Bowl. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Speaking of, whichever team wins this game will be playing in its 3rd Super Bowl since the Spoiled Packers last played in one. 

[Vgmastr]

Whenever I see JSN all I can think about is that's the guy I wanted the Packers to take at #13 in 2023 and instead we got LVN.

[yourout]

2 minutes ago, Vgmastr said:

Whenever I see JSN all I can think about is that's the guy I wanted the Packers to take at #13 in 2023 and instead we got LVN.

While Gutys drafts have not been terrible the also haven't been very good. 

He is Mr average just like MLF.

[HarveysWBs]

Seattle’s defense getting away with all kinds of BS.

What decade is it, again? The more things change…

[adambr2]

1 hour ago, yourout said:

While Gutys drafts have not been terrible the also haven't been very good. 

He is Mr average just like MLF.

Average is rewarded in Green Bay with a contract extension. 

It’s been made very clear that as long as we can fill the stadium and be able to point to teams like the Jets and Browns and say “see those guys have it WAY worse”, we aren’t going to rock the boat much with the front office.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Devastating special teams snafu that is unfortunately not even a little surprising from LA. 

[HarryDoyle]

Who had worse special teams this year, us or the Rams?

[HarryDoyle]

 

[adambr2]

Well, get used to it. I haven’t heard a peep about us moving on from Bisaccia.

[adambr2]

Absolutely insanely stupid penalty. This is not Detroit, man. This is the Super Bowl.

[HarryDoyle]

Instant classic. Dumb taunting penalty.

[adambr2]

“We’re never going to be replaced by AI robots as football players.”

Great take, Tom.

[HarveysWBs]

I do not get that defensive holding call there at all. Hasn't been a penalty all day, and now you throw that? Shades of our NFC Championship against Brady's Bucs. You can't let only one of the two defenses be physical.

[HarryDoyle]

Must be hell to be a Vikings fan.

[HarryDoyle]

The last time these two teams met in the Super Bowl, I couldn't bring myself to watch the game.

[adambr2]

6 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

Must be hell to be a Vikings fan.

Or a Jets fan.

[HarveysWBs]

Great game from both QBs, unlike that abomination in Denver (albeit a weather-related one). I kept waiting for Darnold to implode, but he's in a really good spot here and Seattle has him playing his best. Kudos to him.

[homer]

I think it's funny that the Vikings thought Darnold wasn't worth it 

[HarryDoyle]

Amazing how Vrabel and McDonald came into bleak situations and now have their teams in the Super Bowl in their first and second years as head coaches.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

12 hours ago, Vgmastr said:

Whenever I see JSN all I can think about is that's the guy I wanted the Packers to take at #13 in 2023 and instead we got LVN.

We'd probably have benched him the first 2 years of his career. 

[adambr2]

27 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

We'd probably have benched him the first 2 years of his career. 

I’m not sure exactly what he’d be right now, but I agree he probably wouldn’t be anywhere near what he’s produced in Seattle.

Still wish we had him, obviously.

[SeaBass]

14 hours ago, adambr2 said:

Wow, good for Patriot fans, has to be so rewarding to see their team finally make it back, So deserved, can’t imagine how tough the dark ages of 2022-2024 were for them after the Brady/Bellichick era.

Next time someone utters the words, “Packer fans are so spoiled,” I’m going to move to Boston so I can be as spoiled as they say I am.

So the reasonable takeaway is we and every fan of an NFL team should expect 10 super bowl appearances in a 25 year span? I'm not sure that's the argument to use to counter people that say Packers fans are spoiled. I understand the angle of the Patriots revamping their team post Brady/Belichick but one super bowl appearance out of a worst to first team doesn't exactly convince me that should be widely accepted as normal. I'm more inclined to believe it supports randomness.

I'm open to hearing about a more average expectation and what that should look like.

And I'm not one that's claiming we're spoiled either. We've had some pretty hard bounces since 2011. I would have expected at least one super bowl appearance since then and I think a case can be made for 2 to 3 more at minimum. Emphasis on appearance, winning a super bowl is a whole other thing.

I just think it is and continues to be really hard to get there. That there are a tiny number of teams that have achieved a volume of appearances like the Patriots, Chiefs and Eagles over the past 20 years pretty firmly feels like the exception, not the rule. I'm not even sure the Eagles should be included on that list. It's pretty much just been Patriots and Chiefs.