Top 10 takeaways from NFL Wild Card Weekend

If you didn't enjoy this weekend of playoff football, it's time for you to start following a different sport. I hear 65-plus Canadian curling is pretty awesome.

From the Houston Texans humiliating themselves in front of their home crown to the Green Bay Packers finally finding success on offense and everything in between, this is what we have been waiting 17 weeks for.

Ugliness defined an otherwise fantastic game between two division rivals in Cincinnati. Meanwhile, the Seattle Seahawks found a way to defeat the Vikings in sub-zero conditions in Minnesota.

Stars were born, goats created and hot heads blew their tops in what was a simply stunning four-game slate of NFL action.

Here are your top 10 takeaways from NFL's Wild Card Weekend.

Cincinnati Bengals melt down in most epic of fashions

Midway through the third quarter of the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday evening, it sure looked like Cincinnati was headed for a seventh consecutive playoff loss — all under head coach Marvin Lewis.

Then, in one instant, a hard hit by Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict changed the game on a dime ^[1]. Landing on his throwing shoulder, Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was carted off to the locker room.

In the ensuing quarter of action, Cincinnati would run off three consecutive scores to take a 16-15 lead.

It looked like Cincinnati's 26-year-drought without a playoff win was about to come to an end.

This would have likely been the case if it wasn't for couple of bone-headed players making some of the most ridiculous mistakes we have seen on the football field in some time.

Starting at its own nine-yard line with 1:23 remaining in the fourth quarter and being led by a limited Big Ben, Pittsburgh needed a field goal to pull off a stunning win.

Without the ability to throw the ball even 10 yards down the field, Roethlisberger dinked and dunked down to Cincinnati's 47, converting on a fourth and three along the way.

What followed was one of those situations that everyone watching the game will remember for the rest of their lives.

Burfict, who had temporarily knocked Big Ben out of the game earlier in the half, laid a major hit on a defenseless Antonio Brown — a play ^[2] that led to a 15-yard penalty.

Seconds later, Adam Jones was called for another 15-yard penalty to give Pittsburgh an additional 30 yards of field position. From there, Chris Boswell knocked in a 35-yard field goal to give the road team the win.

We can argue about the situations that led to this mess all we want. Steelers coach Joey Porter had no reason being on the field and inciting that type of reaction from Jones, who would later take to Instagram to air his frustrations ^[3].

Heck, we can even argue whether Burfict's intent was malicious on the hit he laid on Brown that led to one of the two 15-yard penalties in the game's waning moments.

None of this really matters. Cincinnati couldn't keep a level head with its game and season on the line. Two players with noted issues in the past played huge roles in the outcome, and head coach Marvin Lewis couldn't keep his team from losing its cool.

At the end of the day, that's all that matters. It's also one of the primary reasons that a season that started with so much promise has ended prematurely. For that, the team itself should be ashamed.

Blair Walsh's epic failure

Walsh might not be the next Scott Norwood, but his miss of a chip-shot field goal Sunday afternoon in Minnesota is about as heartbreaking as it gets.

With his Vikings a 27-yard kick away from sending the two-time defending NFC champion Seattle Seahawks home for the winter, he hooked the ball wide left to give Seattle a 10-9 win ^[4].

The pain that Walsh felt after the game is something that makes this grand football game so hard to handle at times, even for those of us with an unbiased view of the action.

In a sure sign that football is about much more than the result on the field, the anguish in Walsh's words following the game was obvious:

"It's my fault. I don't care if you give me a watermelon hold, I should be able to put that through," Walsh said ^[5], via the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "Jeff did his job and Kevin did his job. I'm the only one who didn't do my job. That's on me."

You hate to place the loss squarely on the shoulders of one player. And while Walsh himself wasn't the sole reason for Minnesota dropping this game, he will be the one remembered the most in defeat.

We have absolutely no idea if Walsh will ever be right again. We also don't know if he will ever kick a football for the Vikings after that massive failure. Let's just hope this one play doesn't define what had been a great career prior to Sunday.

And for Seattle, it was yet another odd late-game ending in a stretch of postseason outings that have been defined by them.

Brian Hoyer's historically bad performance

10 worst QB performances in NFL playoffs history https://t.co/98sR0H5yRO pic.twitter.com/RLtYwBCrBi ^[6]^[7]
— Sportsnaut (@Sportsnaut) January 10, 2016 ^[8]

Four of the Texans' six first-half possessions ended on Hoyer turnovers, three of them on picks. He led the team to 119 total yards on 30 plays with those four turnovers en route to a 13-0 halftime deficit.

