The 2007 chargers were the best team in 2006 and had the most talent in the NFL that year besides the patriots and almost beat them If rivers didn't play on one leg in the AFC championship
@@packersauburneric3625 The 06 Chargers were the BEST team they had that I've been around to see (I was born in 97), if Marlon McCree didn't fumble the ball after that interception, they could've put the game on ice and hosted the Colts in the AFC Championship, a team that the Chargers were known to beat at the time, which would've matched them up in a favorable matchup with the Bears which would've given ALL those great players they had a ring
Ehh more like his defense was the one true hero holding teams to 13PPG in both runs aka 8 games and not one 1 team scored more then 21 points vs them in the 8 games aka 3 tds in one game =21 points Eli outside of the two runs was super shit aka first round exit every playoff appearance or missed the playoffs a lot and is 3rd all time in losses
@@jrad410 I thought that’s how it was gonna go, but nope, Brady needs another ring. I would have felt bad beating Brees on his last run, but would have cheered for him in the Super Bowl.
8:00 - Umm, What?!?! Pretty sure the 2011 Conference Championship game most of us wanted to see in the NFC was Packers vs Saints, especially after their amazing Season Opener. We never got a Brees-Rodgers playoff matchup, and this would've been when both QBs were in their primes. We've seen Niners vs Packers plenty over the years...
The best part about that KC “miracle comeback” was that it was all done within the second quarter-eliminating a 24-0 deficit in less than 10 minutes. Truly amazing…until you realize it was against the Texans, and then it’s like “oh, of course.”
That was when I would’ve fired Bill O’Brien. But they tried to run it back the next year and it fell apart. Traded DHop for a washed up David Johnson and a bag of chips
At the time though, the Texans were so good. 10-6 record, decimated the Wild Card Game, and were expected to make the AFC Championship. The Chiefs made a brilliant come back!
This is an unpopular opinion, but I think that the Chargers actually improved with LT going down. You have to remember, their back up RBs were Michael Turner and Darren Sproles. They absolutely destroyed that Colts defense that had prepared for Tomlinson all week.
@@pbskids4000 true but Billy Volek who granted was a top 5-10 backup qb at the time was the QB for the whole second half and peyton lost at home to him with his full WR crew
I think it’s because Manning has had so many devastating losses where he was expected to win, that they all get lumped together. But yeah, if they had met in 07, I bet that game would have set ratings records that would still stand today.
@@Racinrasslinfan36 Billy Volek was only in in the 4th quarter. And Manning's receivers were terrible that day. Harrison had a costly fumble and there were several costly drops.
As a Ravens fan, we could have hosted both Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes in the AFC Championship Game in 2006 and 2019. Yet both times we bowed out because the offense fell apart at the worst possible times, and suffered two devastating home defeats. Brian Billick never recovered from 06, and Harbaugh based on the fact that we've made the playoffs only because of easy schedules since then may be headed down that same road.
You said my Eagles would be the 2019 Ravens 2.0🤣🤣 Anyways that may be true. But I think With Roman Gone, Lamar stays and BAL makes it to the AFCCG next year.
Also, just want to say something random in that I love the scripts that are put together for these retrospective spotlights. As strange as it sounds, I'm a big fan of wordage used in docu-pieces such as this (childhood heroes Rod Serling, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack), and everytime I watch one of these I come away impressed with what ended up on the page. Keep up the great work.
Bucs vs packers last year in the nfc championship game, both were tied for the best records in the nfl last year woulda been nice too see brady vs rodgers one more time with a trip too the super bowl on the line
I was born-and-raised a Redskins fan. I lived my whole life with the Burgundy-and-Gold. But for one game, in Super Bowl 42, I was the biggest Giants fan I’d ever been. It’s still the best Super Bowl I’ve seen in my lifetime.
I'd call your loyalty into question, because I'm one of you. I'll admit that I felt somewhat happy for the Philadelphia Eagles when watching them win Super Bowl 52 on NFL Films, but that was because it was their first in franchise history. Today, I like no one else in the division, and I did not watch Super Bowl 52 because I was not interested in football at the time. I have a soft spot for hungry teams, which is why I am glad that I did not have to choose whether I wanted the Eagles to win or not. Do you think Saints fans hated the Patriots so much that they wanted the Falcons to beat them in Super Bowl 51? No. They remind Falcons fans of "28-3" for a reason. I'm glad that everyone in the division has a Lombardi, because I never have to feel to sorry for them. I believe that the philosophy of any true NFL fan should be wanting your divisional rival to lose to the evil empire, no matter what. But if it was anyone outside the division upsetting the Patriots, then yes, Super Bowl 42 was a fun upset.
1986 was what popped into my head first, would have been the first conference championship between two 14+ win teams. Didn't happen until 1998 with Minnesota and Atlanta, and then again in 2004 with Pittsburgh and New England.
Another one could've been a Bucs-49ers NFC Title Game last yr. Brady vs his favorite team growing up. Brady vs 49ers was also a Super Bowl matchup we had 2 shots at seeing (2011 and 2012) but never got.
If the 49ers got a chance at the Patriots in both years. I think they easily win those matchups. I think jim harbaugh would of had a few titles by now of the SF Brass didn't have their head in their asses. That team was great and he was the head coach for them.
@@mariosnum1fan to slightly correct myself. I think the 2011 battle would be more of a slugfest. I would slightly lean 9ers because of that gronk injury. Hernandez was still there but the gronk injury changed the entire offense. 2012 would of been more closer to that 9ers/Packers game in the divisional a few weeks prior. Both defenses that year wasn't as good as 2011. The Colin Kaepernick effect in 2012 was something special.
I would argue Favre V Rodgers 2009. Rodgers losing against Warner in OT shootout, and Favre making it to the title game but facing the Saints instead and we all know how that ended.
Nice to see the 2020 NFC Championship Game (Which was when Brady & Rodgers finally meet each other in the playoffs, and probably for the only time.) get mentioned, although that does make it weird that the 1972 AFC Championship Game (Which featured Miami on the road vs Pittsburgh in what was retroactively its first year of its dynasty) wasn't mentioned when talking about 1974 AFC Championship Game. Also speaking of the 1972 AFC Championship Game, Miami Dolphins @ Oakland Raiders in the 1972 AFC Championship Game would have been great from a retroactive perspective (Although it's understandable why it wasn't included in the video.), as in the Early 70s (More specificity 1970 to 1974.), Miami & Oakland played each other 5 times, and each win had some sort of significance: 1970 Week 3, Oakland 13 @ Miami 20; Miami's first win against the Raiders in franchise history. 1970 AFC Divisional Round, Miami 14 @ Oakland 21; Miami's first postseason game in franchise history. 1973 Week 2, Miami 7 @ Oakland 12; Oakland snaps Miami's 18 game win streak (Then NFL record.) & does so without scoring a Touchdown. 1973 AFC Championship Game, Oakland 10 @ Miami 27; Miami's first (And to date only.) postseason win against the Raiders in franchise history. 1974 AFC Divisional Round, Miami 26 @ Oakland 28; Sea of Hands Game, Oakland ends Miami's 3peat dreams. In all 5 of these games, the Home team won, so it's safe to say that had a Miami @ Oakland 1972 AFC Championship taken place, Oakland would have advanced to Super Bowl VII. Just makes the immaculate reception even more infuriating for Raiders fans, honestly.
Nice to see a fellow football historian as well. Yeah, honestly the Steelers (I'm a huge Steelers fan btw) were definitely way too early in 1972 and although it's the kickstart of the winning culture, the true turning point in them becoming the dynastic team of the 70s was THAT 1974 AFC Championship Game. Hell, the best player of the team (Mean Joe) literally said it. As far as the Miami & Oakland matchup, it would've been intriguing as in the early 70s they were the best teams in the AFC with at the start of the decade the Colts were still dominant from there mid-late 60s & Unitas era (interesting looking at Unitas' career and how his dominant teams minus 2 happened before AND after the 60s Packers reign) and then by '74 Pittsburgh starting to really be a mainstay albeit even in '74 they were probably a "year too early" like the '92 Cowboys, '13 Seahawks and '81 Niners (looking at dominant teams where they built it from the ground up and became dynasties minus Seattle who had the closest shot to dethrone Pats 2 decade reign).
I was hoping the Bills-Chiefs game on a neutral site would take place, but that’s off the table now. I was hoping that the Colts-Patriots 2007 game would happen, but the Chargers shut down those plans for Indy in the divisional playoff game
As a huge fan of the 85 Bears, I would have loved it if the Cowboys that year could have somehow gone into Anaheim and beaten the Rams in the divisional round and we'd have had a rematch with Tom Landry's team only a month or so after destroying them 44-0 in Dallas. Certainly wouldn't have been a greatest conference championship game ever, but I'd have love to have seen it. Not that I have any complaints about how things turned out, but getting another chance to destroy the Cowboys, only this time on national tv for a trip to the Super Bowl is something that makes me tingle.
It’s crazy that the 86 Defense was somehow statistically better than 85, but I think 86 was New York’s year. The Bears didn’t have the offense that year, as we saw in the video
1989 would have been a good one to add. 14-2 49ers vs 12-4 Giants was a highly anticipated matchup. Unfortunately the Rams came into Giants stadium and screwed everything up, only to get blown out 30-3 by SF the next week. But at least we got that matchup the following year. Also, I don’t think many people were anticipating a SF vs GB matchup in 2011. If anything, it was Saints Packers that most people were expecting. It turned out to be a double loss, just like TB and GB last year.
