7 Most Lopsided Playoff Games in NFL History

If you are like me, you cannot wait for the NFL playoffs to start.

It's a rite of passage.

It's a reason to celebrate seasons.

It's a chance to watch the best of the best compete for the right to go to the Super Bowl.

Most of all, it's a chance to see your favorite teams play further into the new year.

Then, when you reach that pinnacle of having everything in place, the team you root for falls apart. Not just a loss, but one giant blunder that people will talk about for years to come.

It's the kind of loss that could send a team into a tailspin, where the only recovery imaginable is to have Maverick hold the throttle and ask Goose for help (a Top Gun reference, if you weren't sure).

Those kinds of games you and your team want to see end as quickly as they started so the pain can begin and the healing can come soon thereafter.

These seven games were brutal to watch if your team was on the losing end. But think how those players must have felt knowing they were making history while falling apart.

1993 NFC Divisional Playoff: San Francisco 49ers Def. New York Giants 44-3

The Giants had already played one playoff game, and the 49ers were well rested, having had a bye week the week before.

The Giants never knew what hit them coming out of the gate. Instead of the 49ers' vaunted passing game, it was 49ers RB Ricky Watters who ran for five touchdowns in the 44-3 rout.

Whether it was because the 49ers were coming off a bye or some other reason, the Giants got smacked by San Francisco.

Some say it was the flight out west that affected the Giants, who had won 17-10 over Minnesota the week before.

Whatever the reason, New York was blistered by 41 points.

2000 NFC Championship Game: New York Giants Def. Minnesota Vikings 41-0

It's a wonder the Vikings never made it to the Super Bowl in the 1990s or 2000s.

The Giants surprised everyone by getting to the Super Bowl when it was thought it would be the year of the Saints.

The Giants' Kerry Collins threw for 381 yards and five TDs in the win, allowing New York to face the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl.

2002 AFC Wild Card: New York Jets Def. Indianapolis Colts 41-0

History has shown that the Jets and Colts not only play dramatic regular season games, but they also play pretty intense playoff games.

This was not the case.

While the Jets were not a world-beater in the game, the Colts looked pedestrian at best.

Peyton Manning only threw for 137 yards and suffered two interceptions in the blowout.

1983 NFC Divisional Playoff: Washington Redskins Def. Los Angeles Rams 51-7

One of those teams that seemed to have everything going for them, Washington finished the season 14-2 and steamrolled through the playoffs but did not win the Super Bowl, falling to the Oakland Raiders.

The Redskins just blew out the Rams on New Year's Day. Redskins QB Joe Theismann threw for 302 yards and two TDs, and RB John Riggins rushed for 119 yards and three TDs in the contest.

1986 NFC Divisional Playoff: New York Giants Def. San Francisco 49ers 49-3

It just wasn't the 49ers' day, that is for sure.

The Giants went to the air to beat Joe Montana and the 49ers. Phil Simms threw for four touchdowns and outplayed the man some consider the best to ever play at the position.

The Giants defense knocked out Montana with a concussion during the contest.

1990 AFC Championship: Buffalo Bills Def. Los Angeles Raiders 51-3

I remember watching this game and saying to my father, "I hope the Bills do not blow their lead."

Not a great thing to say in a moment like that, but the Bills, the AFC team of the 1990s, dominated this game from the beginning.

Bills RB Thurman Thomas rushed for 138 yards, and the Raiders threw six INTs in the game.

The Bills also scored 95 points in two playoff contests that year.

They then lost to the Giants 20-19 two weeks later in the Super Bowl.

2000 AFC Divisional Playoff Game: Jacksonville Jaguars Def. Miami Dolphins 62-7

Oh what a difference a decade makes.

It is hard to believe Jacksonville was the juggernaut of the NFL that season.

The Jags got off to a fast start with Fred Taylor running for 135 yards in the game.

Miami could do nothing to stop them. It was also the game that will be known as Dan Marino's last game.

Jacksonville posted a 14-2 record that season and did everything right except beat Tennessee, who it lost to three times that season; otherwise it would have played the Rams in the Super Bowl.