The AFC and NFC have had their battles over the season, but the NFC has a slight advantage this year, winning 41 games to the AFC’s 39 in their conference battles.
However, some fans may say the AFC has a more difficult and competitive division for teams due to records being so close.
East football coach Tyson Leblanc, a Broncos fan, has high hopes for a deep playoff run and is ready to hopefully see some success.
“The team finally has talent on both sides of the ball. I would love to see them go all the way, but they have many great teams to go through to achieve the Lombardi,” Leblanc said.
The Denver Broncos have had an outstanding season, winning the AFC West for the first time in a decade and finishing with a record of 14-3. However, their 3 losses have come from AFC opponents, which supports the common theory comparing AFC and NFC competitiveness.
Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton tends not focus solely on out-of-conference losses, but primarily on winning those in conference losses to ‘establish dominance’ for the road to Super Bowl games.
In response to being asked about zero NFC losses, “We lost the ones that matter. The Bills are a great team that we may see down the line. We have to have those,” Payton said.
On the other hand, many disappointed fans from fanbases such as the Lions are frustrated with how mediocre teams with worse records, like the Carolina Panthers, are still considered playoff contenders. The Panthers boast a losing record, but still make the playoffs because of their weakened divisions, which many deem ‘unfair’.
Lions fan senior Kameron Williams pointed out that a team like the Panthers, which has a worse record than the Lions, is excluded from the playoffs despite being bottom tier in a tougher division.
“I think it makes no sense at all. Our entire division (4 teams) has a better record than Carolina, but only 2 teams from our division make it?” Williams said.
The Panthers look to host the Rams again at Bank of America Stadium on Jan. 11 to advance to the wild-card round. Which is also interesting given the Rams hold 4 more wins over the Panthers but are technically the ‘Underdogs’.
As the playoffs begin to unfold, there will be no question on which conference is ‘better’ when they meet in the Super Bowl next month.
Written by seniors Noah Snow and David Garcia. Edited by staff writers for Oswego East’s online news magazine The Howl.