IDK, some of these are irrelevant due to proximity. Like, we didn't really need another iteration of 49ers/Cowboys when they literally played three years in a row, with pretty much all the same players (save some folks like Deion). This is similar to the 1989 49ers/Giants, as the very next year both teams, with pretty much the same players (and literally the exact same records as their '89 outfits) met in the NFCCG, with the Giants winning a nail-biter.
@@senorpedrosrooster that was arguably the greatest SF team ever. It would have definitely taken everything they had. If they did, there’s no doubt that they could have beaten the Broncos.
Hey this was another great idea for a video NFL Throwback. I thought you would miss the potential 1986 matchup between the Bears/Giants, but nothing seems to escape your gaze boss. A lot of of great games we never got to see. The 1979 Oilers/Steelers definitely sticks out, and I really would have liked to have seen what happened there. The amount of times Vernon Perry ends up in these retrospectives is a testament to how remarkable of a performance he had that day. A couple of other games I would have liked to have maybe seen would have been 2003 Chiefs/Patriots and 2006 Ravens/Chargers (even though we already had that earlier that season).
NO ONE wanted to see chiefs pats in 2003. The two best teams were clearly the colts and the pats. It was correct. Also people wanted to see the colts and the chargers in 2006. I would say if the ravens had a viable qb that year such as Flacco then it’d be a different story
@@chrisuncleahmad the colts were not built for cold weather at the time. 2003 afc champ game proved that the colts did not play well in cold environments. That said KC would play worse than the colts if they went to the afc champ game
A few that would have been good: Hawks vs niners 2013(we got that the following year but it almost happened a year earlier if hawks didnt blow a late lead vs falcons after a huge comeback) Hawks vs cowboys 2014(would have been a rematch of there great regular season matchup but dallas lost the round before in the Dez catch game to packers) Saints vs eagles 2018(saints lost to vikings in the minneapolis miracle game) Steelers vs patriots 2018(would have been a rematch of the jesse james catch/no catch game but steelers got lit up by jags) Packers vs panthers 2015(would have been cool to see mvp cam vs rodgers but packers lost to cards in the larry fitz game where rodgers threw that hail mary to send it to ot) Those are just some recent ones that come to mind
Agreed. Plus two of those meetings came in Elway's last season in 1998. It was just incredible bad luck the way their teams records from the year before determined next years schedule.
It just goes to show you how different the league was back then. Your teams fortunes didn’t rest solely on your quarterback. If you could run the ball, and stop the run, you were almost unbeatable.
Some others I'd add: 1991- Cowboys at Redskins (Cowboys handed Washington their first loss that season and it'd have been a hell of a lot more competitive than the Lions and Redskins) 1999- Colts at Jaguars- Brunell, Fred Taylor, Jimmy Smith vs Peyton, Edgerrin and Marvin Harrison 2006- Colts at Chargers- Peyton vs LT 2007- Packers at Cowboys- Favre vs Romo, one of them would've thrown an idiotic INT to win the game for the other team
'91 One would've been interesting although even then the Cowboys were way too young. Hell, even going into 1992 they were considered a "year away" just cause they still had the youngest team in the league (similar to some other dynasties & potential ones in '74 Steelers, '81 Niners, '13 Seahawks) '99 Would've been interesting although the better team out of the 3 AFC juggernauts that year was the Titans. Considering a 14-2 Jags lost ALL 3 games to them
Too note on the Dallas one, pretty sure Aikman didn't start (he may have played) in the playoffs vs Lions (I know he didn't start or play vs. Bears) considering he started his playoff career 7-0, three behind Brady's 10-0 playoff career start and his first playoff loss coming in the '94 NFC title game
@@chadadams6052 Okay yeah that's what I thought. Even for being that young they were such a loaded team. If they didn't get hit by the original free agency bug, the Cowboys may had gotten another ring but at least a longer championship run besides 4 contending years, one upstart and one decline year
Steelers Pats in 2017-18. Whole year all anyone was talking about was if the steelers could beat the pats, and then the Jesse James game happened which was so crucial for home field in the AFC. Jags beat the Steelers in the divisional round to go to the AFC chip game instead
That was critical because if Jessie James’ catch was touchdown, PIT would have instead hosted Tennessee (whom they blew out on a TNF in November). And how does Jags/Pats play out a round earlier?
Yea when I thought of these, immediately I went to all-time great teams/storylines such as: 1974 - Steelers vs Dolphins (team of 70s vs. first dynasty of the 70s) 2007 - Colts vs Pats (Honestly best Colts & Pats teams of the decade. 05 Colts were great but defensively it was their best team and they had a HoF kicker here in Vinatieri) 1986 - Bears vs Giants (2 best defenses of the era and how does TWO 14-2 teams NOT make it?) 2019 - Chiefs vs Ravens 1979 - Steelers vs Chargers (how the Chargers didn't go and win the SB that year is crazy. They were clearly better than even my Steelers) 1995 - 49ers vs Cowboys (Niners were honestly better than Dallas even in that year but lost to rising Packers) Only omissions that came to mind were: 2017 - Steelers vs Pats (best Steelers team of late Big Ben's career and we should've beat them earlier that year!) 1989 - Giants vs 49ers (coulda got the thriller a year before but with Simms at QB) 2011 - 49ers vs Packers or Saints vs Packers 2012 - Broncos vs Pats 2012 - Seahawks vs 49ers (the two hottest teams down the stretch and Hawks beat them like 42-10 late in the year. They should've beat Atlanta too)
Yeah sadly indy ran into the Chargers in the playoffs that year. SD’s run game always controlled the clock and limited possessions against Peyton back then, and the 3-4 defense always gave him fits. Really think the 08 colts could have gave the Steelers a good fight in the playoffs that year with Brady out, but ran into SD again. Freeney was out in ‘07 so they didn’t have a pass rush, don’t think they coulda went to NE to beat the 16-0 team.
As a partisan of one of the teams, I prefer the actual outcome, but what about Redskins vs. Cowboys in the '91 NFC Championship Game... - It's Redskins-Cowboys - Veteran legendary Best Team Ever vs. young rising dynasty - Dallas had beaten 11-0 Washington on the road two months earlier (Jerry Jones has said that going into RFK and beating the '91 Redskins was when he knew they would be special), whereas Detroit - which at the time hadn't beaten the Redskins since the '50s and NEVER in DC - had lost 45-0 in Week 1
With all due respect to the 1991 Redskins, there were two teams they were very fortunate they didn't play in the playoffs that year and they were both from Texas. With the 49ers missing the playoffs that year, the only NFC team capable of going into RFK and beating that great Redskins team in the playoffs was the Cowboys, who knew the Redskins very well. We saw how the Falcons and Lions matched up. The domed Saints were certainly not going to do it and the Bears were just hanging on at this point. The Cowboys were the only NFC team capable of as Jimmy Johnson said "taking down the big gorilla." The other team the Redskins were very fortunate they didn't have to play was the Oilers in the Super Bowl. Thanks to another Miracle Elway drive and Houston squandering a big lead, the Oilers were knocked out of the round in the divisional playoffs. But in the regular season, they were the one and only team that kept Mark Rypien from having a passing touchdown. They had one of the few secondaries in the NFL capable of shutting down Monk, Clark, and Sanders. And with the Superbowl being played in the Metrodome that year, the Oilers run and shoot offense would have had a real shot at taking home the Lombardi if they had managed to make it to the Super Bowl. I can remember both my dad and my brother, who were Redskins fans, were very happy when the Broncos came back and won that divisional round game because neither of them wanted to see Houston in the Super Bowl that year.
@@DinnersOnSaturday Houston squandering big playoff leads, as normal as the sky is blue lol. But yeah, outside of Dallas, pretty much no team in 1991 that made the postseason was capable of beating them. I don't think anyone took the Lions seriously. Had San Francisco made the postseason though, things could've gotten VERY interesting. They were 11-5 with a point differential way over 100+. Still don't know how they missed the postseason, considering they earned the #1 seed in 1990 (year before) and 1992 (year after).
@joemamma137 The Redskins-worshipping 9-year-old I was in January 1992 definitely would've preferred your in-game analysis to mine😂...but my Historic Rivalry and young team on the rise vs. going for their 3rd championship in a decade points still stand.
@@jaxonwoods8181 San Francisco is one of the only other teams that had a shot of beating the Redskins in the playoffs that year if they had gotten in. They had trouble with team chemistry in the begining of the year with Steve Young now as the #1 guy, but by the end of the year they had won 5 straight and were playing some of the hottest football in the NFL including wins over the playoff bound Saints, Chiefs, and a total thrashing of the Bears in week 16. Not saying they would have won, but I think the Redskins would have had their hands full with them and the Cowboys, certainly a lot more than they did with the Falcons and Lions. Joe Gibbs needed to thank Jerry Glanville that year for making his playoff run a lot more easier. First, it was the Falcons who knocked the 49ers out of the playoffs thanks to their season sweep, including the infamous hail mary play to Michael Haynes. Had the 49ers won just one of those games they'd have been in and Atlanta would have been out. Second, when the Falcons upset the Saints in the wildcard round, it meant that them, not the Cowboys, would be going to RFK to play the Redskins. So thanks to Jerry Glanville's Falcons and the 2 ligit to quit gang, the Redskins avoided having to play both the Cowboys and 49ers in the playoffs that year.
