The Seahawks and Patriots are both at home, and they’re both playing opponents they beat in the regular season.
This has happened 16 times in the last 20 years, and in those games the home team went 10-6 in trying to advance to the Super Bowl.
Most of those previous games were closer than what we saw from these current rematches. The Seahawks blew out Green Bay 36-16 back in the first game of the season, and New England hammered the Colts 42-20 in a Sunday night game in November.
In only two of the previous rematches was the team (the home team) playing against a team it had beaten by 20-plus points in the regular season. The Packers, most famously, flopped against New York in the frigid NFC title game of 2007, 23-20 in overtime. That same year, New England methodically polished off the Chargers 21-12 after clobbering them in the regular season.
Here they be, and I’ve got the upset winners in bold. (The 2010 Packers aren’t as big of an upset winner as the others, considering they split with the Bears in the regular season.)
| CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP REMATCHES | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Regular Season | Title Game |
| 1994 | at S.F. 21, Dall. 14 | at S.F. 38, Dall. 28 |
| 1995 | at Dall. 34, G.B. 24 | at Dall. 38, G.B. 27 |
| 1996 | at N.E. 28, Jac. 25 (OT) | at N.E. 20, Jac. 6 |
| 1997 | at Pitt. 35, Den. 24 | Den. 24, at Pitt. 21 |
| 2001 | St.L. 20, at Phil. 17 | at St.L. 29, Phil. 24 |
| 2002 | at Oak. 52, Tenn. 25 | at Oak. 41, Tenn. 24 |
| 2002 | at Phil 20, T.B. 10 | T.B. 27, Phil. 10 |
| 2003 | N.E. 38, Ind. 34 | at N.E. 24, Ind. 14 |
| 2003 | Phil. 25, at Car. 16 | Car. 14, Phil. 3 |
| 2004 | at Pitt. 34, N.E. 20 | N.E. 41, at Pitt. 27 |
| 2006 | Ind. 27, at N.E. 20 | at Ind. 38, N.E. 34 |
| 2007 | at N.E. 38, S.D. 14 | at N.E. 21, S.D. 12 |
| 2007 | G.B. 35, at NYG 13 | NYG 23, G.B. 20 (OT) |
| 2008 | Steelers sweep | at Pitt. 23, Balt. 14 |
| 2010 | split | G.B. 21, at Chi. 14 |
| 2013 | split | at Sea. 23, S.F. 17 |
| 2014 | at Sea. 36, G.B. 16 | ? |
| 2014 | N.E. 42, at Ind. 20 | ? |
—Ian Allan