11 Sports Highlights From January That You’ll Want to See Again

There was no better way to start the new year than a month filled with amazing sports highlights. This month’s special football edition (American football, sorry to all you soccer fans) featured the end of the NFL season and the always exciting playoffs. Don’t worry though, I sprinkled in some other sports for you guys as well. With tons of highlights to get through in this jam-packed month, let’s get straight into my top 11.

1. Going Out with a Bang 

To start off the month, we were treated with one of the most memorable ends to the NFL season.

The first game with playoff implications resulted in the Steelers eliminating the Ravens from playoff contention and claiming a spot for themselves. Check out the game-winning play.

Finally healthy, the 49ers also earned a playoff spot in their win against the Rams following this game-clinching interception.

The last open playoff spot went to the Raiders after they defeated and eliminated the Chargers. The Chargers refused to go out without a fight though and gave us one of the craziest endings to a game in recent memory.

Despite the Chargers’ efforts, however, the Raiders managed to drive down the field late in overtime to win the game.

2. Wild Card Weekend

With the playoffs set, Wild Card weekend ensued, and eliminations began.

The Bengals were the first team to advance to the next round, ending a 31-year playoff win drought, after eliminating the Raiders on this last play of the game.

The 49ers also ended the Cowboys’ season after this controversial last play call by the Cowboys, giving them no time to even attempt a game-winning touchdown. They will face the number one seed Packers in the next round of the playoffs.

The rest of the games from Wild Card Weekend ended in blowouts across the board.

In a perfect offensive output, scoring a touchdown on every drive for the first time in NFL history, the Bills dominated the Patriots.

While the Bills were putting on a show, the Buccaneers demolished the Eagles, bringing Brady’s playoff record to an insane 35-11. Rob Gronkowski also broke the record for most touchdowns by a tight end in playoff history on this catch.

Patrick Mahomes exploded as well with a mind-boggling five touchdowns thrown in under 11 minutes as he sent the Steelers home and Big Ben Roethlisberger into retirement. The Chiefs are now tasked with beating the Bills in the next round. 

In the Rams rout of the Cardinals, Matthew Stafford picked up his first playoff victory of his 13-year career, while Odell Beckham Jr. also caught his first-ever postseason touchdown and became the first player in playoff history to record a 30-yard reception and 30-yard completion in the same game. The Rams are now set on defeating Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in the Divisional Round and preventing them from winning back-to-back Super Bowls.

 3. Walk Offs for Days

We were also given possibly the greatest playoff weekend ever in the Divisional Round with the defeat of both number one seeds, every game ending on a game-winning play, and an average margin of victory of 3.8 points.

 

In the first game, the Bengals defeated the top-seeded Titans on this game-winning field goal despite the Titans playoff record nine sacks to move onto the conference championship game.

In Aaron Rodgers’s possible last game as a Packer, the top-seeded Packers were the next team to be sent home after 49ers’ kicker Robbie Gould’s walk-off field goal (Gould still hasn’t missed a kick in his playoff career).

 

The Rams also knocked off Brady and the Buccaneers despite the Bucs 24 point comeback. Matthew Stafford would not let anyone stop him from his first Super Bowl as he led the Rams down the field with help from Cooper Kupp, setting Mat Gay up for this game-winning field goal. The Rams now look to win their next game against the 49ers to advance to the Super Bowl.

 

To end the Divisional Round, the Bills and Chiefs gave us an offensive onslaught, with both Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen combining for 25 points in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime alone! After the Bills took the lead with only 13 seconds left on the clock, Mahomes took the Chiefs down the field in just two plays to tie the game and send it to overtime, where he quickly ended the game on this Travis Kelce touchdown. The Chiefs will now face the Bengals to fight for a spot in the Super Bowl.

 4. Super Bowl Bound

With a Super Bowl berth now on the line, all remaining teams played their hearts out and the games certainly didn’t disappoint.

Up 18 in the third quarter of the Chiefs Bengals game, the Chiefs looked to have all but won the game, but Joe Burrow and the Bengals had other plans, rallying to have the largest comeback in conference championship history. They won the game on this field goal in overtime, making the Super Bowl for the first time since 1989.

Last year was the first time in history that the host of the Super Bowl played in the game. The Rams will extend that record to two years in a row after beating the 49ers 20-17 in a fourth-quarter rally to also make the Super Bowl thanks to this dagger.

Good luck to both the Bengals and the Rams in what looks to be an incredible Super Bowl.

 5. Dethroned

January was also host to the College Football National Championship game between Georgia and Alabama. Coming into the game, Alabama was 6-3 in the championship game since 2010 with Georgia never beating them once in that time frame. This changed as Georgia snapped their 41-year drought and finally won the championship game behind their number one ranked defense. Check out the best highlights from the game, including the game-winning plays.

 6. Mayhem in Leicester

Let’s shift gears to a different type of football as Tottenham saw themselves down 2-1 with added time ticking away. What happened next was unbelievable as Steven Bergwijn scored two goals, one in the 95th minute and one in the 97th, to will Tottenham past Leicester City. With this win, Tottenham keeps their hopes of competing in the coveted Champions League alive as they inch closer to finishing top four in the Premier League. Sensational goals in a sensational game.

 7. The Return

For the first time in the history of our monthly sports highlights, Klay Thompson is making an appearance as January also featured his return from an ACL injury he suffered in the NBA Finals nearly two and a half years ago. Thompson finally made his long-awaited return to the basketball court, and it could not have been more special as he put on a show, reminding everyone who he is and putting the NBA on notice. Watch out; it looks like we have another true contender.

 8. 61 in Three

In women’s basketball, Kansas State center Ayoka Lee put up a D1 record 61 points in just three quarters. When she was subbed out, she had the same amount of points as the opposing team’s total!! Watch her record-setting points and the team’s wild locker room celebration.

 9. NHL Winter Classic

At the beginning of the month, hockey fans were treated to the NHL Winter Classic, the first of two outdoor NHL games for the year. This year’s edition of the game saw the St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota Wild 6-4 as they faced off in negative 5.7-degree weather, the coldest game in NHL history. Check out the freezing weather the players walked into and this amazing tour of the beautiful stadium.

 10. Father Time Who?

One of the more inspiring sports highlights of the month featured a 37-year-old mother of two returning to running to break the women’s marathon record, clocking a time of 2:19:12. Give a listen to her amazing story as she continues to defy Father Time…or should I say Mother Time.

 11. Clippers Comeback

In such a packed month of sports highlights, it would be a shame to omit the Clippers’ insane comeback against the Wizards. Before the end of the first half, the Clippers were trailing by 35 points before mounting a comeback and cutting the lead to seven with 20 seconds left to go. Teams that found themselves in this position were 1-16,239 before this game, but Luke Kennard did the impossible, scoring seven points in the final nine seconds, including this game-winning four-point play.

*Bonus*- Tennis Mania

The bonus section to this month’s edition of sports highlights is dedicated to Rafael Nadal and Ash Barty for winning the men’s and women’s Australian Open.

After being down two sets against Daniil Medvedev, Nadal staged a comeback, winning his 21st Grand Slam title, the most in men’s tennis history. 

Barty also became the first Australian to win her home major since 1978 with her defeat of Danielle Collins on this beautiful hit.

If you enjoyed this sports highlights roundup check out the best bits from December.

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