Finger food, snacks, family and friends. The Super Bowl can’t happen without the games leading up to the Super Bowl. The 57th Super Bowl will be hosted at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on February 12th, 2023. The kickoff will be at 4:30 p.m. mountain time. 

Many families and students in Casper have plans for the Super Bowl, and even people that aren’t that into the American Gridiron still make it a special occasion. “I don’t really watch football, but we usually go to my grandpa’s house for the Super Bowl, I only go for the food. I’ll be rooting for the Chiefs,” said freshman Lucy Schroeder.  

The National Football League, otherwise known as the NFL, is split into two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). Both conferences are then split into four divisions, North, East, South and West. The team with the best record in each division automatically gets a playoff birth. The teams with the 5th, 6th and 7th best records get the wildcard.

The NFC playoff teams are the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The wild card teams are the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants and Seattle Seahawks 

The AFC playoff teams are the KC Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The wild card teams are the Miami Dolphins, San Diego Chargers and Baltimore Ravens.

The Philadelphia Eagles were the only team to be 8-0 this season. They lost their winning streak of 8-0 in Week 10 with a loss of 32-21 against the Washington Commanders. The Eagles have a high chance at advancing to the Super Bowl because of their 14 wins.

“We always know that the playoff football can be closer games. But in the NFL, all games are close. So you’re grinding and working on this at all times during the year to make sure that you aren’t giving up a big lead and that you go through your process when you’re down two scores, or when you’re up two scores.” said head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Nick Sirianni in press conference on January 19th on www.philidelpiaeagles.com

With that, the Eagles beat the New York Giants with a score of 38-7. In the first 5 minutes into the game, the Eagles scored the first touchdown of the game with #88, Dallas Goedert, tight end receiving the ball, with an incredible catch from quarterback, Jalen Hurts. Later in the 1st quarter, an incomplete pass from #8, Daniel Jones resulted in turnover on downs. In the 2nd quarter, #35, Boston Scott on the Eagles, scored a 3 yard touchdown. Boston Scott has had 11 touchdowns in 8 games. In the end, the Eagles beat the Giants 38 to 7.

The Buffalo Bills have one of the best offenses in the AFC and are a fan favorite. The Bills are 13-3, 2nd in the AFC. 

The game against the Bengals on Monday night only lasted roughly 10 minutes. When Damar Hamlin, #3 tackled #85, Tee Higgins on the 48th yard line, Hamlin took a shot to his chest, he got up immediately but seconds after, he collapsed. 16 minutes after Hamlin collapsed, he was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center around 9:25 ET. He was in critical condition and suffered cardiac arrest. The game was then canceled.

His family updated fans and said Hamlin had developed lung damage. Hamlin’s charity, Chasin M’s Foundation is raising money for children in need, moments after Hamlin was taken to the Hospital, the gofundme raised half a million in the first hour, and is now at $8 million with more than 247,000 donations.

The first question Hamlin asked when he woke up to Dr. Timothy A. Prittis was, “Did we win?” and Prittis said, “Yes, Damar you won. You won the game of life.” He is now back at the Bills facility and recovering. 

In the Bills Week 18 game against the Patriots, they wore #3 jersey patches. After the Bills win, they clinched a spot in the playoffs. 

The Chiefs have the most wins in the AFC. They are 1st in the AFC with a record of 14-3. 

In the divisional round, the Chiefs played the Jacksonville Jaguars. The first touchdown was made by tight end, Travis Kelce, #87. With a kick return, Jaguar wide receiver, Jamal Agnew, ran 61 yards. Jaguars had touchdown by Christian Kirk, #13, then a turnover from an incomplete pass from Patrick Mahomes. In the 2nd quarter, Kelce had a 1 yard touchdown. With 12 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, #7, Harrison Butker accomplished a 50 yard field goal. At 1st and Goal in the 4th quarter, a pass by Trevor Lawrence to Jamal Agnew, in which Agnew dropped, #32, Nick Bolton recovered the ball. With multiple mess ups, flags and incomplete passes, the Chiefs won, 27 to 20.

“You can’t move forward in the NFL playoffs, if your defense doesn’t play well. I thought from the DB to the defensive line to the linebackers, I thought everyone was flying around making plays.” said Andy Reid on www.chiefs.com on January 21st after the Jaguars game. This will be Andy Reid’s 11th season with the Chiefs as the head coach. 

         The conference championship was stressful for all fans. Especially in the Chiefs and Bengals game, the score was very close, but in the end, the Chiefs won, 23-20. The Philadelphia Eagles beat the 49ers, 31-7. The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will be playing each other in the 57th Super Bowl.