NFL wild-card superlatives

Biggest missed field goal - Cody Parkey, Chicago Bears 

During the regular season, Parkey hit an upright on five occasions. He probably couldn’t do that over an entire season again if he tried.

But in cruel ironic fashion for the Bears, Parkey hit both the upright and the crossbar on his last-second field-goal attempt from 43 yards away. With the miss, the Eagles held on to win by a point.

Fans are already reportedly sending Parkey death threats, which is completely uncalled for, especially when considering one of the Eagles may have tipped the kick.

Games aren’t decided solely on one play. Still, this is a hard pill to swallow for the Bears, and it’s something the fan base is going to remember for a long time.

Best play - Golden Tate fourth-and-goal touchdown

Chicago didn’t have to let this game come down to its kicker. The Bears possess the No. 1 defense in the league — one more defensive stop late in the fourth quarter likely would have sealed the victory.

Instead, the Eagles, who took over at their own 40-yard line with 4:48 left because of a poor Pat O'Donnell punt, drove 60 yards in under four minutes to retake the lead.

Philadelphia possessed the ball at the 2-yard line with first-and-goal. Chicago appeared poised for a goal-line stand of the ages, stopping the Eagles on the first three plays of the sequence for no gain. But then on fourth-and-goal, Foles found Golden Tate for the 2-yard score.

Best history - Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens 

Just a day shy of his 22nd birthday, Jackson’s 6-1 regular season record led him to become the youngest quarterback to ever start an NFL playoff game on Sunday. Unfortunately for Baltimore, he played like it.

Into the fourth quarter, Baltimore held negative passing yards in the game. Jackson and the Ravens did enough to make the score respectable, but it was too little, too late, as the Chargers mostly dominated in Baltimore and won, 23-17. The Chargers will face New England next in the AFC Divisional round.

While Jackson is so young that it’s hard not to be excited about his future, Los Angeles definitely exposed his weakness as a passer. Jackson has work to do to avoid becoming the next Tim Tebow.

Best run defense - Dallas Cowboys 

Technically, the Eagles and Bears had the best run defense this weekend. The two defenses combined to allow just 107 yards.

But they weren’t facing the No. 1 rushing offense in the league. The Cowboys did in the Seattle Seahawks and held them to 73 yards and 3.0 yards per carry. It was a major reason the Cowboys won, 24-22.

With this run defense, the Cowboys can beat anybody. They should have no worries about playing on the road either. Dallas will face the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional round.

Weirdest replay ruling - no catch for Anthony Miller, Chicago Bears 

There were poor replay rulings in all four games, but this one was the craziest.

Officials ruled a 27-yard pass attempt from Trubisky to rookie receiver Anthony Miller incomplete when Eagles defensive back Cre'Von LeBlanc ripped the ball out of Miller’s hands. But upon video review, Miller did have control of the ball long enough for it to be ruled a catch and fumble (because his knee or any other body part hadn’t hit down before he lost the ball).

But this is where it gets weird. After the ball was knocked out, no one picked it up before an official did to spot the ball for the next play. There is an obscure exception to replay review in the rulebook that if there’s no clear recovery, a play cannot be overturned. Therefore, despite the NFL admitting it was a catch, because the Eagles didn’t recover the fumble, the play stayed incomplete.

Sounds like there should be more rule changes this offseason.

Best third-down offense - Indianapolis Colts 

Indianapolis stayed hot to start the playoffs, capturing its 10th victory in 11 games with a 21-7 win against the Houston Texans. The Colts rode to victory behind its scorching third-down offense.

Indianapolis converted 9-of-14 third-down tries, many of which came in the first half as the Colts built their 21-point lead. Quarterback Andrew Luck was sensational, going 6-of-6 passing in the first half on third down. Then to open the second half, Luck scrambled for 9 yards on third-and-6 to extend a drive.

The Colts will take their red-hot offense on the road again next week to face the Kansas City Chiefs.

Best pre-game garb - T.Y. Hilton, Indianapolis Colts 

The Colts star receiver embraced his inner clown Saturday, wearing a clown mask to the NRG Stadium before the AFC wild-card matchup. This will probably seem rather odd until hearing the background story.

During the week, Hilton called the Houston stadium his second home because he’s dominated the Texans there over the years. In response, Houston defensive back Johnathan Joseph called Hilton a clown — hence why he wore the mask.

The mask and his game performance earned Hilton the last laugh. He made some huge plays on third down, averaging 17.0 yards per reception with five catches for 85 yards.

Worst-timed penalties - Seattle Seahawks 

The Bears had a couple of these as well, but the Seahawks penalties came late in the game when their defense really needed a stop.

Down by three with under seven minutes remaining, Seattle got a defensive stop on third-and-8, but the officials threw a flag for defensive pass interference to give Dallas a first down.

The same thing happened on the next third down. A Seattle defensive pass interference following an incompletion rewarded the Cowboys another chance. Dallas ran out nearly the entire clock and turned that drive into the game-winning touchdown.

Both calls were correct, but it was a tough final drive of the season for the Seahawks defense.

Best kicker - Michael Badgley, Los Angeles Chargers 

It wasn’t all bad for the kickers Sunday.

Many predicted special teams would be a major advantage for Baltimore on Sunday. While the Ravens did partially block a punt and a field goal, the better kicker belonged to Los Angeles.

Rookie Michael Badgley went 5-of-6, missing only the one Baltimore blocked field goal and accounting for 15 of the Chargers’ 23 points in the victory. His five field goals helped Los Angeles build a 15-3 lead and forced Baltimore to abandon its running attack early in the second half.

Badgley’s five made kicks set a new franchise record for most field goals in a playoff game. Meanwhile, Ravens kicker Justin Tucker missed the first field goal, a 50-yard attempt, of his NFL playoff career, going 1-of-2 on Sunday.

Most impactful injury - Sebastian Janikowski, Seattle Seahawks 

The kicking didn’t go nearly as well for the Seahawks. 

While Janikowski's injury was far from the most gruesome this weekend — Cowboys wide receiver Allen Hurns left during the first quarter with an "open dislocation" of his left ankle — it was the most impactful. 

Janikowski attempted a 57-yard field goal as time expired in the first half. His kick was way too far to the right, but in an effort to kick it as far as he could, Janikowski hurt his thigh and couldn’t kick the rest of the night.

In the second half, the Seahawks didn’t settle for any field goals or extra points, going for a two-point conversion after both touchdowns they scored. Punter Michael Dickson had to fill in for Janikowski on the onside kick attempt at the end of the game. Dickson tried to kick the ball passed the initial Cowboys line, but his attempt went too far and was an easy recover for the Cowboys. 

Biggest Moment for a Twitter Account - Captain Andrew Luck 

Parody accounts are one of the best things about Twitter, and as far as parody NFL accounts go, it doesn’t get much better than Captain Andrew Luck.

The account started as a way to poke fun at Luck’s neck beard, which makes him look like a Civil War general. Every week, the account tweets a message written in 19th-century letter style about how the Colts performed in their previous game or where they are headed next.

On Saturday night, ESPN featured the Twitter account in one of its creative graphics. The Captain Andrew Luck account was already very popular, but it probably scored a few more followers after a big national television plug.