NFL play-offs: Tom Brady chasing eighth title as Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes challenge

This has been one of the most thrilling NFL seasons on record - but the excitement is only just getting started.

With an extra game on the schedule, this was the longest NFL regular season ever, and it also turned out to be the most nail-biting with a record 34 games being won with a score on the very last play of the match.

Indeed the final play-off berth was only decided with the very last kick of the very last game of the regular season, with the Las Vegas Raiders beating the Los Angeles Chargers in a thrilling 272nd and final contest.

It was a fitting end to a rollercoaster season, but now we enter the play-offs when all that hard work - all that blood, sweat and tears - comes down to just one game.

Win or go home.

Like last season, 14 teams have qualified for the play-offs, seven each from the AFC and NFC Conference with the top seed from each being given a first-round bye. They also get home field advantage throughout the play-offs, which can be crucial.

As they sit back and relax the remaining 12 teams will play six knockout games over three days on what is known as 'super wildcard weekend', with two games being played on Saturday, three on Sunday and, new for this year, a Monday night game.

The top seeds enter the fray next week with the format always remaining the highest seed remaining plays at home against the lowest seed, and the next best at home to the remaining team.

The top seeds left for round three, the Conference Championships, will host the games that will decide who goes to SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles to play in Super Bowl 56 on 13 February.

AFC seedings

Wildcard fixtures (away teams first, kick-offs in GMT)

NFC seedings

Wildcard fixtures

Tom Brady is 44, and the older he gets the stronger the case for him not being human grows, as he's continuing to improve and set new NFL records and personal bests.

Brady set a new record with 485 completed es this season and led the league with 43 ing touchdowns. His 5,316 ing yards not only topped the charts this season but set a new career high.

Despite his advancing years, Brady is openly mocking Father Time as he's throwing better and more often than ever before.

Tampa Bay do have injury issues, though, and have lost wide receiver Antonio Brown after he controversially walked out of a game, but they also have the same team that won the title last year - and as second seeds they have a kind route with two home games guaranteed in the play-offs.

There's been the longest ever gap - 17 years - since the NFL saw a team win back-to-back Super Bowls. And yes, you guessed it, Brady was the last quarterback to do it with the Patriots. With this team he has every chance of doing it again.

Aaron Rodgers has put up an MVP season as the Green Bay Packers earned the top seed in the NFC, just ahead of the Buccaneers, and it looks set up for a repeat of last year's NFC Championship game at Lambeau Field, where Brady and Tampa Bay booked a place in Super Bowl 55.

Rodgers has had his critics for his Covid vaccine stance, but Green Bay finished 13-4 for the season, meaning head coach Matt LaFleur has won more games in his first three years in the NFL than any other coach in history.

With a superstar receiver in Davante Adams, a stout run game and an improving defence, Green Bay believe they can finally make it to the Super Bowl after falling just one game short in the last two years.

Rodgers has all the talent, Brady has all the rings - a rematch would be special.

Over in the AFC, the Kansas City Chiefs are bidding to make the Super Bowl for the third straight year, but this year their 12-5 record was largely down to an incredible turnaround defensively. At 3-4 and with one of the worst defences statistically in history, they then won eight straight with the defence the star.

Patrick Mahomes still finished fourth in the league in ing yards (4,839) and touchdowns (37) but a defence limiting the opposition to 17 points or fewer in seven of those eight wins did the trick. The Chiefs got bullied as they lost the Super Bowl to Tampa Bay last season, but they have toughened up to make sure that never happens again.

The Tennessee Titans may be the most underrated top seed in NFL history, as they finished 12-5 despite contesting half the season without running back phenomenon Derrick Henry, and set a record for using 91 players because of injuries.

Coach Mike Vrabel did a fantastic job to keep his side going while also missing top receivers AJ Brown and Julio Jones for spells too - but both they and Henry are in line to return for the play-offs.

A week off, and then games at home in Nashville - where they have already beaten the Chiefs and Buffalo Bills this season - means they perhaps should be getting more credit than they are.

Luckily, BBC NFL pundits Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora are big fans and around to sound out a warning for those not taking the Titans seriously.

"It's all about health going into the post-season," said Bell. "AJ Brown, Julio Jones and the man himself Derrick Henry might be back - if those guys are all on the field together then how do you stop that offence">