This weekend, the New York Giants upset the NFC North champion Minnesota Vikings 31-24. The Giants with a great performance from their quarterback Daniel Jones, who had 301 passing yards and two touchdown passesare maintained as a legitimate wild card with aspirations to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy. They are as close as three wins.
New York will visit the Eagles, the organization that finished with the best record in the NFC. Interestingly, Philadelphia was the last Super Bowl winner to enter the playoffs with the 1 seed.
The Cowboys could join the Giants if they beat the Buccaneers in the second Monday Night Football in postseason history.
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The playoffs may be a game of dice, but it helps to win your division. Since 1975, 11 teams have advanced to the Super Bowl as a wild card team, and seven of that group have taken home the Lombardi Trophy. Lhe 1975 Cowboys were the first wild card team to reach the Super Bowl, but lost to the Steelers in Super Bowl 10. The 1980 Raiders were the first wild card team to win the Super Bowl, beating the Eagles in Super Bowl XV . The most recent team to accomplish the feat was the 2020 Buccaneers, who beat the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV.
Since 1990, at least four teams each season have qualified for the playoffs after failing to make the postseason the previous year.
Wild Card Round Winners they have won the Super Bowl 11 times, including in each of the past two seasons.
The average margin of victory in a game during the 2022 regular season was 9.7 points, the lowest in the league in 90 years. But in the postseason everything has become more close since the first five games were decided by an average of 7.2 points.
SB Champions as Wild Cards
| Year | Team | Sowing | Rival | Marker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | raiders | No. 4 | eagles | 27-10 |
| 1997 | broncos | No. 4 | packers | 31-24 |
| 2000 | ravens | No. 4 | giants | 34-7 |
| 2005 | steelers | No 6 | seahawks | 21-10 |
| 2007 | giants | No. 5 | patriots | 17-14 |
| 2010 | packers | No 6 | steelers | 31-25 |
| 2020 | buccaneers | No. 5 | chiefs | 31-9 |