Overall, the Texans' starting quarterback completed 15-of-34 passes for 136 yards with five turnovers (four interceptions).

What's so remarkable about this disastrous performance is the fact that Houston simply could have played defense the entire game and likely wouldn't have lost as bad as it did.

While that might be hyperbole, it must be noted that three of Kansas City's five scoring drives encompassed a total of 73 yards.

This tells us a story of a Texans defense that simply didn't have a chance to win this game.

After all, the Chiefs weren't necessarily unstoppable on offense. They tallied a total of 18 first downs, converted on 4-of-11 third-down opportunities and averaged just over five yards per play. Heck, the Texans held a top-six Chiefs rushing attack to less than four yards per attempt.

It really was all about the horrendous performance from Hoyer here. Sure Kansas City's dominating defense played a role, but a team simply can't expect to compete in January with its quarterback playing this poorly.

Just a bad overall look for the NFL in Cincinnati

We can talk about Adam Jones and Vontaze Burfict until we are blue in the face. Both players deserve blame for their roles in the ugliness that took place during this inner-divisional playoff game.

We can also talk about how Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis failed to control his team at a time when it needed to be calmed down.

Heck, we can talk about the fans in Cincinnati cheering Big Ben's injury and throwing stuff at the quarterback as he's carted off the field. What about allegations of a Bengals fan relieving himself on another person during an in-stadium fight ^[9]?

That's the narrative — a narrative that's likely correct.

However, it's not like the Steelers were innocent in all this.

There's absolutely no reason why Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter should be on the field next to a Bengals huddle. Apologists will indicate that Porter was sincerely concerned for the well-being of Antonio Brown on the field, which would enable him to legally be on the field.

That's just utterly foolish:

Joey Porter should have been flagged here. https://t.co/XKVevV4D1g ^[10]
— Sportsnaut (@Sportsnaut) January 10, 2016 ^[11]

Not only should this have drawn a flag, reports on Sunday indicated that Porter himself will be fined ^[12] for his role in the altercation.

It has also been Porter's MO since he was a star linebacker in Pittsburgh. This is to say that he's always loved to stir up the pot. Bengals players should have known this and kept their cool.

Equally as disturbing, there was absolutely no reason for Steelers players to celebrate on the field as Bengals running back Giovani Bernard laid down motionless with an injury after fumbling.

There is so much to look at here. But one thing is clear: Saturday night's game was not a good look for the NFL as a whole.

Yes, it was yet another black eye for a league full of them over the past two years. This isn't what playoff football should be about.

Dominating Chiefs defense prepared for championship run

As mentioned previously, Houston did the Chiefs defense some favors on Saturday. But it's not like all the errors made here were self-inflicted.

Continuing with the same theme we saw over the final 11 weeks of the regular season, Kansas City came to play on the defensive side of the ball in this one.

Not only did Kansas City force five turnovers, it held an inferior offense to 226 total yards and just 14 first downs. Of the seven Texans' drives that didn't end in turnovers, the Chiefs yielded 96 total yards of offense.

And while the Texans were able to put up 114 rushing yards, 49 of them came on one attempt. This means that Houston gained 65 yards on its 24 other rushes.

It's this type of dominating performance that gives Kansas City a clear shot at beating New England next weekend and finding itself playing for the conference title the following week.

Minnesota Vikings have nothing to be ashamed about

Falling short at home under horrendous conditions against the two-time defending conference champions isn't going to be the end of the world for this up-and-coming team.

Sure, Teddy Bridgewater failed to have much success through the air — something that happened all-too often during the regular season. Adrian Peterson may have cost the team with a late-game fumble. And Blair Walsh's missed field goal at the end was inexcusable.

While the Vikings and their fans are going to have a hard time swallowing this heartbreaking loss, it's important to note that this squad is in the infancy of its run.

Blessed with a potentially dominating young defense and a likely franchise quarterback, the Vikings will be heard from when all is said and done.

One loss in January doesn't take away from a surprising 11-win regular season. This is the one silver lining for the team as it heads to the offseason.

The Redskins just aren't there yet

Washington held its own for two and a half quarters against a much more-talented Green Bay Packers team on Sunday afternoon. It just couldn't do enough in a 35-18 loss in the wild card round.

Kirk Cousins was sacked five times while the Packers put up five consecutive scoring drives leading to the 17-point win.

For the Redskins, this can act as a learning experience.

The team didn't play bad football at all. It put up over 350 yards of offense against a darn good defense. Kirk Cousins completed 29-of-46 passes for 329 yards without an interception.