It would have been had the Bengals and Bills contest in the regular season not been canceled. That conference championship would have been held in Atlanta at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. By the way, one championship I would have wanted would probably be Pittsburgh and New England in the 2005-06 playoffs. This was the beginning of Ben Roethlisberger’s long career and while it did happen some time later down the road, I would have thought it would have been a treat to see them face each other while Big Ben was still in adjusting to big leagues.
Its so true. That Titans game as well as the Colts game in 06 broke the Ravens. Billick never recovered from the first devastating loss, and Harbaugh might be heading in that direction.
What if playoff matchups (in general): 1973 NFC Championship: Vikings @ Rams (mentioned) 1974 AFC Championship: Dolphins @ Steelers (mentioned) 1976 NFC Championship: Cowboys @ Vikings (mentioned) 1979 AFC Championship: Steelers @ Chargers (mentioned) 1980 NFC Championship: Eagles @ Falcons 1982/1983/1985 AFC Championship: Dolphins @ Raiders 1984 AFC Championship: Broncos @ Dolphins (mentioned) 1984 NFC Championship: Redskins @ 49ers (mentioned) 1985 AFC Divisional: Broncos @ Raiders (if 11 win Denver made the playoffs over New England and beat the Jets) 1986 AFC Divisional: Seahawks @ Browns (if Seattle made the playoffs over Kansas City and definitely beat the Jets without Ken O'Brien) 1986 NFC Championship: Bears @ Giants (mentioned) 1988 NFC Championship/1990 NFC Divisional: Eagles @ 49ers (48 vs. Montana) 1989 NFC Championship: Giants @ 49ers (the year before it actually happened) 1991 NFC Divisional: Eagles/49ers @ Lions (either one of these two teams beat New Orleans in the wild card if they made playoffs over Falcons) 1993 AFC Championship: Oilers @ Bills (mentioned) 1995/1997 AFC Championship: Steelers @ Chiefs 1995 NFC Championship: 49ers @ Cowboys (mentioned) 1996 AFC Championship: Patriots @ Broncos 1999 AFC Championship: Jaguars @ Colts 2003 NFC Championship: Rams @ Eagles 2007 AFC Championship: Colts @ Patriots (mentioned) 2009 NFC Divisional Round/2011 NFC Championship/2019 NFC Divisional Round/2020 NFC Championship: Saints vs. Packers (how did we never get a Brees vs. Rodgers playoff matchup?) 2009 AFC Championship: Chargers @ Colts 2010 AFC Wild Card: Ravens @ Chargers (if their historically bad special teams didn't lose them a game) 2011 NFC Championship: 49ers @ Packers (mentioned) / Giants @ Saints (Eli vs. Brees 4 years earlier in playoffs) 2012/2014 AFC Championship: Patriots @ Broncos 2014 NFC Championship: Cowboys @ Seahawks 2016 NFC Championship: Falcons @ Cowboys 2017 AFC Championship: Steelers @ Patriots (rematch) 2019 AFC Championship: Chiefs @ Ravens (mentioned) 2021 AFC Championship: Bengals @ Bills (if the Bills didn't play prevent defense against Mahomes in 13 seconds) 2021 NFC Championship: Buccaneers @ Packers (mentioned) 2022 AFC Championship: Bills @ Chiefs (mentioned)
It really didn't come all that close to happening since both teams choked going 1 and done but a 49ers (13-2)/Saints (12-3) NFC Title Game in 1987 would've been awesome!
Great topic to talk about. I have almost no complaints except maybe Rams Vikings in '73. The Cowboys were a worthy contender, while Minnesota and LA would later on meet up four times in the playoffs during the seventies ('74, '76, '77, '78). Two I would nominate, 1968 - The 13-1 Baltimore Colts were the class of the league and beat the Browns for the NFL title (the one team to beat them in the regular season). But they could've faced a 12-2 Dallas squad poised to finally assume the championship throne vacated by Lombardi. It would've been the #1 Baltimore defense versus the #1 Dallas offense in the NFL title game (eventually became the NFC championship). 1996 - Dallas was the defending champs and still had a mystique around them, while Green Bay was the current favorite and #1 seed. Dallas had owned every matchup so far in the nineties, including three straight playoff wins ('93-'95). Everyone anticipated another rematch in the NFC title game, but Dallas came out flat and lost to the second year expansion Panthers in the divional round.
Surprised 96 Cowboys-Packers didn’t make it. Defending champs vs. team on the rise. I think that was the year that SI put Favre on the cover with the headline “Bring on the Cowboys”. Nobody saw Carolina coming.
I don't know if I agree with the Steelers vs Dolphins 1974, because The Raiders were the best team record wise in the AFC that year at 12-2 including a 17-0 win at Pittsburgh during the season. Also the Steelers and dolphins played in the AFC Championship game in 1972 so it's not like people didn't see that match up before in the playoffs.
the rodgers/brady narrative is so funny to see them try to make them look like equals. Rodgers got dominated against San Fran and they framed it as being all about special teams.. then they showed all Brady's lowlights against the Rams and said he "didn't fair much better" dismissing the miraculous comeback he pulled out of a hat and put up like 4 Touchdowns compared to Aaron being held to like 10 points. I don't care how many MVPs he wins or how good he looks when he's beating up on the Chicago Bears in week 10, Rodgers is not a particularly good leader and not the player Tom Brady was.
It wouldn't have mattered anyway, we all know what would've happened: a repeat of the year before. Rodgers choking in the playoffs like usual, and Brady breaking hearts and taking names like usual.
“Those guys (the Patriots) didn’t seem too interested in tackling Derrick Henry. I think our mindset is a little different.” Never forget Earl Thomas saying this the week before the Titans-Ravens game. That loss will forever haunt me as a Ravens fan.
Well Corey Ivy said that the Ravens 06 D wouldn't give up as many rushing yards as the Colts did. The Ravens allowed 98 yards rushing in that playoff game. The Colts allowed 32.
Honestly, for I'd go the other way (Texans-Titans)...Houston going for its first SB against the team that abandoned it would've been a great storyline.
@@michaelhession2105 while thats true, thats not why they lost. They lost because McNair was awful and could only produce 6 pta wasting an amazing performance by their defense.
@@aaronjackson9385 Yeah. That pick McNair threw in the endzone to Nick Harper was an absolute killer. He like Billick never really recovered from that loss. I'm fearing that Harbaugh hasn't recovered from the loss in 2019.
@@michaelhession2105 yea that really sucked. What a colossal letdown. I loved that defense. Like you said, that was pretty much the end of Brian Billick.
There are a few more in the 90s that could've been put here. '98 how about Vikings vs 49ers instead of Vikings/Falcons? Atlanta of course upset Vikings but barely squeaked by 49ers 20-18 and NFC title game would've had Rice, Owens and Moss. Also '96 Cowboys/Packers instead of Panthers/Packers. Panthers got the bye their 2nd season and beat defending champ Dallas at home, but Cowboys/Packers would've been intriguing since Cowboys eliminated Pack previous 3 years and this match would've been in Green Bay (all 3 Dallas wins were at home). Also '96 Broncos/Patriots instead of Jaguars/Patriots. Of course at that time Elway hadn't won a Super Bowl yet and Jags winning was huge upset. Denver would've hosted too. Both conference title games weren't that close.
Who's here after we got a jackson vs mahomes when the ravens had the top seed, Mahomes won MVP the year before, and Lamar is going to win MVP in the year of?
Great video! So many video ideas you could make from this round. I would love to see a video on the best teams to never make the conference championship game.
I don't know why people dream of the Colts vs The Patriots? It would've ended the same way it always did: Peyton choking in the end with the Colts losing
11:50 Perry was literally gift wrapped 4 of those interceptions via Dan haha im sure he’s just as confused but not enough credit was ever given to the Oilers defensive scheme adjusting for their pass beautifully. They made Dan look through routes down progression across the linebackers and it became clear he was NOT comfortable throwing there having set in the pocket a few seconds already
Can't believe they put 2022 Bills vs Cheifs on here. Quit crying about the Bills. Here are some underrated matchups that could have happened in the championship game. 2012 49ers vs Seahawks - Seahawks were so close to knocking out the 1 seed Falcons until they got into field goal range last second for the walk off win. They met 1 year later with Seattle having the home field. Imagine if they met 1 year earlier and we got 2 championship games between the Harbaugh 49ers vs Legion of Boom Seahawks. 2014 Cowboys vs Seahawks - The Cowboys went to Seattle earlier in the season and beat them. Some folks believed if they met again, they could beat them again. Unfortunately Dez "catch" happened then Green Bay blew a lead to Seattle. 2016 Falcons vs Cowboys - Maybe the best chance the Dak Cowboys will ever get close to a championship game. They came back from a big lead against the Packers. But it took a miracle catch by Jared Cook leading to the game winning field goal for the Packers to hold off the surging Cowboys. If the Cowboys did win, do they put up a better fight against the Falcons then how the Packers got blown out by them? 2019 49ers vs Seahawks - The 2 games in the regular season between these 2 teams were wild. They were surely destined to meet a 3rd time in the playoffs right? Seattle ended up losing to Green Bay who got blown out by the 49ers next week. Seattle might have put up a better fight against the 49ers than the Packers did.
