Even before the 2025 NFL playoffs kicked off on Saturday, the field looked different.
How would the first postseason without Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning since 1998 feel? After a wild-card slate full of late-game heroics and quirky stat lines, exciting is an understatement.
Here’s a recap of the past three days, summarized by the most surprising/bizarre/record-setting stat lines that made for one of the most interesting opening weekends in postseason history.
Lead changes and close calls
The late-game action was unprecedented. There were 12 fourth-quarter lead changes over the weekend, a record for any postseason in its entirety, per NFL researcher Jack Andrade — and we’re only through the wild-card round.
That record was actually set after the first four games, with the New England Patriots-Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans-Pittsburgh Steelers matchups giving us a more tame ending to the weekend.
The Los Angeles Rams-Carolina Panthers and Buffalo Bills-Jacksonville Jaguars games each saw four lead changes in the fourth quarter (tied for the most ever in a playoff game), while there were three fourth-quarter lead changes in the San Francisco 49ers-Philadelphia Eagles game and one in the Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers rematch. Those late-game heroics led to four comeback wins in the final three minutes, more than any other postseason.
Four wild-card games were decided by one score or less.
Road teams finished 4-2, the best record for visiting teams on wild-card weekend since the league expanded to a 14-team field in 2020. There was also the first postseason road win in Texans franchise history.
Comeback (or cardiac) Bears
About those comebacks, the Bears overcame an 18-point deficit to beat the Packers, which was the largest comeback in a postseason game in Chicago franchise history and also the most in an NFL playoff game since the 2022 postseason (when the Jags came back from 27 points down to beat the Chargers).
Chicago scored 25 points in the fourth quarter to make it happen, which makes the Bears just the third team in NFL history to score at least 25 points in the fourth quarter of a postseason game (1934 New York Giants and 1993 Eagles), per the team’s Larry Mayer.
Even wilder: The Bears didn’t have a single snap on offense against the Packers with the lead in all three of their matchups this season, yet Chicago won the series 2-1. Coach Ben Johnson has more wins against the Packers in his first season in charge than each of his four predecessors had in their entire tenures.
MVP stat breakers
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and Patriots quarterback Drake Maye are favorites for the league’s MVP award, and last weekend both earned spots in their franchise’s postseason record books.
Maye’s 37-yard run in the second quarter against the Chargers was the longest by a Patriots quarterback in postseason history. He finished the win with 10 carries for 66 yards, the most by a Patriots QB in a postseason game (previous best was Steve Grogan with 35 yards at Oakland on Dec. 18, 1976).
Stafford, on the other hand, set Rams career records for postseason passing yards and touchdowns. In his fifth year in Los Angeles, the quarterback passed Kurt Warner in both categories during the first quarter of the win over the Panthers. Warner had 2,221 postseason passing yards and 16 touchdowns. With the Rams headed to the divisional round, Stafford has 2,392 postseason passing yards and 18 touchdowns.
A perfect passer
Speaking of quarterbacks, San Francisco 49ers receiver Jauan Jennings is the first player in NFL history with a perfect 153.8 passer rating in multiple playoff games for the same team, per Andrade. He’s also the only non-QB of the Super Bowl era to register multiple touchdown passes in a postseason career.
On the first play of the fourth quarter against the Eagles, the Niners pulled out a trick play, with Jennings finding Christian McCaffrey deep for a 29-yard touchdown that helped give San Francisco the lead.
Jennings completed more passes over 15 air yards (one) than opposing quarterback Jalen Hurts did all game (0-for-5). Even more fun: He also broke a tie with Manning for the most perfect passer rating playoff games by a Tennessee alum (Manning had just one), per Andrade.
Jennings also threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to McCaffrey in the second quarter of the 49ers’ Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Feb. 11, 2024. It makes Jennings a perfect 2-for-2 passer in the NFL, as he has no regular-season attempts in his six professional seasons.
There’s a reason Jennings looks comfortable slinging it. He was ranked as the No. 5 dual-threat quarterback coming out of high school in the Class of 2015, per 247Sports. He was ranked ahead of, among others: current Seahawk Sam Darnold (No. 6), current Bengal Joe Burrow (No. 7) and current Raven Lamar Jackson (No. 9).
Looking ahead
Three NFC West teams are in the divisional round (the top-seeded Seahawks, plus the Rams and 49ers). This is the fourth time in the history of the divisional round that one division has three teams in the field, and in all three previous instances one of those three teams advanced to the Super Bowl, per Fox Sports.
Those other instances include the 2022 NFC East (Giants, Cowboys and Eagles), the 1997 NFC Central (Vikings, Buccaneers and Packers), and the 1993 NFC East (Eagles, Redskins and Cowboys).
The most unfamiliar divisional-round foes are the Rams and Bears, who last met in the postseason in the 1985 NFC Championship. Chicago won 24-0 and ended up with the franchise’s first and only Super Bowl ring.
For Rams coach Sean McVay, Sunday’s divisional round game will be his 15th playoff game as a head coach. As noted by CBS Sports’ John Breech, those 15 games have come against 15 different opponents. The full rundown: Falcons (2017); Cowboys, Saints, Patriots (2018); Seahawks, Packers (2020); Cardinals, Buccaneers, 49ers, Bengals (2021); Lions (2023); Vikings, Eagles (2024); Panthers, Bears (2025).
Should the Rams win Sunday, McVay will finally have his first playoff rematch, as Los Angeles will face either the Seahawks or 49ers. The only two NFC teams the Rams have yet to face in the playoffs are the Giants and Commanders.