NFL PLAYOFFS
Which NFL Wild Card qualifying teams have won the Super Bowl?
Since the Wild Card System was introduced to the NFL playoffs in 1970, only six wild card teams have gone on to win the Super Bowl.
Among the teams looking to seal Super Bowl glory at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on 13 February will be those involved in the six Wild Card playoff games: the Las Vegas Raiders, the Cincinnati Bengals, the New England Patriots, the Buffalo Bills, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Arizona Cardinals and the LA Rams.
The NFL's Wild Card weekend, which marks the start of the 14-team playoffs, will see two games staged on Saturday, three on Sunday and one on Monday. The Tennessee Titans and Green Bay Packers each have a bye. Of the 12 wild card teams this season, three have previously made it all the way to the Super Bowl and lifted the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Three others have swallowed the bitter pill of getting as far as the showpiece game but falling short.
Do you know?
In what could be the final game of Ben Roethlisberger's Hall of Fame career, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback does not like his team's chances against the high-powered Kansas City Chiefs this weekend when the road to next month's Super Bowl begins.
Sunday's primetime matchup against the Chiefs, who reached the Super Bowl the last two years as champions of the American Football Conference, could be the end of Roethlisberger's career as he has hinted at retirement this season.
Roethlisberger: "We don't have a chance"
"I know they're not the No. 1 seed, obviously, but they're the No. 1 team that has won the AFC the last two years, arguably the best team in football," said two-times Super Bowl champion Roethlisberger. "We don't have a chance. So, let's just go in and play and have fun."
The playoffs begin with the Las Vegas Raiders at the Cincinnati Bengals in a matchup where quarterbacks Derek Carr, in his eighth NFL season, and 2020 first overall draft pick Joe Burrow will both be playing in their first career playoff games.
That game will be followed by the New England Patriots, with rookie Mac Jones at quarterback, at the Buffalo Bills in a clash of division rivals that split their two regular-season meetings.
New England enter the post-season having lost three of their last four games while Buffalo, who reached the AFC Championship Game last year, have won four consecutive games but have been less than impressive the last two weeks.
Sunday's action kicks off with Tom Brady and reigning Super Bowl champions Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Buccaneers set a team record with 13 wins this season, including one against Philadelphia last October, but the team are not taking anything for granted against a confident Eagles squad that boast a powerful rushing attack.
The San Francisco 49ers will visit the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday ahead of the Pittsburgh-Kansas City game.
Teams to have won the Super Bowl as wild cards
Since the Wild Card System was introduced in 1970, only seven wild card teams have won the Super Bowl: the Oakland Raiders (1981), the Denver Broncos (1998), the Baltimore Ravens (2001), the Pittsburgh Steelers (2006), the New York Giants (2008), the Green Bay Packers (2011) and the Buccaneers, who achieved the feat last season.
Four more teams have reached the Super Bowl as a wild card but fell short of the ultimate prize: the Dallas Cowboys (1976), the New England Patriots (1986), the Buffalo Bills (1993) and the Tennessee Titans (2000).
Among those teams to have gone all the way after going into the playoffs as wild cards, two teams stand out: the 2007 New York Giants and the 2010 Green Bay Packers, neither of which were given much chance of even making it past the first hurdle.
The Giants’ victory over New England prevented the Patriots from pulling off only the second perfect season in NFL history, after the 1972 Miami Dolphins. For their part, Green Bay ended a 14-year Super Bowl drought by denying the Steelers a seventh triumph at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington having beaten NFC East winners Philadelphia, NFC South champions Atlanta and NFC North winners Chicago en route to the Super Bowl.