Well, we finally got #1 but it turned out to be a dud. And I would like to add 1975 Cardinals to this discussion. A Cowboys/Cardinals divisional NFC Title Game would have been intriguing. They played 2 thriller games in the regular season splitting those games and had the Cards gotten past the Rams(and Jim Hart forgetting that Jack Youngblood wasn't on his team) the Cards would have hosted their first ever playoff game in St. Louis and we could have gotten to see Air Coryell in the big game for the first time. Instead we got another Rams/Cowboys snoozefest.
Yeah but Brady absolutely owned Big Ben for more than 15 years. It would have been more of the same. If anything, 2010 would have been the best year for pit to take them out.
@@joemamma137 That's why that year is crazy, Pitt had just played them, had them beat except for the call on the catch. We now know that absolutely was a catch. Pitt beat them the very next year too. Jax almost beat that NE team that year, but they called Myles Jack down 😮💨
The 70s way of hosting NFL playoff games was dumb. Instead of seeds, the league pre-determined which divisions would host playoff games that year. The Rams in ‘73 having to go to Dallas despite 12-2? The ‘72 Dolphins playing all their AFC postseason games on the road despite being perfect? Dumb. So glad that got scraped by the middle part of that decade.
You're kinda right. It was only the conference championship game sites that were predetermined by division. The Divisional Round was hosted by the higher seed
My god A pats Colts Championship game would’ve been crazy. That’s literally what every fan was rooting for outside of the teams that both teams were playing against wanted lol
2018 Eagles vs Rams. Eagles the defending champs Vs The team that injured their would of been MVP QB the year before. That results in a rematch 🦅 vs Patriots the Birds repeat as Champs. Nick Foles gets another statue.
You know what would've been even more interesting with that last one? If the Colts (somehow) beat the Patriots, we get Colts vs Giants, or more specifically... Peyton vs Eli. In the *Super Bowl.* Yes please.
Imma keep it a Buck. If Rodgers met against the 49ers in the 2011 NFC Title Game, his ass would’ve been grass from that point on. I mean he’s winless against them in the postseason since 2013. So it wouldn’t really matter how it’ll play out
To be honest 98 Vikings in the 04 Steelers are teams that I wish made it all the way… in a perfect world they’d be Super Bowl champions of their seasons
4:32 The Bills didn’t deserve to win that game. On one touchdown play, the receiver went out of bounds and then got the touchdown. Had that not been scored, Buffalo would’ve lost.
San Diego wins the Super Bowl if their stars (LT, Gates, Rivers) are all healthy. It's baffling how they never made the Super Bowl in their window from 2004-2011.
Yes! Dallas was never the same after that 95 season. But I saw the cracks during that year. Their defense stayed great, but their offense suddenly became stoppable. They were absolutely dominated by Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. So lucky for the two interceptions. And so lucky that the Packers beat the 49ers in the divisional round. For whatever reason, the Aikman Cowboys always had Bret Favre’s number.
Breaking News in that 2022 AFC Championship KC finally got past Cincinnati 23-20 on a game-winning field goal to send the Kelce Brothers to Super Bowl LVII
The Kc come back wasn’t a miracle, it was pretty crazy but they came back from 24-0 in the start of the 2nd quarter and by halftime had taken the lead.
Greatest Super Bowl we never got to see, 49ers vs Bills , anytime from late 80’s to early 90’s. Just ask Chris Berman. I also would’ve like to see the 2000 Ravens vs The Vikings or Rams offense.
The 2000 Ravens would have beaten either the Vikings or Rams. They played three Top 10 offenses in the playoffs that year (Broncos, Raiders, Giants) and crushed all three of them. I get that the Vikings had Culpepper, Moss, Carter, Robert Smith, and Jake Reed, and the Rams had the Greatest Show on Turf, but no one was beating that 2000 Raven D. NO ONE!
@@jaxonwoods8181 I disagree. The Ravens would have done the same thing to the Rams that the Patriots did. Beat the tar out of their receivers and setbacks and screw up the timing.
![PURPEECH - นี่ฉันเองคนที่... (It's me) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/NuhHd0hOOg8/mqdefault.jpg)
Brady vs Manning in 2007 & Jackson vs Mahones in 2019 was the matchups I wanted, but it always happens in the NFL, any given Sunday
Same. I also wanted Brady vs the 06 Ravens D, and Rodgers vs the 2011 49ers.
The 2007 chargers were the best team in 2006 and had the most talent in the NFL that year besides the patriots and almost beat them If rivers didn't play on one leg in the AFC championship
@@packersauburneric3625 The 06 Chargers were the BEST team they had that I've been around to see (I was born in 97), if Marlon McCree didn't fumble the ball after that interception, they could've put the game on ice and hosted the Colts in the AFC Championship, a team that the Chargers were known to beat at the time, which would've matched them up in a favorable matchup with the Bears which would've given ALL those great players they had a ring
You had Brady vs Manning in 2007...just the younger Manning...lol.
Well, I’m sure there are a lot of Jackson vs Mahomes battles in Patrick’s family😅😮
eli manning the crusher of the greatest teams 16-0 pats and the 15-1 packers
Packers were 13-3 that season (2007) it was 2011 when the Packers were 15-1
@@matthewmorrrison834 Yep, and Eli beat them too.
it really is the biggest anomaly in sports
Yelp, Eli Manning never had a easy road to the playoffs. I still think his 2011 run is one of best playoff runs of All-time.
Ehh more like his defense was the one true hero holding teams to 13PPG in both runs aka 8 games and not one 1 team scored more then 21 points vs them in the 8 games aka 3 tds in one game =21 points Eli outside of the two runs was super shit aka first round exit every playoff appearance or missed the playoffs a lot and is 3rd all time in losses
A Brady vs Rodgers Super Bowl would’ve been awesome to see
Mismatch City
Yeah well we blew it in 2014
Brb crying myself to sleep
2021 NFC championship game he closest we will ever get lol
@@MajorMlgNoob yup you did after Russ threw 4 picks and lost 1 fumble for a grand overall total of 5 turnovers
A Drew Brees vs Aaron Rodgers NFC Championship would’ve been good as well
Before watching the video, one that stands out to me is a Brees/Rodgers NFC title game. Crazy considering how many years they were both in the NFC
2011...
@@ezekwu 2011 was san fran vs giants
@@sacw13 i know, i was saying that the 2011 packers and the 2011 saints would've been a great matchup but we never got it...
@@ezekwu even 2020 woulda been good as the final run for Brees
@@jrad410 I thought that’s how it was gonna go, but nope, Brady needs another ring. I would have felt bad beating Brees on his last run, but would have cheered for him in the Super Bowl.
8:00 - Umm, What?!?! Pretty sure the 2011 Conference Championship game most of us wanted to see in the NFC was Packers vs Saints, especially after their amazing Season Opener. We never got a Brees-Rodgers playoff matchup, and this would've been when both QBs were in their primes. We've seen Niners vs Packers plenty over the years...
I agree.
I agree but Saints packers met that year in a great week 1 game where as 49ers and packers never played but I’m a giants fan so good haha
The best part about that KC “miracle comeback” was that it was all done within the second quarter-eliminating a 24-0 deficit in less than 10 minutes. Truly amazing…until you realize it was against the Texans, and then it’s like “oh, of course.”
That was when I would’ve fired Bill O’Brien. But they tried to run it back the next year and it fell apart. Traded DHop for a washed up David Johnson and a bag of chips
At the time though, the Texans were so good. 10-6 record, decimated the Wild Card Game, and were expected to make the AFC Championship. The Chiefs made a brilliant come back!
The 2007 loss by the colts to the chargers isn’t talked about more not only did the chargers win they won WITHOUT LT & Rivers
This is an unpopular opinion, but I think that the Chargers actually improved with LT going down. You have to remember, their back up RBs were Michael Turner and Darren Sproles. They absolutely destroyed that Colts defense that had prepared for Tomlinson all week.
@@pbskids4000 true but Billy Volek who granted was a top 5-10 backup qb at the time was the QB for the whole second half and peyton lost at home to him with his full WR crew
@@pbskids4000 nah we would've beat new england if we had Lt the next week
I think it’s because Manning has had so many devastating losses where he was expected to win, that they all get lumped together. But yeah, if they had met in 07, I bet that game would have set ratings records that would still stand today.
@@Racinrasslinfan36 Billy Volek was only in in the 4th quarter. And Manning's receivers were terrible that day. Harrison had a costly fumble and there were several costly drops.
Soooooo many Green Bay heartbreaks.
Crazy that Rodgers is 0-4 against San Francisco in the playoffs. Mind blowing
As a Ravens fan, we could have hosted both Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes in the AFC Championship Game in 2006 and 2019. Yet both times we bowed out because the offense fell apart at the worst possible times, and suffered two devastating home defeats. Brian Billick never recovered from 06, and Harbaugh based on the fact that we've made the playoffs only because of easy schedules since then may be headed down that same road.
You said my Eagles would be the 2019 Ravens 2.0🤣🤣
Anyways that may be true. But I think With Roman Gone, Lamar stays and BAL makes it to the AFCCG next year.
@@thomassankara1391 Thats true but the difference is you have better receivers and a better OC than we did.
No more Greg Roman tho🎂🎂🎂
@@rigel5449 As long as they ace the OC hiring Lamar should be back long term. Right?
