Russell Wilson fired a 35-yard touchdown strike to Jermaine Kearse in overtime to give the Seattle Seahawks a stunning 28-22 comeback win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday (January 18) and seal a return trip to the Super Bowl where they will meet the New England Patriots who crushed the Indianapolis Colts 45-7.
Trailing 19-7 the Seahawks scored 15 points in 44 seconds late in the fourth quarter, Wilson and Marshawn Lynch each powering their way into the end zone for touchdowns before a two-point conversion putSeattle ahead 22-19.
The drama was far from over, as the Packers’ Mason Crosby booted his fifth field goal to send the NFC championship into overtime where Russell hit Kearse for the winning score as CenturyLink Field exploded in celebration.
The winning touchdown was a spectacular and breathtaking end to a game pitting Seattle’s top-ranked defense against the NFL’s number one scoring offense led by quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
It had taken on a funeral atmosphere for much of the game as Seattle’s Super Bowl reign appeared headed to an end.
But Wilson, who had misfired most of the day, throwing a career-high four interceptions, flashed his champion’s pedigree when it mattered, engineering what is already being hailed as one of the greatest postseason comebacks in NFL history.
“I think the resilience of our football team is unmatchable, and the character of the guys that we have and the belief of the guys that we have, that’s what makes the difference,” said Wilson.
Rodgers, playing with an injured calf, removed any doubts about his fitness, dissecting the Seahawks’ defense as Green Bay stormed to a 16-0 lead to silence the famously raucous Seattle crowd.
The Packers were in command on both sides of the ball, their defense intercepting Wilson three times in the first half as the Seattlequarterback failed to complete his first pass until late in the second quarter.
Seattle finally got on the scoreboard with a bit of razzle dazzle, faking a punt with holder Jon Ryan hitting a wide open Garry Gilliam on a 19-yard touchdown pass to chop the Green Bay lead to 16-7.
Wilson kept hope alive when he ran over from the one with 2:09 left andSeattle recovered the onside kick.
Lynch sprinted 24 yards for a touchdown and the Seahawks added a two-point conversion to push in front 22-19.
But with 1:25 to play Rodgers marched Green Bay into Seattle territory and Crosby booted a 48-yarder to send the contest into overtime.
In Foxborough, Tom Brady fired three touchdown passes andLeGarrette Blount rumbled for three more as the Patriots demolished the Colts to book their sixth trip to the Super Bowl in 14 years.
The rout gives the Patriots an eighth Super Bowl appearance, tying them with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys for the most in league history.
While the NFC championship was heavy with drama, there was no edge-of-your-seat excitement at rainy Gillette Stadium as the Patriots charged to a 14-0 first-quarter lead and never were threatened, giving coach Bill Belichick his 21st career playoff victory to break the record he shared with Tom Landry.
Brady, who had already thrown more post-season touchdowns than any quarterback, added a hat-trick to his total, hitting James Develin, Nate Solder and favorite target Rob Gronkowski to bring his career tally to 50.
As Brady was picking apart the Colts secondary, Blount was grinding it out on the ground, rushing for 148 yards on 30 carries including touchdowns of one, 13 and two yards.
Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, who led the NFL in touchdown passes this season with 40, could not manage any against a swarming New England defense.
Luck, now 0-4 against the Patriots since he entered the league as the number one overall pick in the 2012 draft, completed just 12 of 33 passes for 126 yards and was picked off twice.
Zurlon Tipton had Indianapolis’s lone score on a one-yard run in the second quarter.
For all their success, Brady and his bunch are still hungry having gone 10 years since their 2005 Super Bowl triumph, when New England won a third title in a four-year span.
Since then, they have been unable to add to their Super Bowl resume losing close encounters to the New York Giants in 2008 and 2012
Reuters/NBC / USA TODAY SPORTS IMAGES