{"id":703844,"date":"2026-01-25T12:10:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T12:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/703844\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T12:10:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T12:10:57","slug":"is-there-any-nfl-playoff-team-still-worth-rooting-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/703844\/","title":{"rendered":"Is there any NFL playoff team still worth rooting for?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The NFL playoff field is down to just four teams. In the AFC, the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos will fight for a spot in the Super Bowl. While in the NFC, it\u2019s between the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">With no NFC North rival team to root against, Detroit Lions fans no longer have a clear rooting interest in the two conference championship games. And if you\u2019re the type that roots for the ever-struggling franchise with little-to-no historic success, you\u2019re out of options there, too. Here was the last championship for each franchise:<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Patriots: 2018<br \/>Broncos: 2015<br \/>Rams: 2021<br \/>Seahawks: 2013<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Ugh. Some fan base that has already celebrated a Super Bowl in the past dozen years will get to do so again. Maybe one year\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Anyway, for those reasons alone, it doesn\u2019t really seem like there\u2019s a team to really get behind, but I\u2019m curious if any of you feel differently. Today\u2019s Question of the Day is:<\/p>\n<p>Is there any playoff team still worth rooting for?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">My answer: I guess I\u2019m still rooting for the Rams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">I\u2019ve mentioned this before, but as a lifelong Matthew Stafford fan, I would like to see him build out his resume enough to get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He may get his first MVP this year, which would be a huge help to get him his gold jacket, but a second Super Bowl ring\u2014and maybe a Super Bowl MVP\u2014would really push things over the top for him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">But even Stafford getting into the Hall of Fame would provide some mixed feelings. With the majority of his team success coming with the Rams, I\u2019m not sure he\u2019d even be recognized as a Lion in his HOF induction. That wouldn\u2019t completely spoil it for me because I\u2019m simply a fan of the player, but it certainly would feel strange.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">And the Rams\u2019 success would also bring out some frustration that the Stafford\/Goff trade that was supposed to eventually set Los Angeles back due to the loss of draft capital, has proved to be a huge win for the Rams. They\u2019ve managed to climb themselves out of the draft pick hole to surpass the Lions again after it appeared Detroit had jumped them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">That is all to say that I have mixed feelings about rooting for the Rams. But I\u2019m still rooting for them over a Seahawks franchise that has caused the Lions a lot of recent pain, a Patriots team that is impossible to root for even with Brady\/Belichick gone, and a Broncos team led by a coach who seems like a jerk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">So\u2026 yeah. This group of teams is pretty unlikable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Do you see it differently? Offer your thoughts in the comment section by scrolling down and sharing your thoughts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NFL playoff field is down to just four teams. In the AFC, the New England Patriots and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,52105,84539,2506,7,147,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-703844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroit-lions-conversation-starters-and-community-questions","11":"tag-detroit-lions-discussion","12":"tag-detroitlions","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-lions","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115955674893507724","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}