Right so it’s harbaughs fault lamar forgets how to play football in the playoffs…
Also, just want to say something random in that I love the scripts that are put together for these retrospective spotlights. As strange as it sounds, I'm a big fan of wordage used in docu-pieces such as this (childhood heroes Rod Serling, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack), and everytime I watch one of these I come away impressed with what ended up on the page. Keep up the great work.
Bucs vs packers last year in the nfc championship game, both were tied for the best records in the nfl last year woulda been nice too see brady vs rodgers one more time with a trip too the super bowl on the line
I was born-and-raised a Redskins fan. I lived my whole life with the Burgundy-and-Gold. But for one game, in Super Bowl 42, I was the biggest Giants fan I’d ever been. It’s still the best Super Bowl I’ve seen in my lifetime.
I'd call your loyalty into question, because I'm one of you. I'll admit that I felt somewhat happy for the Philadelphia Eagles when watching them win Super Bowl 52 on NFL Films, but that was because it was their first in franchise history. Today, I like no one else in the division, and I did not watch Super Bowl 52 because I was not interested in football at the time. I have a soft spot for hungry teams, which is why I am glad that I did not have to choose whether I wanted the Eagles to win or not. Do you think Saints fans hated the Patriots so much that they wanted the Falcons to beat them in Super Bowl 51? No. They remind Falcons fans of "28-3" for a reason. I'm glad that everyone in the division has a Lombardi, because I never have to feel to sorry for them. I believe that the philosophy of any true NFL fan should be wanting your divisional rival to lose to the evil empire, no matter what. But if it was anyone outside the division upsetting the Patriots, then yes, Super Bowl 42 was a fun upset.
1986 was what popped into my head first, would have been the first conference championship between two 14+ win teams. Didn't happen until 1998 with Minnesota and Atlanta, and then again in 2004 with Pittsburgh and New England.
1992 nearly came close.
Another one could've been a Bucs-49ers NFC Title Game last yr. Brady vs his favorite team growing up. Brady vs 49ers was also a Super Bowl matchup we had 2 shots at seeing (2011 and 2012) but never got.
Also two pats qbs going at it that were under bb
@@mariosnum1fan Very true.
If the 49ers got a chance at the Patriots in both years. I think they easily win those matchups. I think jim harbaugh would of had a few titles by now of the SF Brass didn't have their head in their asses. That team was great and he was the head coach for them.
@@jtalkalot19 nah. Maybe in 2012. 2011 the pats were the second best team, only behind gb
@@mariosnum1fan to slightly correct myself. I think the 2011 battle would be more of a slugfest. I would slightly lean 9ers because of that gronk injury. Hernandez was still there but the gronk injury changed the entire offense.
2012 would of been more closer to that 9ers/Packers game in the divisional a few weeks prior. Both defenses that year wasn't as good as 2011. The Colin Kaepernick effect in 2012 was something special.
I would argue Favre V Rodgers 2009. Rodgers losing against Warner in OT shootout, and Favre making it to the title game but facing the Saints instead and we all know how that ended.
Some of the best what ifs in nfl history
A lot of NFL history would be changed if it wasn’t always for that “One inexplicable Chargers loss”
Nice to see the 2020 NFC Championship Game (Which was when Brady & Rodgers finally meet each other in the playoffs, and probably for the only time.) get mentioned, although that does make it weird that the 1972 AFC Championship Game (Which featured Miami on the road vs Pittsburgh in what was retroactively its first year of its dynasty) wasn't mentioned when talking about 1974 AFC Championship Game.
Also speaking of the 1972 AFC Championship Game, Miami Dolphins @ Oakland Raiders in the 1972 AFC Championship Game would have been great from a retroactive perspective (Although it's understandable why it wasn't included in the video.), as in the Early 70s (More specificity 1970 to 1974.), Miami & Oakland played each other 5 times, and each win had some sort of significance:
1970 Week 3, Oakland 13 @ Miami 20; Miami's first win against the Raiders in franchise history.
1970 AFC Divisional Round, Miami 14 @ Oakland 21; Miami's first postseason game in franchise history.
1973 Week 2, Miami 7 @ Oakland 12; Oakland snaps Miami's 18 game win streak (Then NFL record.) & does so without scoring a Touchdown.
1973 AFC Championship Game, Oakland 10 @ Miami 27; Miami's first (And to date only.) postseason win against the Raiders in franchise history.
1974 AFC Divisional Round, Miami 26 @ Oakland 28; Sea of Hands Game, Oakland ends Miami's 3peat dreams.
In all 5 of these games, the Home team won, so it's safe to say that had a Miami @ Oakland 1972 AFC Championship taken place, Oakland would have advanced to Super Bowl VII. Just makes the immaculate reception even more infuriating for Raiders fans, honestly.
Nice to see a fellow football historian as well. Yeah, honestly the Steelers (I'm a huge Steelers fan btw) were definitely way too early in 1972 and although it's the kickstart of the winning culture, the true turning point in them becoming the dynastic team of the 70s was THAT 1974 AFC Championship Game. Hell, the best player of the team (Mean Joe) literally said it.
As far as the Miami & Oakland matchup, it would've been intriguing as in the early 70s they were the best teams in the AFC with at the start of the decade the Colts were still dominant from there mid-late 60s & Unitas era (interesting looking at Unitas' career and how his dominant teams minus 2 happened before AND after the 60s Packers reign) and then by '74 Pittsburgh starting to really be a mainstay albeit even in '74 they were probably a "year too early" like the '92 Cowboys, '13 Seahawks and '81 Niners (looking at dominant teams where they built it from the ground up and became dynasties minus Seattle who had the closest shot to dethrone Pats 2 decade reign).
🔥🔥🔥🔥 great info brother greetings from south Florida
0:37 after 3 years of waiting, we finally got it
exactly bro that's what i was going to say also you might be wondering how i saw your comment
Recent 2023-24 ravens vs bills
Too bad Tyler Bass missed wide right
I was hoping the Bills-Chiefs game on a neutral site would take place, but that’s off the table now. I was hoping that the Colts-Patriots 2007 game would happen, but the Chargers shut down those plans for Indy in the divisional playoff game
We weren't the team at the end of this season that we were thru the first 6 weeks, unfortunately
Too bad the Bills and Colts choked
@@ChiefBlue4298 We didn't choke, we just weren't good enough unfortunately
the bills arent that good, & actually they were lucky when they beat miami in wildcard lol. Josh throw 2 int
@@brentfox6540 the Bills are the AFC Packers. 🤣
I always thought about 1986 NFC. The Giants and Bears were both 14-2 and the Bears were the defending SB champs...
This video is so awesome and entertaining, keep making more of these fantastic videos.
As a huge fan of the 85 Bears, I would have loved it if the Cowboys that year could have somehow gone into Anaheim and beaten the Rams in the divisional round and we'd have had a rematch with Tom Landry's team only a month or so after destroying them 44-0 in Dallas. Certainly wouldn't have been a greatest conference championship game ever, but I'd have love to have seen it. Not that I have any complaints about how things turned out, but getting another chance to destroy the Cowboys, only this time on national tv for a trip to the Super Bowl is something that makes me tingle.
It’s crazy that the 86 Defense was somehow statistically better than 85, but I think 86 was New York’s year. The Bears didn’t have the offense that year, as we saw in the video
1989 would have been a good one to add. 14-2 49ers vs 12-4 Giants was a highly anticipated matchup. Unfortunately the Rams came into Giants stadium and screwed everything up, only to get blown out 30-3 by SF the next week. But at least we got that matchup the following year.
Also, I don’t think many people were anticipating a SF vs GB matchup in 2011. If anything, it was Saints Packers that most people were expecting. It turned out to be a double loss, just like TB and GB last year.
IDK, some of these are irrelevant due to proximity. Like, we didn't really need another iteration of 49ers/Cowboys when they literally played three years in a row, with pretty much all the same players (save some folks like Deion). This is similar to the 1989 49ers/Giants, as the very next year both teams, with pretty much the same players (and literally the exact same records as their '89 outfits) met in the NFCCG, with the Giants winning a nail-biter.
So Giants would have had upset SF in 1989 and went on to win 3/5 championships the following year?
@@senorpedrosrooster that was arguably the greatest SF team ever. It would have definitely taken everything they had. If they did, there’s no doubt that they could have beaten the Broncos.
Steelers vs patriots for the 2017-18 afc Championship game
Hey this was another great idea for a video NFL Throwback. I thought you would miss the potential 1986 matchup between the Bears/Giants, but nothing seems to escape your gaze boss. A lot of of great games we never got to see. The 1979 Oilers/Steelers definitely sticks out, and I really would have liked to have seen what happened there. The amount of times Vernon Perry ends up in these retrospectives is a testament to how remarkable of a performance he had that day. A couple of other games I would have liked to have maybe seen would have been 2003 Chiefs/Patriots and 2006 Ravens/Chargers (even though we already had that earlier that season).
NO ONE wanted to see chiefs pats in 2003. The two best teams were clearly the colts and the pats. It was correct. Also people wanted to see the colts and the chargers in 2006. I would say if the ravens had a viable qb that year such as Flacco then it’d be a different story
@@mariosnum1fan But I'm sharing what I wanted to see. Not what everyone may have wanted.
