American football: Teams chase lucrative Superbowl spots

It's down to just four teams now in the race for the Superbowl, the symbol of supremacy in American Football (the NFL).

The four Divisional games - the second stage of the playoffs, following the initial Wildcard Weekend a week ago - were played last weekend.

A brief wrap-up of those results is below.

So, for a quartet of successful franchises, it's on to the penultimate step prior to Superbowl XL (the 40th Superbowl), which is set to take place amid all the usual hoopla in Detroit on February 5.

In the American Football Conference (AFC) championship final next week, the Denver Broncos will play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have upset two favoured teams on their way so far, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Indianapolis Colts.

Denver ended the impressive Superbowl run of the New England Patriots, champions in 2003 and 2004.

And in the National Football Conference (NFC) season decider, it will be the Carolina Panthers travelling to the northwest of the USA to take on the Seattle Seahawks.

* NFL DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF RESULTS

Carolina 29
Chicago 20

CHICAGO - Steve Smith racked up a career-best 218 receiving yards on 12 catches and hauled in two touchdown passes from Jake Delhomme, as the Carolina Panthers advanced to the NFC Championship game with a 29-21 victory over the Chicago Bears in a divisional playoff game at Soldier Field yesterday.

Delhomme threw for 319 yards and three scores with one interception for the fifth-seeded Panthers, who built an early 13-0 lead and held on to reach the NFC title game for the second time in three years.

* * *

Pittsburgh 21
Indianapolis 18

INDIANAPOLIS - The Pittsburgh Steelers survived a fourth-quarter charge, and a late fumble, to upset the Indianapolis Colts 21-18 and advance to the AFC championship game yesterday.

Colts field goal kicker Mike Vanderjagt missed a 40-metre field goal with 17 seconds remaining that would have tied the game after a dramatic late Jerome Bettis fumble gave the home team renewed hope.

* * *

Seattle 20
Washington 10

SEATTLE - The Seattle Seahawks battled to a 20-10 victory over the Washington Redskins in an NFC divisional game Saturday, despite committing three turnovers and losing the NFL's leading rusher to injury.

Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck threw for a touchdown and ran for another as the hosts fought off a late comeback bid to earn the right to host next week's NFC championship game.

* * *

Denver 27
New England 13

DENVER - "Champ" Bailey intercepted a Tom Brady pass in the endzone and returned it 90 metres to break open a tight defensive battle in helping the Denver Broncos register a 27-13 victory over the New England Patriots on Saturday.

The two-time defending Super Bowl champion Patriots had little answer to Denver's marauding defense and were punished for a series of fumbles and interceptions that allowed the home team to ease to victory in the AFC divisional showdown.


- GAME RECAPS FROM REUTERS