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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Christian D'Andrea

The lapsed, disinterested NFL fan’s guide to rooting for the NFC playoffs

The 2021 NFL regular season is over. Now we prepare for the games that really count.

After 18 weeks, 272 games, and 17 Matthew Stafford interceptions, we’ve arrived at the 2022 Playoffs. We’re now 12 games from figuring out who’ll meet up at Super Bowl 56 in Los Angeles and who’ll be starting their draft preparations a little earlier than expected.

That’s a long, long road to travel, so you’re forgiven if you checked out the last four months. Only 14 teams remain on that path to LA, ranging from the expected (Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers) to the surprising (Philadelphia Eagles, Las Vegas Raiders). On Tuesday we broke down all the reasons to believe in or fade the seven franchises on the AFC side of the bracket. Today we’ll dive into the National Football Conference.

There are plenty of familiar faces here. Both teams from last year’s NFC title game are back. The 49ers and Cowboys each made their return to the playoffs after struggling through injuries in 2020. The Rams claimed a division title and won’t be forced to start John Wolford this postseason!

Of course, things have changed over the last year. Let’s talk about the teams we know pretty well at this point and the ones who could surprise us en route to Super Bowl 56. Conference title odds come via Tipico.

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