The Detroit Lions dashed the playoff aspirations of archenemy Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, and set into motion the 2022-23 National Football League playoffs.

Off the back of a regular season marked by shifts in the NFL hierarchy, the postseason is set to be a proving ground for many.

In the American Football Conference, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and number one seed Kansas Chiefs will have to wait and see who they’ll face, having a bye, with the postseason now seeing their offense equipped with a rejuvenated run game.

If the Chiefs win it all, Mahomes and Head Coach Andy Reid will further cement their legacies.

 As former New Orleans Saints QB and HC Drew Brees and Sean Payton, the duo only have one Super Bowl.

Wild Card Weekend for the AFC starts with a Saturday night game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Chargers. Both teams’ first playoff appearances in a while (2017/2018) will see young quarterbacks hungry to prove their postseason chops.

For Jacksonville, after a rocky start to the season, they mounted a late-season comeback.

That mixed with the Tennessee Titans’ fall got them over their AFC South rivals and helped their cause.

On Sunday, AFC East rivals Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins will face off in what is expected to be an uphill battle for Miami in their first appearance in the playoffs since 2016 with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa out with his third concussion of the season.

Sunday sees another rivalry game. The Baltimore Ravens go to defending AFC Champion quarterback Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals. Invoking the cool of a Joe Namath-type, Burrow said, “The window is my whole career…” when asked about Cincinnati’s playoffs “window”.

Them, Kansas City, and Buffalo are the favorites to make it to the Super Bowl for the AFC.

Wildcard Weekend (and Monday) for the National Football Conference sees the NFC East Champions Philadelphia Eagles seeded number one.

In another rivalry, NFC West’s outbroken Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks will meet “Mr. Irrelevant” and San Francisco’s 49ers.

Both will try to prove they haven’t gone anywhere in the NFL landscape.

The “fraud” Minnesota Vikings will face the 6th-seeded New York Giants looking to prove themselves a playoff mainstay.

In what may be Tom Brady’s final game, his Tampa Bay Buccaneers will host the Dallas Cowboys’ dynamic offense.

Dallas leads the league in points per game since Dak Prescott’s return from injury.

Philadelphia and San Francisco have the best odds of making the Super Bowl on the NFC side.

The editors of the Perspectives sports department predict Buffalo, New York, and Kansas City winning the Super Bowl respectively.

Editor “Jack” Brenner calls Kansas City duo Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce “unstoppable”.

For further sports coverage in and outside of Woodbridge High School, keep up to date with the Perspectives “Sports Archives” page.