@@astrostar49 My mistake🙏🏽 thank you for clarifying
@@mariosnum1fanKC was better built to play in cold weather in 03
@@chrisuncleahmad the colts were not built for cold weather at the time. 2003 afc champ game proved that the colts did not play well in cold environments. That said KC would play worse than the colts if they went to the afc champ game
Think a Brady-Jimmy G conference championship game would’ve been cool
A few that would have been good:
Hawks vs niners 2013(we got that the following year but it almost happened a year earlier if hawks didnt blow a late lead vs falcons after a huge comeback)
Hawks vs cowboys 2014(would have been a rematch of there great regular season matchup but dallas lost the round before in the Dez catch game to packers)
Saints vs eagles 2018(saints lost to vikings in the minneapolis miracle game)
Steelers vs patriots 2018(would have been a rematch of the jesse james catch/no catch game but steelers got lit up by jags)
Packers vs panthers 2015(would have been cool to see mvp cam vs rodgers but packers lost to cards in the larry fitz game where rodgers threw that hail mary to send it to ot)
Those are just some recent ones that come to mind
Those are all worse than the conference games we actually got
@DbgtFightNight nah vikes eagles was trash in 2018 and cards panthers was trash in 2015 those games were over by half
2007 pats were lucky to even make it to the super bowl. They barely snuck by a chargers team with no LT and with Rivers playing on a torn ACL
How is it possible Marino and Elway were in the same conference for 15 plus years and only played 3xs...the schedule makers failed NFL fans
Agreed. Plus two of those meetings came in Elway's last season in 1998.
It was just incredible bad luck the way their teams records from the year before determined next years schedule.
It just goes to show you how different the league was back then. Your teams fortunes didn’t rest solely on your quarterback. If you could run the ball, and stop the run, you were almost unbeatable.
The schedule makers were stupid like they always are.
Some others I'd add: 1991- Cowboys at Redskins (Cowboys handed Washington their first loss that season and it'd have been a hell of a lot more competitive than the Lions and Redskins)
1999- Colts at Jaguars- Brunell, Fred Taylor, Jimmy Smith vs Peyton, Edgerrin and Marvin Harrison
2006- Colts at Chargers- Peyton vs LT
2007- Packers at Cowboys- Favre vs Romo, one of them would've thrown an idiotic INT to win the game for the other team
'91 One would've been interesting although even then the Cowboys were way too young. Hell, even going into 1992 they were considered a "year away" just cause they still had the youngest team in the league (similar to some other dynasties & potential ones in '74 Steelers, '81 Niners, '13 Seahawks)
'99 Would've been interesting although the better team out of the 3 AFC juggernauts that year was the Titans. Considering a 14-2 Jags lost ALL 3 games to them
Too note on the Dallas one, pretty sure Aikman didn't start (he may have played) in the playoffs vs Lions (I know he didn't start or play vs. Bears) considering he started his playoff career 7-0, three behind Brady's 10-0 playoff career start and his first playoff loss coming in the '94 NFC title game
Not to mention the inherent allure of Redskins-Cowboys
@@emssasukeisunderrated7946 He didn't, Steve Beuerlien was. In fact Steve was the one that rallied the Cowboys to win that game against Washington
@@chadadams6052 Okay yeah that's what I thought. Even for being that young they were such a loaded team. If they didn't get hit by the original free agency bug, the Cowboys may had gotten another ring but at least a longer championship run besides 4 contending years, one upstart and one decline year
How about the weirdest Super Bowl matchups we almost got ? For example: Tampa Bay/Pittsburgh, 1980.
Jags/Panthers in 1996 would be at the top of that list I would imagine.
Vikings Jaguars in 2017
Bears vs Jets 2010
You almost got Oilers vs Rams in 80. Vernon Perry would have been league MVP if that happened 🤣
Eagles/Steelers could have happened on three separate occasions in the 2000s, but one or both lost their conference championship every time.
Cowboys Seahawks 2014-15
Steelers Pats in 2017-18. Whole year all anyone was talking about was if the steelers could beat the pats, and then the Jesse James game happened which was so crucial for home field in the AFC. Jags beat the Steelers in the divisional round to go to the AFC chip game instead
Steelers and Patriots played the AFC title game the year prior in 2016, but Pittsburgh was better in 2017
That was critical because if Jessie James’ catch was touchdown, PIT would have instead hosted Tennessee (whom they blew out on a TNF in November). And how does Jags/Pats play out a round earlier?
It's funny that we ended up getting Mahomes-Jackson with them each being the last two MVPs
Yea when I thought of these, immediately I went to all-time great teams/storylines such as:
1974 - Steelers vs Dolphins (team of 70s vs. first dynasty of the 70s)
2007 - Colts vs Pats (Honestly best Colts & Pats teams of the decade. 05 Colts were great but defensively it was their best team and they had a HoF kicker here in Vinatieri)
1986 - Bears vs Giants (2 best defenses of the era and how does TWO 14-2 teams NOT make it?)
2019 - Chiefs vs Ravens
1979 - Steelers vs Chargers (how the Chargers didn't go and win the SB that year is crazy. They were clearly better than even my Steelers)
1995 - 49ers vs Cowboys (Niners were honestly better than Dallas even in that year but lost to rising Packers)
Only omissions that came to mind were:
2017 - Steelers vs Pats (best Steelers team of late Big Ben's career and we should've beat them earlier that year!)
1989 - Giants vs 49ers (coulda got the thriller a year before but with Simms at QB)
2011 - 49ers vs Packers or Saints vs Packers
2012 - Broncos vs Pats
2012 - Seahawks vs 49ers (the two hottest teams down the stretch and Hawks beat them like 42-10 late in the year. They should've beat Atlanta too)
1998 - Minnesota vs. 49ers
That 86 nfccg would have been really interesting
Don't like the Pats but man watching Brady and Moss in 07 was so awesome. Still can't believe they lost in SB.
Dang Colts and Patriots at Foxboro on ‘08 would’ve been a dream. Remember colts had a great defense with Bob Sanders as defensive
Player of the year!
Great defense? They lost to a backup quarterback on a 4th quarter drive...
@@ManEFresh but remember Peyton turnover the ball too
@@terucks Both of them were tipped from Reggie Wayne and the running back to where rookie Eric Weddle made an insane catch.
@@ManEFresh the colts had the number one ranked defense in 2007
Yeah sadly indy ran into the Chargers in the playoffs that year. SD’s run game always controlled the clock and limited possessions against Peyton back then, and the 3-4 defense always gave him fits.
Really think the 08 colts could have gave the Steelers a good fight in the playoffs that year with Brady out, but ran into SD again.
Freeney was out in ‘07 so they didn’t have a pass rush, don’t think they coulda went to NE to beat the 16-0 team.
As a partisan of one of the teams, I prefer the actual outcome, but what about Redskins vs. Cowboys in the '91 NFC Championship Game...
- It's Redskins-Cowboys
- Veteran legendary Best Team Ever vs. young rising dynasty
- Dallas had beaten 11-0 Washington on the road two months earlier (Jerry Jones has said that going into RFK and beating the '91 Redskins was when he knew they would be special), whereas Detroit - which at the time hadn't beaten the Redskins since the '50s and NEVER in DC - had lost 45-0 in Week 1
With all due respect to the 1991 Redskins, there were two teams they were very fortunate they didn't play in the playoffs that year and they were both from Texas. With the 49ers missing the playoffs that year, the only NFC team capable of going into RFK and beating that great Redskins team in the playoffs was the Cowboys, who knew the Redskins very well. We saw how the Falcons and Lions matched up. The domed Saints were certainly not going to do it and the Bears were just hanging on at this point. The Cowboys were the only NFC team capable of as Jimmy Johnson said "taking down the big gorilla."
The other team the Redskins were very fortunate they didn't have to play was the Oilers in the Super Bowl. Thanks to another Miracle Elway drive and Houston squandering a big lead, the Oilers were knocked out of the round in the divisional playoffs. But in the regular season, they were the one and only team that kept Mark Rypien from having a passing touchdown. They had one of the few secondaries in the NFL capable of shutting down Monk, Clark, and Sanders. And with the Superbowl being played in the Metrodome that year, the Oilers run and shoot offense would have had a real shot at taking home the Lombardi if they had managed to make it to the Super Bowl. I can remember both my dad and my brother, who were Redskins fans, were very happy when the Broncos came back and won that divisional round game because neither of them wanted to see Houston in the Super Bowl that year.
@@DinnersOnSaturday Houston squandering big playoff leads, as normal as the sky is blue lol.
But yeah, outside of Dallas, pretty much no team in 1991 that made the postseason was capable of beating them. I don't think anyone took the Lions seriously. Had San Francisco made the postseason though, things could've gotten VERY interesting. They were 11-5 with a point differential way over 100+. Still don't know how they missed the postseason, considering they earned the #1 seed in 1990 (year before) and 1992 (year after).
Nah, Aikman wouldn’t have played, and that Dallas team was still one year away from being great.
@joemamma137 The Redskins-worshipping 9-year-old I was in January 1992 definitely would've preferred your in-game analysis to mine😂...but my Historic Rivalry and young team on the rise vs. going for their 3rd championship in a decade points still stand.
@@jaxonwoods8181 San Francisco is one of the only other teams that had a shot of beating the Redskins in the playoffs that year if they had gotten in. They had trouble with team chemistry in the begining of the year with Steve Young now as the #1 guy, but by the end of the year they had won 5 straight and were playing some of the hottest football in the NFL including wins over the playoff bound Saints, Chiefs, and a total thrashing of the Bears in week 16. Not saying they would have won, but I think the Redskins would have had their hands full with them and the Cowboys, certainly a lot more than they did with the Falcons and Lions.
