The first day of the NFL Playoffs Wild Card round had one blowout in the form of the Kansas City Chiefs walking all over the Houston Texans thanks to five Brian Hoyer turnovers, while the Pittsburgh Steelers enjoyed idiotic penalties by the Cincinnati Bengals, who were on the verge of finally winning a playoff game after 25 years, but ended up with the usual postseason disappointment.
Kansas City Chiefs 30 Houston Texans 0: The Houston Texans probably regret starting Brian Hoyer, who got blitzed out of his mind and threw four interceptions and lost another fumble, leading to the biggest road shutout in NFL playoff history. Alex Smith threw one interception himself, but it had little impact on game in which the Chiefs didn’t need too much offense, starting off with Knile Davis returning the opening kickoff 106 yards, followed by two field goals before adding an Alex Smith touchdown pass to Chris Conley in the third quarter and Spencer Ware running for another score afterwards. The Texans finished with just 226 yards on offense while the Chiefs kept things simple, running the ball and getting the throws to Travis Kelce. It was the first postseason win for the Chiefs since 1994.
Pittsburgh Steelers 18 Cincinnati Bengals 16: The officials lost control of the game by throwing flags instead of ejecting players for dirty hits, not to mention the Bengals fans throwing stuff at the field while cheering for Ben Roethlisberger as he was taken off the field injured, and didn’t stop throwing things when they lost. The Bengals were held scoreless through three quarters before scoring 16 consecutive points, making the most of Landry Jones doing an awful job. A.J. McCarron threw what looked like the game winning pass to A.J. Green with 1:50 left, and the Bengals failing the 2-point conversion cost them the game. Roethlisberger returned to the field to do just about enough on the final drive to set up a field goal, although it mainly happened because of an idiotic targeting penalty by Vontaze Burfict that knocked out Antonio Brown (the same Burfict who made an incredible interception minutes earlier) and then Adam Jones with a personal foul on Steelers coach Joey Porter, who probably shouldn’t have been on the field. The penalties were enough to put the Steelers in field goal range and Chris Boswell knocked it through. The Bengals? It’s now 25 years without a playoff win for them.
The second half of the Wild Card round in the NFL playoffs begins with the Seattle Seahawks playing in Minnesota against the Vikings, followed by the Green Bay Packers facing the Washington Redskins. As for the divisional round, it’s the Kansas City Chiefs travelling to face the New England Patriots, while the Steelers getting a regular season rematch on the road against the Denver Broncos.