The road to the 2014 Super Bowl kicked off on January 11, 2014, with a game between the New Orleans Saints and the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks took a 23-15 victory in the NFC divisional playoff game. They will go on to take on the winner of the San Francisco 49’ers game. The Seahawks completely shutout the Saints in the first half. The bad news for the Seahawks is that Lynch left the game in the second half with a concussion. The Seahawks next take on the winner of the game between Carolina and San Francisco that will be played on January 19, 2014, at CenturyLink Field.
The second game on January 11, 2014, is the matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium, in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The winner will advance to the AFC Conference Championship Game next weekend, while the loser goes home for a long winter. While the Patriots should come into the game well rested after being off last week, the Colts will be riding high after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 45-44 in what may go down as the comeback game of the decade.
On January 12, 2014, the San Francisco 49ers will take on the North Carolina Panthers with the winner advancing to play the Seattle Seahawks. The two teams met during week 10 with the Panthers winning 10-9. The Panthers come into the game rested after having last week off, although they are a young team with many players lacking playoff experience.
The last game of the weekend will be the matchup between the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos. These two teams have already played twice this year with each team winning one. The experts are predicting that the Broncos may win this game, although they are saying it will be very close. Compounding matters for the Chargers, they may be without 60 percent of their offensive starting lineup.