Joe Gibbs needed to thank Jerry Glanville that year for making his playoff run a lot more easier. First, it was the Falcons who knocked the 49ers out of the playoffs thanks to their season sweep, including the infamous hail mary play to Michael Haynes. Had the 49ers won just one of those games they'd have been in and Atlanta would have been out. Second, when the Falcons upset the Saints in the wildcard round, it meant that them, not the Cowboys, would be going to RFK to play the Redskins. So thanks to Jerry Glanville's Falcons and the 2 ligit to quit gang, the Redskins avoided having to play both the Cowboys and 49ers in the playoffs that year.
The 2022 AFC championship game between the bills and chiefs would have been epic.
It would have been had the Bengals and Bills contest in the regular season not been canceled. That conference championship would have been held in Atlanta at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. By the way, one championship I would have wanted would probably be Pittsburgh and New England in the 2005-06 playoffs. This was the beginning of Ben Roethlisberger’s long career and while it did happen some time later down the road, I would have thought it would have been a treat to see them face each other while Big Ben was still in adjusting to big leagues.
Minnesota vs. San Francisco in 1998. Wonder how would Steve Young fare against Elway that year should they have had advanced to the championship.
2019 The Ravens go The Super Bowl. The Chiefs couldn’t stop the run. It would’ve been ugly.
Its so true. That Titans game as well as the Colts game in 06 broke the Ravens. Billick never recovered from the first devastating loss, and Harbaugh might be heading in that direction.
What if playoff matchups (in general):
1973 NFC Championship: Vikings @ Rams (mentioned)
1974 AFC Championship: Dolphins @ Steelers (mentioned)
1976 NFC Championship: Cowboys @ Vikings (mentioned)
1979 AFC Championship: Steelers @ Chargers (mentioned)
1980 NFC Championship: Eagles @ Falcons
1982/1983/1985 AFC Championship: Dolphins @ Raiders
1984 AFC Championship: Broncos @ Dolphins (mentioned)
1984 NFC Championship: Redskins @ 49ers (mentioned)
1985 AFC Divisional: Broncos @ Raiders (if 11 win Denver made the playoffs over New England and beat the Jets)
1986 AFC Divisional: Seahawks @ Browns (if Seattle made the playoffs over Kansas City and definitely beat the Jets without Ken O'Brien)
1986 NFC Championship: Bears @ Giants (mentioned)
1988 NFC Championship/1990 NFC Divisional: Eagles @ 49ers (48 vs. Montana)
1989 NFC Championship: Giants @ 49ers (the year before it actually happened)
1991 NFC Divisional: Eagles/49ers @ Lions (either one of these two teams beat New Orleans in the wild card if they made playoffs over Falcons)
1993 AFC Championship: Oilers @ Bills (mentioned)
1995/1997 AFC Championship: Steelers @ Chiefs
1995 NFC Championship: 49ers @ Cowboys (mentioned)
1996 AFC Championship: Patriots @ Broncos
1999 AFC Championship: Jaguars @ Colts
2003 NFC Championship: Rams @ Eagles
2007 AFC Championship: Colts @ Patriots (mentioned)
2009 NFC Divisional Round/2011 NFC Championship/2019 NFC Divisional Round/2020 NFC Championship: Saints vs. Packers (how did we never get a Brees vs. Rodgers playoff matchup?)
2009 AFC Championship: Chargers @ Colts
2010 AFC Wild Card: Ravens @ Chargers (if their historically bad special teams didn't lose them a game)
2011 NFC Championship: 49ers @ Packers (mentioned) / Giants @ Saints (Eli vs. Brees 4 years earlier in playoffs)
2012/2014 AFC Championship: Patriots @ Broncos
2014 NFC Championship: Cowboys @ Seahawks
2016 NFC Championship: Falcons @ Cowboys
2017 AFC Championship: Steelers @ Patriots (rematch)
2019 AFC Championship: Chiefs @ Ravens (mentioned)
2021 AFC Championship: Bengals @ Bills (if the Bills didn't play prevent defense against Mahomes in 13 seconds)
2021 NFC Championship: Buccaneers @ Packers (mentioned)
2022 AFC Championship: Bills @ Chiefs (mentioned)
I always wanted an all Manning Superbowl. Eli vs Peyton.
Closest we got was 2007
The fact that we got Sea of Hands out of this ain’t so bad
The NFL thinking about a Rodgers vs 49ers battle. But I wanna know how that Rodgers vs Brees battle would’ve been in 2011
It really didn't come all that close to happening since both teams choked going 1 and done but a 49ers (13-2)/Saints (12-3) NFC Title Game in 1987 would've been awesome!
Great topic to talk about. I have almost no complaints except maybe Rams Vikings in '73. The Cowboys were a worthy contender, while Minnesota and LA would later on meet up four times in the playoffs during the seventies ('74, '76, '77, '78).
Two I would nominate,
1968 - The 13-1 Baltimore Colts were the class of the league and beat the Browns for the NFL title (the one team to beat them in the regular season). But they could've faced a 12-2 Dallas squad poised to finally assume the championship throne vacated by Lombardi. It would've been the #1 Baltimore defense versus the #1 Dallas offense in the NFL title game (eventually became the NFC championship).
1996 - Dallas was the defending champs and still had a mystique around them, while Green Bay was the current favorite and #1 seed. Dallas had owned every matchup so far in the nineties, including three straight playoff wins ('93-'95). Everyone anticipated another rematch in the NFC title game, but Dallas came out flat and lost to the second year expansion Panthers in the divional round.
Surprised 96 Cowboys-Packers didn’t make it. Defending champs vs. team on the rise. I think that was the year that SI put Favre on the cover with the headline “Bring on the Cowboys”. Nobody saw Carolina coming.
I don't know if I agree with the Steelers vs Dolphins 1974, because The Raiders were the best team record wise in the AFC that year at 12-2 including a 17-0 win at Pittsburgh during the season.
Also the Steelers and dolphins played in the AFC Championship game in 1972 so it's not like people didn't see that match up before in the playoffs.
I hope the 05’ bengals, are on here. Since that team was loaded and our best shot at winning it all before the past 2 yrs 🥺
I agree if Palmer didn't break his leg
the rodgers/brady narrative is so funny to see them try to make them look like equals. Rodgers got dominated against San Fran and they framed it as being all about special teams.. then they showed all Brady's lowlights against the Rams and said he "didn't fair much better" dismissing the miraculous comeback he pulled out of a hat and put up like 4 Touchdowns compared to Aaron being held to like 10 points. I don't care how many MVPs he wins or how good he looks when he's beating up on the Chicago Bears in week 10, Rodgers is not a particularly good leader and not the player Tom Brady was.
Brady vs. Rodgers should've ended after 2018 when, at the helm of similarly talented teams, the latter went 6-9-1 while the former won the Super Bowl.
@@TPTGopher It should have ended before Rodgers career started and Brady had 3 super bowls 🤣
It wouldn't have mattered anyway, we all know what would've happened: a repeat of the year before. Rodgers choking in the playoffs like usual, and Brady breaking hearts and taking names like usual.
Lets be real, we’re all glad Bucs vs Packers part 2 didn’t happen
“Those guys (the Patriots) didn’t seem too interested in tackling Derrick Henry. I think our mindset is a little different.”
Never forget Earl Thomas saying this the week before the Titans-Ravens game. That loss will forever haunt me as a Ravens fan.
Well Corey Ivy said that the Ravens 06 D wouldn't give up as many rushing yards as the Colts did. The Ravens allowed 98 yards rushing in that playoff game. The Colts allowed 32.
Honestly, for I'd go the other way (Texans-Titans)...Houston going for its first SB against the team that abandoned it would've been a great storyline.
@@michaelhession2105 while thats true, thats not why they lost. They lost because McNair was awful and could only produce 6 pta wasting an amazing performance by their defense.
@@aaronjackson9385 Yeah. That pick McNair threw in the endzone to Nick Harper was an absolute killer. He like Billick never really recovered from that loss. I'm fearing that Harbaugh hasn't recovered from the loss in 2019.
@@michaelhession2105 yea that really sucked. What a colossal letdown. I loved that defense. Like you said, that was pretty much the end of Brian Billick.
There are a few more in the 90s that could've been put here. '98 how about Vikings vs 49ers instead of Vikings/Falcons? Atlanta of course upset Vikings but barely squeaked by 49ers 20-18 and NFC title game would've had Rice, Owens and Moss.
Also '96 Cowboys/Packers instead of Panthers/Packers. Panthers got the bye their 2nd season and beat defending champ Dallas at home, but Cowboys/Packers would've been intriguing since Cowboys eliminated Pack previous 3 years and this match would've been in Green Bay (all 3 Dallas wins were at home).
Also '96 Broncos/Patriots instead of Jaguars/Patriots. Of course at that time Elway hadn't won a Super Bowl yet and Jags winning was huge upset. Denver would've hosted too. Both conference title games weren't that close.
Who's here after we got a jackson vs mahomes when the ravens had the top seed, Mahomes won MVP the year before, and Lamar is going to win MVP in the year of?