Meanwhile, Washington's defense held the Packers to 3-of-11 on third-down conversions and held them scoreless for the first 21 minutes of the game.

Unfortunately, the Redskins defense started to let the team down while their offense wasn't able to keep pace.

Green Bay outscored Washington 35-7 in the final 39 minutes of the game to win going away.

Some will conclude that Washington "earned" a playoff spot simply because it plays in the NFC East. And while that had a large role in it, the Redskins did win their final four regular season game to put themselves in a position to play in a meaningful January football game.

It's now all about this team building off what was a surprising 2015 season. This means figuring out what to do with Kirk Cousins and Alfred Morris, both of whom are slated to become free agents.

It also means building more young talent on the defensive side of the ball.

If this happens, there's a good chance the Redskins will find themselves in contention for a playoff spot next season. That's much more than most of us envisioned just a few short months ago.

Green Bay Packers have turned the corner

It might sound like we are jumping the gun here. After all, Green Bay went into Washington and beat a Redskins team that won a horrible NFC East with a 9-7 record.

However, we have to look at just how bad the Packers were playing prior to Sunday's 35-18 win over Washington in the wild card round.

In the team's final two regular season games, Green Bay racked up a total of 20 points and 25 first downs. In the final two and half quarters on Sunday, the Packers scored 35 total points while putting up 23 first downs.

We know the talent is here to have success on offense. We have seen it a plethora of times throughout the years. We just didn't know if the Packers had it in them after struggling on offense for the better part of the past three months.

Now that we know Aaron Rodgers and Co. might have righted the ship on offense, this becomes an extremely scary team moving forward in the playoffs.

Seahawks have their work cut out for them

The conditions likely had a lot to do with it, as did what were communication issues early in the game. No matter the reason, Seattle's offense was absolutely dreadful for the first three quarters on Sunday.

Up until Russell Wilson's 35-yard strike to Tyler Lockett on the team's only touchdown-scoring drive early in the final stanza, Seattle had amassed 162 total yards in six possessions.

Heck, Wilson himself entered halftime with 36 total passing yards in what was a disastrous first-half performance.

It all came together in the fourth quarter. By virtue of Wilson's pass to Lockett on a broken play and Adrian Peterson's untimely late-game fumble, Seattle was able to come away with a 10-9 win.

That's fine and dandy. Anytime you can advance in the playoffs, you are on the right track. And in reality, Seattle's defense was absolutely dominating in this one.

The issue here is an offense that seemed to bog itself down continually on Sunday. It goes without saying that this type of performance won't lead to success in Carolina next week.

Can Seattle's offense get back to what we saw during the final half of the regular season? If so, this team could very well earn a third consecutive conference title. If not, a season that's had its ups and downs will end prematurely.

Major questions surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers

Reports following the team's last-minute win over Cincinnati on Saturday indicate that Ben Roethlisberger suffered a separated throwing shoulder ^[13].

Meanwhile, the hit Vontaze Burfict laid on Antonio Brown left the star receiver concussed.

These two injuries are going to be the major talking points heading into next weekend's game against the Denver Broncos.

Big Ben's ability to play against Denver will depend on his ability to actually throw the football. He averaged less than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage following the injury after putting up nearly seven yards per attempt prior to the injury.

When asked how far he could throw the ball down the field after suffering the injury, Big Ben had this to say ^[14] (via Steelers.com):

"I don't know; I didn't have to test it out. Coach called one deep one in there and obviously he had to because time was running out. So I went over to the sideline and said 'Coach you can't do that anymore, I can't throw it that far.' We knew we had to work our way down the field."

This is rather clear cut. At 100 percent, Landry Jones becomes a better option for Pittsburgh if Big Ben can't even throw the ball 10-plus yards down the field.

A lot of this will depend on the severity of the injury and whether Roethlisberger shows the ability to even be 50 percent of his normal self during the week.

In a positive sign, Pittsburgh seems to be confident ^[15] Roethlisberger will be able to go against the Broncos next weekend.

As it relates to Brown, he's now going to have to pass through the league's concussion protocol. The good news here is that one report suggests Brown is "fine and should be ready to go in Denver ^[16]."

The issue here is that concussion symptoms tend to linger. They can also become more prevalent in the days following the injury than right after it.

We are looking at the two-best players on the Steelers roster. Any chance Pittsburgh has of winning in Denver will depend heavily on whether this duo can suit up next weekend.

Check out Vincent's other work on eDraft.com ^[17] and follow him on Twitter ^[18]. His work can also be seen on MSN, Fox Sports and Forbes.