The fallout in the hours following one of the most eventful NFL conference championship Sundays football fans have seen in years has been swift.
While history was made by the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams, fans of the New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs are looking for someone to blame for where it all went wrong.
From clutch plays to controversial calls and everything in between, here are our winners and losers from the NFC and AFC title games.
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WINNERS
Tom Brady
Win or lose on Feb. 3, Tom Brady has solidified himself as the G.O.A.T.
TB12 and the Patriots entered these playoffs with the most doubters they’ve had since that first Super Bowl win over the St. Louis Rams nearly two decades ago, and entered Sunday’s conference title game as underdogs for just the second time in the playoffs since 2007.
Any doubts still lingering after a clinical beatdown of the 13-win Chargers last weekend were put to bed Sunday night as Brady, Bill Belichick and their typical band of misfits handed the Chiefs just their second loss at Arrowhead all season.
Brady was his typical playoff self, overcoming some questionable turnovers with a vintage touchdown drive in overtime (So. Many. Perfect. Third. Down. Throws.) to seal the victory and book the Patriots’ fourth trip to the Super Bowl in the last five seasons.
When Brady takes the field in Atlanta against the Rams in less than two weeks, it’ll mark his ninth Super Bowl appearance – one more than each of the Steelers, Cowboys and Broncos franchises, who rank second to the Patriots in all-time Super Bowl appearances with eight apiece.
Brady now has 13 more wins than any quarterback in NFL playoff history (since 1970), 3,578 more passing yards, 28 more passing touchdowns and six more game-winning drives.
If Sunday was any indication, he’s not slowing down anytime soon.
And the Patriots ain’t goin’ nowhere.
Tony Romo
If anybody could claim to be a bigger winner than Brady on Sunday, it’s Romo – now more aptly named the Booth Wizard (probably). Being the face of the Dallas Cowboys for the better part of a decade made Romo a divisive figure, but we can all agree he’s the best play-by-play guy in the game today.
Throughout CBS’s broadcast of the AFC title game, Romo was dropping serious knowledge and on multiple occasions straight up predicted the future.
Watch and listen to Romo work his magic in the video below.
And this isn’t the last we’ve heard from the former Cowboys quarterback this season. Romo and his broadcast partner Jim Nantz will be calling the Super Bowl in two weeks, and we couldn’t be more excited.
Greg “The Leg” Zuerlein
Lost in the chaos created from the missed pass interference call in the Rams’ win over the Saints (more on that later) was one of the most clutch field goals the NFL playoffs has ever seen.
Zuerlein has been one of the most consistent kickers in the game since the Rams moved to L.A. three years ago – he’s one of two or three kickers actually worth taking in the mid-rounds of a fantasy draft. But with his kick to send the Rams to the Super Bowl in overtime on Sunday, Zuerlein sealed his place in NFL post-season lore by booting the longest game-winning kick in playoff history.
Greg “The Leg” knocked in the 57-yarder with what looked to be relative ease, and the kick probably would’ve split the uprights from 10 yards further back. PLUS, the snap was far from perfect (hat-tip to punter Johnny Hekker for recovering on the hold).
LOSERS
Officials
Despite all that was good about these two historic championship games – both went to overtime for the first time ever – Sunday will forever be remembered for a few major gaffes from the officials.
The most notorious of those is a non-call in the dying minutes of the Saints-Rams game when Nickell Robey-Coleman blatantly fouled Tommylee Lewis, a play that could’ve been called any number of penalties but was undisputedly pass interference.
Had it been called, the Saints would’ve received an automatic first down, been able to run down most of the remaining clock and kick what may have been a game-winning field goal. Instead, the Saints kicked a field goal with 1:43 left on the clock and gave the Rams time to tie the game.
The inability to review calls will likely be discussed in off-season meetings, but a rule change seems unlikely. Coach’s challenges for penalties is not the answer, but making every play reviewable from an officials’ standpoint may help fix the problem.
The referees also missed an obvious face mask on Jared Goff which would have given the Rams a new set of downs within the red zone late in the game.
The AFC title was not without its questionable calls either, the most controversial being a roughing the passer call on the Chiefs’ Chris Jones and an iffy pass interference call on the Patriots’ J.C. Jackson.
When all is said and done, championship Sunday featured two of the best title games we’ve seen in a long while. They had it all – unfortunately that includes too much impact from the zebras.
Saints fans
No fanbase has had their hearts crushed worse over the last two years than the Saints faithful.
First, the Minneapolis Miracle bounced New Orleans from the divisional round last season in a game the Saints win 99 times out of 100. Then the officials make one of the worst missed calls in playoff history at the expense of Who Dat Nation.
As painful as last season’s game-losing gaffe against the Vikings was, Sunday’s loss has to hurt more given the result was seemingly out of their hands.
Dee Ford
Despite the Saints’ heartbreak, however, no player from either of the losing teams is having a worse Monday than Chiefs edge rusher Dee Ford.
With his team leading deep in the fourth quarter and the Patriots driving, a Tom Brady pass tipped off the paws of Rob Gronkowski and into the hands of Chiefs defensive back Charvarius Ward.
That’s it. Game over. Chiefs win.
Except Ford lined up in the neutral zone, annulling the play and giving Tom Brady and his offence new life.
We all know what happened next.
Ford was one of the Chiefs’ best players this season, racking up 13 sacks and helping K.C. lead the NFC in that category. But he’ll forever be remembered in a much different light in the eyes of Kansas City.