Burrow vs Mahomes is about to be the new Brady vs Mahomes rivalry
SB42: Manning vs. Manning
As a Ravens fan, I have never liked Tennessee but I to this day despise them!!!!!! They had their MOJO and it caught Baltimore off guard.
It was payback for ruining their #1 seed back in 2000.
Great video! So many video ideas you could make from this round. I would love to see a video on the best teams to never make the conference championship game.
2018 AFCCG could have been the epic Chiefs vs Chargers rivalry if they hadn’t let New England curb-stomp them
How about Packers vs Saints in 2011 and even 2021. We never got a Rodgers vs Brees matchup in the playoffs which is wild to think about.
I don't know why people dream of the Colts vs The Patriots? It would've ended the same way it always did: Peyton choking in the end with the Colts losing
Uhm, that didn't happen in the 2006 AFC championship game.
@@DinnersOnSaturday Or the 2013, 2015 AFC Championship. Wait a minute…. That means he beat the Patriots would times than not in the playoffs 😮
11:50 Perry was literally gift wrapped 4 of those interceptions via Dan haha im sure he’s just as confused but not enough credit was ever given to the Oilers defensive scheme adjusting for their pass beautifully. They made Dan look through routes down progression across the linebackers and it became clear he was NOT comfortable throwing there having set in the pocket a few seconds already
Brady Vs manning wish we saw one
Exactly 🤦🏿♂️
They played against each other in like 4 AFC title games what are you talking about?
@@JackWelsh34 not sure they did; would have been great to see
Manning with a chance to end the Patriots undefeated season in 2007
Actually, Brady and Manning played in AFC title game 5 times. Brady has a 3-2 edge.
This is a nice sequel to your super bowls video about this 5 years back. Thanks guys.
Can't believe they put 2022 Bills vs Cheifs on here. Quit crying about the Bills. Here are some underrated matchups that could have happened in the championship game.
2012 49ers vs Seahawks - Seahawks were so close to knocking out the 1 seed Falcons until they got into field goal range last second for the walk off win. They met 1 year later with Seattle having the home field. Imagine if they met 1 year earlier and we got 2 championship games between the Harbaugh 49ers vs Legion of Boom Seahawks.
2014 Cowboys vs Seahawks - The Cowboys went to Seattle earlier in the season and beat them. Some folks believed if they met again, they could beat them again. Unfortunately Dez "catch" happened then Green Bay blew a lead to Seattle.
2016 Falcons vs Cowboys -
Maybe the best chance the Dak Cowboys will ever get close to a championship game. They came back from a big lead against the Packers. But it took a miracle catch by Jared Cook leading to the game winning field goal for the Packers to hold off the surging Cowboys. If the Cowboys did win, do they put up a better fight against the Falcons then how the Packers got blown out by them?
2019 49ers vs Seahawks - The 2 games in the regular season between these 2 teams were wild. They were surely destined to meet a 3rd time in the playoffs right? Seattle ended up losing to Green Bay who got blown out by the 49ers next week. Seattle might have put up a better fight against the 49ers than the Packers did.
2017 Pats vs Steelers. Steelers got knocked out by the Jags in divisional
It seems like even watching Lamar run and throw, it is evident that he has lost so much of his old explosiveness
To be fair he did bulk up about 10-15lbs this past season
That 2011 Packers team is still the biggest let down. Rodgers had 5 weapons at WR and TE, they’re offense was scary good. Oh what could have been.
Well, we finally got #1 but it turned out to be a dud. And I would like to add 1975 Cardinals to this discussion. A Cowboys/Cardinals divisional NFC Title Game would have been intriguing. They played 2 thriller games in the regular season splitting those games and had the Cards gotten past the Rams(and Jim Hart forgetting that Jack Youngblood wasn't on his team) the Cards would have hosted their first ever playoff game in St. Louis and we could have gotten to see Air Coryell in the big game for the first time. Instead we got another Rams/Cowboys snoozefest.
You can't tell me that drew Pearson didn't shove the Vikings defender away to catch the hail Mary
The real miracle was that non-call.
How about 2017 - Steelers losing to the Jaguars and not getting a rematch with NE
Yeah but Brady absolutely owned Big Ben for more than 15 years. It would have been more of the same. If anything, 2010 would have been the best year for pit to take them out.
@@joemamma137 That's why that year is crazy, Pitt had just played them, had them beat except for the call on the catch. We now know that absolutely was a catch. Pitt beat them the very next year too. Jax almost beat that NE team that year, but they called Myles Jack down 😮💨
The 70s way of hosting NFL playoff games was dumb. Instead of seeds, the league pre-determined which divisions would host playoff games that year. The Rams in ‘73 having to go to Dallas despite 12-2? The ‘72 Dolphins playing all their AFC postseason games on the road despite being perfect? Dumb. So glad that got scraped by the middle part of that decade.
You're kinda right. It was only the conference championship game sites that were predetermined by division. The Divisional Round was hosted by the higher seed
@@MichaelMurphy-kj3xf then why did undefeated Miami play the 72 AFC title game at Three Rivers?
@@aaronjackson9385 Read what I wrote
@@MichaelMurphy-kj3xf i read it wrong. My apologies. I was up early reading at 5am preparing for work. Sorry about that.
@@aaronjackson9385 No sweat. Peace
Aaron Rodgers poops his pants in the playoffs
Cowboys-Falcons 2016
My god A pats Colts Championship game would’ve been crazy. That’s literally what every fan was rooting for outside of the teams that both teams were playing against wanted lol
2018 Eagles vs Rams.
Eagles the defending champs Vs The team that injured their would of been MVP QB the year before. That results in a rematch 🦅 vs Patriots the Birds repeat as Champs. Nick Foles gets another statue.
Titans-Ravens game was BEYOND rigged. How that first TD for the Titans stood is mind boggling.
09 Colts/Chargers round 3 could of happened but Kaeding had yips missing 3 FG's in loss to Jets
the 49ers got hosed by the officiating against the redskins in the 83 nfc title game
And against the giAnts in 2011
I still would rather have the Giants spoil the Packers season in 2011 rather than the 49ers. We know how the nfc championship would have went.
You know what would've been even more interesting with that last one? If the Colts (somehow) beat the Patriots, we get Colts vs Giants, or more specifically... Peyton vs Eli. In the *Super Bowl.* Yes please.
Imma keep it a Buck. If Rodgers met against the 49ers in the 2011 NFC Title Game, his ass would’ve been grass from that point on. I mean he’s winless against them in the postseason since 2013. So it wouldn’t really matter how it’ll play out
To be honest 98 Vikings in the 04 Steelers are teams that I wish made it all the way… in a perfect world they’d be Super Bowl champions of their seasons
Thanks that brought back some great memories
The 90s oilers could've played the Bills three straight times in the postseason in 1991 they lost to elway and the Broncos
Epic video, would've been cool to see more Buffalo matchups but it be like that
Nah in 2011 I wanted to see Saints and Giants. Saints would've obliterated them in the superdome
4:32 The Bills didn’t deserve to win that game. On one touchdown play, the receiver went out of bounds and then got the touchdown. Had that not been scored, Buffalo would’ve lost.
I hope this NFL narrator stays forever...he's good!
You can make a very good argument that if Rivers has his legs, San Diego beats New England. So I think SD was just a better team.
San Diego wins the Super Bowl if their stars (LT, Gates, Rivers) are all healthy. It's baffling how they never made the Super Bowl in their window from 2004-2011.
Super Bowl match ups we didn't get to see
Hey ya all Jesus loves you! Hope that news makes your day better have a good one!
Dallas was very fortunate the 49ers lost their last regular season game in 95. Dallas was reeling & San Fran was already in their heads by that point.
Yes! Dallas was never the same after that 95 season. But I saw the cracks during that year. Their defense stayed great, but their offense suddenly became stoppable. They were absolutely dominated by Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. So lucky for the two interceptions. And so lucky that the Packers beat the 49ers in the divisional round. For whatever reason, the Aikman Cowboys always had Bret Favre’s number.
Breaking News in that 2022 AFC Championship
KC finally got past Cincinnati 23-20 on a game-winning field goal to send the Kelce Brothers to Super Bowl LVII
The Kc come back wasn’t a miracle, it was pretty crazy but they came back from 24-0 in the start of the 2nd quarter and by halftime had taken the lead.
I really hope it's not too late for Jackson vs Mahomes.
22:49 the kick was muffed, not blocked.
Greatest Super Bowl we never got to see, 49ers vs Bills , anytime from late 80’s to early 90’s. Just ask Chris Berman. I also would’ve like to see the 2000 Ravens vs The Vikings or Rams offense.
The 2000 Ravens would have beaten either the Vikings or Rams. They played three Top 10 offenses in the playoffs that year (Broncos, Raiders, Giants) and crushed all three of them. I get that the Vikings had Culpepper, Moss, Carter, Robert Smith, and Jake Reed, and the Rams had the Greatest Show on Turf, but no one was beating that 2000 Raven D. NO ONE!
Wrong. Best Super Bowl we never got to see was in 1998. Vikings vs. Broncos.
@@michaelhession2105 I don’t see them beating The Rams. Sorry.
@@michaelhession2105 Ravens defeat the Vikings I agree, but not STL. Warner's quick passing and Faulk would've neutralized Baltimore's 4-man rush.
@@jaxonwoods8181 I disagree. The Ravens would have done the same thing to the Rams that the Patriots did. Beat the tar out of their receivers and setbacks and screw up the timing.