The NFL’s divisional round slate undoubtedly was one of the better two-day displays of football that fans have ever had the privilege of watching.
Three of the four games were decided by a game-winning field goal while the only one that was not — Kansas City Chiefs against Buffalo Bills — was undoubtedly the best of them all. Instead, that was decided in overtime after 25 points were scored in the final 1:54 of regulation. With the victory, the Chiefs were the lone higher-seeded team to advance after a win.
It was, without question, a banner day for the NFL.
But that doesn’t mean it was the same for those coaching in the NFL.
Each of the four NFL divisional-round contests featured questionable coaching decisions, and a case could be made those decisions — especially in three cases — played a direct impact in the playoff exit of three teams.
— First, and perhaps most notably, were the brutal coaching decisions down the stretch by Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. McDermott, specifically, opted against what should have been a no-brainer squib kick (or kick short of the end zone) which would have taken valuable time off the clock for Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Again, it was a no-brainer that McDermott took blame for after the game. McDermott then was able to share the blame with Frazier after Mahomes covered 44 yards in two plays and 10 seconds against a Buffalo prevent defense. The Bills played like they were ahead by more than a field goal when they weren’t. Mahomes and company tied the game with three seconds left — again, after starting the possession with 13 ticks on the clock — and won it in overtime.
— McDermott’s defensive blunder came after Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles coughed up the game after Tampa Bay mounted a 24-point comeback. The aggressive Bowles sent an all-out blitz at Matthew Stafford with 28 seconds left, leaving All-Pro wideout Cooper Kupp in single coverage down the seam. Kupp’s reception from Stafford set up the game-winning field goal to eliminate the Bucs. It was a decision questioned by everyone besides Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians, who said he wouldn’t second-guess the play call. Arians instead said there was a miscommunication on the defense, which cornerback Jamel Dean refuted. Even if there was a miscommunication, though, that is due to poor coaching, as well.
— Sunday’s two decisions by McDermott and Bowles, however, followed a brutal display by Packers head coach Matt LaFleur and Green Bay special teams coach Maurice Drayton. LaFleur, first and foremost, was brutal on the headset as the Aaron Rodgers-led offense scored just 10 points against the sixth-seeded 49ers. Drayton, and subsequently, LaFleur made another two costly errors on special teams. Green Bay had both a field goal blocked in the first half and a game-altering blocked punt lead to a San Francisco touchdown. Special teams comes backs to coaching, and all season it was an issue for the Packers, who ranked dead last in the NFL by Football Outsiders, as noted by The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin.
— Lastly were the questionable decisions by Titans head coach Mike Vrabel. Admittedly, Vrabel’s decisions, though, can be defended much more than any listed prior. The Titans benefitted from a Bengals penalty, which gave Tennessee the ball half the distance to the goal on its two-point conversion attempt. Vrabel elected to go for the two-point conversion rather than kick (something Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy did without question throughout the season, although that’s a conversation for another day) and the Derrick Henry rushing attempt came up short of conversion. Vrabel also opted against a 52-yard field goal with less than eight minutes remaining in what was then a 16-all tie game. Henry was stopped on the fourth-and-one conversion, and while the Bengals didn’t use that field position to put together a game-sealing drive, it kept the game tied. Cincinnati went on to win it after a brutal Ryan Tannehill interception with 20 seconds left. You can’t blame Vrabel for that, of course, but if either of those two previously-mentioned plays went differently the Titans would be trying to run the clock out rather than putting it in Tannehill’s hands.
Here’s to hoping we get better coaching from Andy Reid, Zac Taylor, Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan during championship weekend.
