The Ravens, Lions and Bills may rue missed opportunities
By Andy Davies
The Super Bowl LIX matchup is set, as the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles. However, the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions will feel they should be there as they all rued missed opportunities.
In a rematch of their meetup two years ago at the same stage, the Chiefs are eyeing up a historic three peat, whilst the Eagles will look for revenge as they look to earn their second Super Bowl in seven seasons.
Some jealous eyes will be looking over this one as the Bills and Lions missed their best chances at making the Super Bowl in years, whilst the Ravens will feel they should have had the opportunity on Sunday to make amends for their AFC Championship defeat a year prior.
Was it a Cody Parkey moment for Mark Andrews?
When the Chicago Bears played the Eagles in the Wildcard Round of the 2018 NFL season, they went into it as the third seed with a 12-4 record. They lost in heartbreaking fashion, as Cody Parkey missed a field goal to win the game with ten seconds remaining.
Despite the defeat, many thought the Bears would be back in the 2019 season. However, they have only made the playoffs once since, in an underwhelming 21-9 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Fast forward to two weekends ago and the Ravens lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Bills, as several mistakes ended up costing them a second consecutive AFC Championship appearance.
Lamar Jackson recorded a first quarter interception and a fumble, Derrick Henry also dropped a pass. However, tight end Mark Andrews had the worst rub of the green.
After the early mistakes from Lamar, the two-time MVP managed to guide this Ravens team back into the contest and made a crucial throw on second down to Andrews who got into first down territory around the 50-yard line but tried to change direction to go further down field and ended up fumbling and causing a turnover.
Despite this mistake, the Ravens still kept competitive and scored a touchdown through Isaiah Likely and were just a two-point conversion away from tying the game post two-minute warning. In shotgun formation, Jackson scrambled to his right and targeted Andrews, who could not hold on to the ball. In just a week and half since this, there have been constant memes on the internet.
This has led Ravens fans to wonder whether the team could have missed one of their best chances to make the Super Bowl, just like Bears fans back in 2018.
Of course, Lamar, Henry, Zay Flowers and Andrews are better than Mitchell Trubisky, Jordan Howard and Allen Robinson and John Harbaugh is twice the head coach that Matt Nagy ever was. They will be in the playoffs next year provided no injuries, but there will always be a part of Ravens fans minds that wonder what if.
Lions disappoint after historic season
The same applies for Lions fans, who will feel they blew the best chance they have at not only making their first Super Bowl but also winning it.
This was their best season record in franchise history, going 15-2 and earning the NFC number one seed. However, their journey ended after just one game as they were stunned 45-31 by the Washington Commanders.
With Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn both gone as coordinators, there is no guarantee that this Lions team will be able to produce the same results. Every team has a Super Bowl window and theirs could easily be closed. After all, we have seen the likes of Brock Purdy, Dan Marino, Jared Goff, Joe Burrow, Matt Ryan, Cam Newton and Colin Kaepernick all made one Super Bowl and never returned.
Burrow, Goff and Purdy could change that, as Jalen Hurts did this season, but there is no guarantee. With the Eagles making the Super Bowl, and other teams such as the Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers along with a likely resurgent San Francisco 49ers next season, the Lions could be set for more disappointment and what ifs.
What more can Josh Allen do?
Buffalo’s Josh Allen is the quarterback with the most wins against Patrick Mahomes, with a 4-1 record in the regular season. Despite this, he is 0-4 against him in the postseason, with four of their last five playoff defeats coming against the Chiefs.
Across those four losses, they have scored 113 points, averaging 28.3 points per game. However, they have also allowed 139 points in the same games. This is an average of 34.8 points per game.
Whatever Allen has done, he has also been equally let down by his defense. This bears resemblance to the NFL career of Dan Marino. He went 8-10 in the postseason and despite all of his offensive output, the defense also allowed 25 points or more in nine of those 18 games.
Marino went one step further and made a Super Bowl in the 1984 season, just his sophomore year. Everyone thought he would be back, given his impressive talent, but he never did it with just two further Conference Championship appearance.
You would imagine Allen will eventually make it to a Super Bowl, but you cannot guarantee this. After all, it took him four seasons to make it back to his second AFC Championship.
In a defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship on Sunday, the Bills will feel that this was their best chance to finally make their first Super Bowl since the early 1990’s aside from the 13 second game in the 2021 season. There was some questionable officiating, leaving fans to wonder what more Allen could do to beat Mahomes and the Chiefs. With such a strong conference, Bills fans could look back at this game in years gone by and feel that this was the biggest of missed opportunities.
ANDY DAVIES
NFL ANALYST
ANDY IS A SPORTS JOURNALISM GRADUATE WITH OVER FOUR YEARS EXPERIENCE OF NFL WRITING AND PODCASTING. ANDY HAS BEEN TO EVERY NFL STADIUM AND IS THE HOST OF THE ACROSS THE POD PODCAST. HE HAS PRESS PASS EXPERIENCE AT THE LONDON GAMES AND MANY OTHER NFL BASED EVENTS, HAVING INTERVIEWED THE LIKES OF AARON RODGERS, JASON BELL, OSI UMENYIORA, DOUG PEDERSON, DERRICK HENRY, TREVOR LAWRENCE AND MIKE VRABEL.