Nasty defeat: The Kansas City Chiefs with backup quarterback Carson Wentz (number 11) are defeated in Denver, and not even surprisingly
Image: Keystone
Instead, the Denver Broncos can celebrate their first playoff qualification in nine years
Image: Keystone
The Cincinnati Bengals with their outstanding quarterback Joe Burrow are the ones to suffer: they miss the playoffs because of Denver's victory
Image: Keystone
Brilliant season: Detroit Lions fans rejoice at No. 1 regular-season ranking
Image: Keystone
Earning a 6 million dollar bonus on the final day: Seattle quarterback Geno Smith
Image: Keystone
Superman: Mike Evans, wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, caught balls for more than 1000 yards for the eleventh time in his eleventh season in the NFL - a record he shares with the great Jerry Rice
Image: Keystone
Nasty defeat: The Kansas City Chiefs with backup quarterback Carson Wentz (number 11) are defeated in Denver, and not even surprisingly
Image: Keystone
Instead, the Denver Broncos can celebrate their first playoff qualification in nine years
Image: Keystone
The Cincinnati Bengals with their outstanding quarterback Joe Burrow are the ones to suffer: they miss the playoffs because of Denver's victory
Image: Keystone
Brilliant season: Detroit Lions fans rejoice at No. 1 regular-season ranking
Image: Keystone
Earning a 6 million dollar bonus on the final day: Seattle quarterback Geno Smith
Image: Keystone
Superman: Mike Evans, wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, caught balls for more than 1000 yards for the eleventh time in his eleventh season in the NFL - a record he shares with the great Jerry Rice
Image: Keystone
The Kansas City Chiefs, last year's champions and once again the best team in qualifying, lose 0:38 in the final round of the regular season.
07.01.2025, 05:00
07.01.2025, 06:38
SDA
After 18 match days - 17 games for each team - the season is over for 18 of the 32 teams in the National Football League. The special rules of American professional sport once again provided a few curious facts.
The champion that loses 0:38
Imagine if YB or FC Basel were already crowned champions and had their U21 team play in the final round, allowing their opponents to win 5:0 and thus save themselves from relegation in extremis. You can't be relegated in America, but similar things happen again and again in the final phase of the regular season. It was particularly extreme on Sunday evening, when the Kansas City Chiefs lost 38-0 to the Denver Broncos. It is only the second defeat this season for the champions of the last two years - and it was anything but surprising.
For Kansas City, nothing was at stake in the final round. The team was seeded No. 1 in the American Conference and thus had a bye at the start and home field until the Super Bowl in New Orleans. It was generally expected that none of the regular players such as Patrick Mahomes or Travis Kelce would be on the field. The risk is too great in a sport in which players are seriously injured in practically every game. The game was correspondingly one-sided. Denver was delighted to qualify for the playoffs, the first since the team from Colorado won the Super Bowl in 2016. Cincinnati was left looking down the tube despite a prestigious win against Pittsburgh.
MVP candidate and Triple Crown winner miss out on playoffs
Denver's victory must have elicited a sigh of relief from the majority of teams in the American Conference. Because nobody would have wanted to face Cincinnati in the playoffs. Quarterback Joe Burrow played one of the best seasons in history and would have been a candidate for MVP had he not been let down so often by his defense. Wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase became only the sixth player in the Super Bowl era (since 1968) to accomplish the rare feat of catching the most passes (127) and touchdowns (17) and rushing for the most yards (1,708), the so-called Triple Crown. The Bengals won their last five games and were one of the hottest teams, but will now miss the playoffs due to Kansas City's lack of help.
Detroit Lions make history
In the final round of the National Conference, the Detroit Lions won 31:9 against their last rival, the Minnesota Vikings, and secured the top spot for the first time in their 91-year history. The Lions were one of the weakest teams in this millennium and only made the playoffs three times from 2000 to 2022 - losing in the first round each time. Only last year did they reach the semi-finals for the first time in 32 years.
The different value of victories can be seen in Minnesota. Because it plays in the same division as Detroit, its 14 wins are only good enough for the No. 5 seed behind two division winners with only ten victories. This means that the Vikings have to play away from home in the 1st round. At least they are doing better than the Seattle Seahawks. They even missed the playoffs with ten wins.
Payday
At least Seattle's quarterback still had reason to be happy on Sunday. Thanks to the tenth win, the required number of yards thrown and the percentage of passes completed, he picked up three bonuses stipulated in his contract. That earned him 6 million dollars in one fell swoop. Mike Evans, Tampa Bay's wide receiver, reached the 1,000-yard mark on the last play of the game, which under normal circumstances would not have been played at all, and thus collected a bonus of 3 million dollars. His teammates were thrilled, the CFO perhaps less so. In the million-dollar business of football, however, such amounts are paid out of petty cash.
