The NFL playoffs have arrived.
Two-hundred and seventy-two regular season games later, the NFL is down to 14 teams—seven each from the AFC and NFC—to decide the 2024 champion. While personal accolades and statistical milestones are claimed during the regular season, legacies and legends are built in the playoffs.
With the postseason set to kick off Saturday afternoon with a matchup between the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans at NRG Stadium, compiled a list of the five players and coaches with the most to prove during this year's trek to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
Let's dive in:
5. Bills QB Josh Allen
Allen, one of the front-runners to be crowned NFL MVP this season, has lit up the box score over his first 10 career playoff games. He was nearly perfect in the playoffs following the 2021 season, throwing for nine touchdowns and no interceptions in two games. He threw for 352 yards and three scores against the Miami Dolphins on Jan. 15, 2023, and lit up the New England Patriots' defense for 47 points the year prior.
One thing Allen hasn't done yet? Beat the dynastic Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs.
The Bills have had three of their last four seasons ended by Kansas City—a 38–24 loss in the 2021 AFC championship game, a 42–36 defeat in the divisional round in 2022 and another heartbreaking 27–24 loss in the divisional round last year. Allen played well in all three of those games—and even had the Bills 13 seconds away from a win in '22—but Buffalo just hasn't gotten over the hump against its AFC bullies.
Fair or not, wins are still mostly a quarterback stat. As the No. 2 seed this year, the Bills won't face the Chiefs until the AFC championship—if they can make it through the first two rounds. Allen would rid all of his postseason demons if Buffalo knocks off the back-to-back champs at Arrowhead Stadium.
4. Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin
Suggesting that Tomlin would be on the hot seat if the Pittsburgh Steelers lose to the Baltimore Ravens is preposterous, as he holds one of the most impressive records in NFL history with 18 straight seasons (and counting) at .500 or above. But look a bit closer, and what have the Steelers done with those .500-or-better campaigns?
Pittsburgh won Super Bowl XLIII in Tomlin's second year in the helm and were crowned AFC champions in 2010, his fourth year. But since the Steelers' loss to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV, Tomlin has gone 3–8 in his last 11 playoff games. Pittsburgh has lost four straight postseason tilts, with its last win being an 18–16 victory over Alex Smith and the Chiefs on Jan. 15, 2017.
If the Steelers come up short again this year, Tomlin's seat probably won't be too hot—but he'll need to answer to his postseason shortcomings over the last near-decade.
3. Lions Coach Dan Campbell
The 2023 Detroit Lions were one of the best stories in football, snapping the franchise's 31-season drought without a playoff win by marching to the NFC championship game. One year later, those Lions now have expectations. The NFC's No. 1 seed are far from underdogs.
Detroit went far into the playoffs last year riding Campbell's aggressive, risk-it-all coaching style and won 15 games during the 2024 regular season doing the same thing. But their quest for a title last year ended on a 34–31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers that featured a couple of highly criticized failed fourth-down conversions.
He's nicknamed Dan "Gamble" Campbell for a reason. However, if Campbell's overly aggressive coaching tactics come back to bite the Lions once again in a year they have Super Bowl aspirations and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, it'll be much harder for him to defend his decision making.
2. Vikings QB Sam Darnold
Just about everyone outside of the Minnesota Vikings' facility figured 2024 would be a rebuilding year for a club moving on from veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins. No matter what happens in Minnesota's playoff run, the 2024 season will go down as a booming success.
The same can't be said about Darnold's outlook heading into free agency.
There might not be a more fascinating free agent case than Darnold's heading into March. If he balls out and leads Minnesota deep into the playoffs, many quarterback-needy teams (a list likely including the Vikings) will be eager to dish out a lucrative contract to him in free agency. But if the postseason lights are too bright and Darnold struggles—like he did in Week 18 against the Lions—contract offers will likely significantly shrink in terms of years and total value.
1. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson
The time is now for Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens.
Jackson has accomplished just about everything a star quarterback can accomplish in terms of personal accolades, bringing home three All-Pro honors and two NFL MVP awards in his first seven years—and he's expected to be in the mix for the '24 MVP, as well.
The playoffs, however, have been a different story. Jackson owns a career 102.0 passer rating in 103 regular-season games, but that number drops dramatically to a 75.7 rating in six career playoff games. The Ravens are 2–4 in those tilts and have advanced past the divisional round just once—last year in a run that ended with an ugly 17–10 loss to the Chiefs in the AFC championship game.
Jackson left plenty to be desired in that game, coughing up the ball on a fumble in the first half and throwing a costly interception in the end zone in the fourth quarter.
The narratives are out there. Jackson has the opportunity to change them all with a deep postseason run.
