The 32 things we learned from the divisional round of the 2025 NFL playoffs:
0. The number of takeaways the Chicago Bears had in these playoffs, likely a large reason they’re no longer in them. Chicago led the league with 33 in the regular season on its way to capturing the NFC North crown.
1. The number of times the San Francisco 49ers have lost in the divisional round under Kyle Shanahan, that decisively occurring in Saturday night’s 41-6 defeat to the Seattle Seahawks. In the Niners’ four previous playoff trips with their coach, they’d always advanced at least as far as the NFC championship game.
2. The number of quarterbacks to make their first start of a season in the conference championship round − once the Denver Broncos’ Jarrett Stidham joins Roger Staubach, the Hall of Famer doing so in the 1972 season. TBD if Stidham, who’s taking over for injured Bo Nix (broken ankle) and will make his fifth-ever NFL start next Sunday, has better luck than Staubach, whose Dallas Cowboys lost 26-3 to Washington.
3. The number of times the Seahawks have been the NFC’s No. 1 seed prior to these playoffs. In every previous instance, Seattle has ultimately reached the Super Bowl.
4. As in the number of teams still vying to play on Super Sunday, the top-seeded Seahawks and Broncos joined Sunday by the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams. Since the 2013 season, all four franchises have played in multiple Super Bowls, each winning at least one − though none have gotten that far since the Rams won Super Bowl 56 four years ago.
5. The number of fumbles (two lost) and interceptions committed by Houston Texans QB C.J. Stroud over the past two games. No other player has done that in one postseason in NFL history.
6. The number of playoff games this year − of the 10 played − that have been decided by four or fewer points. Bravo, NFL.
7. The number of times the Texans have appeared in the divisional round in the history of their 24 seasons. Houston has yet to win there and remains the only NFL franchise to never advance to a conference championship game.
8. The number of playoff wins Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen has − the most in league history by a quarterback who’s never played in the Super Bowl.
9. The number of consecutive divisional round games won by the Patriots, a league record and one that dates to the 2011 season.
10. San Francisco saw its streak of seven straight divisional round victories come to an end.
11. It won’t detract from what’s expected to be an MVP season, but Rams QB Matthew Stafford didn’t throw a touchdown pass Sunday night, snapping a string of eight consecutive playoff appearances during which Stafford had thrown multiple TDs − one shy of matching the league record.
12. It won’t detract from what could be an Offensive Player of the Year season, but Niners RB Christian McCaffrey didn’t score a touchdown Saturday night, snapping a string of eight consecutive playoff appearances during which CMC had found the end zone − one shy of matching the league record.
13.Chicago QB Caleb Williams’ game-tying TD pass to TE Cole Kmet near the end of regulation Sunday night covered 51.2 air yards per the league’s Next Gen Stats.
14. The number of yards − officially − Williams’ throw traveled.
15. The number of different franchises Rams coach Sean McVay has faced in his 15 postseason games. Seattle will become his first repeat playoff opponent in next Sunday’s NFC championship game. McVay is 10-5 in the playoffs.
16. The Patriots are headed to their 16th conference championship game. Only the49ers (19) have played in more.
17. Talk about restoring order − since the New York Jets last made the playoffs, reaching the 2010 AFC championship game, the Patriots and/or Kansas City Chiefs have appeared in all of the conference’s title games.
18. With New England, Chicago, Seattle and Denver hosting games over the weekend, this marked the first time since 2010 that all four home teams in the divisional round differed from the four in the previous postseason.
19. And prayers up to the Arizona Cardinals, who are still in search of their next head coach, as they try to make headway in a division that saw its other three teams playing this weekend.
20. And, ICYMI, the Atlanta Falcons hired two-time Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski on Saturday. No better way to avoid national coverage of a major − and laudable − organizational move than to announce it during a playoff doubleheader.
21. The number of playoff wins the Patriots now have at Gillette Stadium, the most by a team in one venue in league history.
22. New England had better remember to cover Frank Crum next weekend. Wait, who?
23. Shoutout to All-Pro Bears G Joe Thuney, who kicked out to left tackle Sunday against the Rams and anchored a unit that didn’t allow a sack of Williams − and against an excellent pass rushing unit. Thuney, who took over for injured Ozzy Trapilo, has made the move in the past − despite his suboptimal measurables for the position − and earned Offensive Player of the Year votes for doing so with the Chiefs in 2024.
24. Shoutout to Chicago’s Colston Loveland, whose 193 receiving yards are a record for a rookie tight end in a single postseason.
25. Stidham, who was drafted nearly seven years ago by the Tom Brady-era Patriots, is at least accustomed to filling big shoes. He replaced then-Las Vegas Raiders QB Derek Carr for his first two NFL starts in 2022, then replaced then-Broncos QB Russell Wilson for his next two starts in 2023.
26. Super Bowl 52 MVP Nick Foles isn’t worried about Stidham.
27. How about the 2024 draft class of quarterbacks? Next Sunday, New England’s Drake Maye will join Nix, Williams, and the Washington Commanders’ Jayden Daniels with multiple playoff starts − all occurring within their first two seasons.
28. How about the 2018 draft class of quarterbacks? Remarkably, Seattle’s Sam Darnold − drafted third overall by the Jets nearly eight years ago − could be its first to reach a Super Bowl, even though Allen, Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield have enjoyed far more personal success to date than Darnold, who’s currently with his fifth squad.
29. Darnold, the only quarterback to win at least 14 regular-season games in consecutive years but with different teams, is also the first since Brady to start postseason games for different franchises in successive years.
30. Here’s to wishing a future Lombardi Trophy to Allen and his Bills, if only to spare him a legacy of being included among the ‘best to never win a championship.’
31. Speaking of legacy-making opportunities, only Stafford − remember when his Detroit Lions lost to the Jets 48-17 in Darnold’s debut to open the 2018 campaign − has won a Super Bowl among the four quarterbacks who will start next weekend.
32. So let’s enjoy the infusion of new blood, Stafford notwithstanding, the upcoming championship weekend set to be the first in 15 years devoid of Brady and/or Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, who is missing his first AFC title game since becoming the Chiefs’ QB1 in 2018.
