The National Football League playoffs for the 2004 season began on January 8, 2005. The postseason tournament concluded with the New England Patriots defeating the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX, 24–21, on February 6, at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.
The Minnesota Vikings and St. Louis Rams became the first teams to win a playoff game despite finishing the regular season with a record of .500 or worse, as both posted an 8–8 record in the regular season. Minnesota defeated the Green Bay Packers and St. Louis defeated the Seattle Seahawks in the wild card round. Four other teams <!-- DO NOT list them --> have since won a playoff game despite a regular season record at or below .500.
With the St. Louis Rams and Atlanta Falcons facing each other in the NFC Divisional playoffs, the St. Louis Rams became the first team in NFL history to face every team within their respective conference in the postseason at least once.
Participants
Bracket
Schedule
In the United States, ABC broadcast the first two Wild Card playoff games, then CBS broadcast the rest of the AFC playoff games. Fox televised the rest of the NFC games and Super Bowl XXXIX.
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:92%; text-align:center;"
! Away team !! Score !! Home team !! Date !! Kickoff<br>(ET / UTC–5) !! TV
|-
! colspan="6"|Wild Card playoffs
|-
| St. Louis Rams || 27–20 || Seattle Seahawks || January 8, 2005 || 4:30 p.m. || ABC
|-
| New York Jets || 20–17 || San Diego Chargers || January 8, 2005 || 8:00 p.m. || ABC
|-
| Denver Broncos || 24–49 || Indianapolis Colts || January 9, 2005 || 1:00 p.m. || CBS
|-
| Minnesota Vikings || 31–17 || Green Bay Packers || January 9, 2005 || 4:30 p.m. || Fox
|-
! colspan="6"|Divisional playoffs
|-
| New York Jets || 17–20 || Pittsburgh Steelers || January 15, 2005 || 4:30 p.m. || CBS
|-
| St. Louis Rams || 17–47 || Atlanta Falcons || January 15, 2005 || 8:00 p.m. || Fox
|-
| Minnesota Vikings || 14–27 || Philadelphia Eagles || January 16, 2005 || 1:00 p.m. || Fox
|-
| Indianapolis Colts || 3–20 || New England Patriots || January 16, 2005 || 4:30 p.m. || CBS
|-
! colspan="6"|Conference Championships
|-
| Atlanta Falcons || 10–27 || Philadelphia Eagles || January 23, 2005 || 3:00 p.m. || Fox
|-
| New England Patriots || 41–27 || Pittsburgh Steelers || January 23, 2005 || 6:30 p.m. || CBS
|-
! colspan="6"|Super Bowl XXXIX<br><small>Alltel Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida</small>
|-
| New England Patriots || 24–21 || Philadelphia Eagles || February 6, 2005 || 6:30 p.m. || Fox
|}
Wild Card playoffs
Saturday, January 8, 2005
NFC: St. Louis Rams 27, Seattle Seahawks 20
Although the Rams barely made the playoffs with an 8–8 record, two of their regular season wins were against the Seahawks. They proved they were up to the task again, beating the Seahawks in a back and forth game by scoring a touchdown with 2:11 left to go and then forcing a turnover on their own 5-yard line. With the win, the Rams became the first team in NFL history to win a playoff game after going 8–8 in the regular season. The Rams' defense held Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander, the NFL's second leading rusher during the season, to only 40 yards on 15 carries.
Shortly after the opening kickoff, Rams quarterback Marc Bulger completed a 52-yard pass to Torry Holt at the Seahawks' 11-yard line. Three plays later, he threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Holt to give the Rams an early 7–0 lead. Then on the Seahawks' first play of the game, cornerback Travis Fisher intercepted a pass from Matt Hasselbeck at the Seahawks' 44-yard line. Bulger once again tried to go deep, but the Seahawks were ready and Ken Hamlin picked off his pass at the 4-yard line. After an exchange of punts, the Seahawks drove 46 yards in 9 plays and scored with Josh Brown's 47-yard field goal, cutting their deficit to 7–3.
Early in the second quarter, Bulger's 52-yard completion to Kevin Curtis set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Marshall Faulk. But the Seahawks responded by driving 84 yards in 9 plays. On the eighth play of the drive, Hasselbeck's pass was intercepted, but a 15-yard penalty on Trev Faulk nullified the play and gave the Seahawks the ball at the Rams' 19-yard line. Taking advantage of his second chance, Hasselbeck threw a 19-yard touchdown completion to Bobby Engram on the next play, making the score 14–10.
On the opening drive of the third quarter, the Seahawks moved the ball 64 yards in 14 plays and scored with Brown's 30-yard field goal, cutting their deficit to 1 point. The Rams responded with a field goal from Jeff Wilkins to retake their 4-point lead, but Hasselbeck stormed back, completing five consecutive passes for 75 yards on the Seahawks' ensuing drive and finishing it off with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Darrell Jackson, giving his team their first lead of the game 1:17 into the fourth quarter. But the Rams struck back with an 11-play, 60-yard drive to tie the game with a second field goal from Wilkins. Then after forcing a punt, the Rams drove 76 yards in seven plays, featuring two key receptions by players who had not caught a pass yet in the game. The first was a 31-yard completion from Bulger to Shaun McDonald on third down and 2. Then three plays later, Bulger threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Cam Cleeland with 2:11 left in regulation.
Hasselbeck started out the ensuing drive with three of four completions for 54 yards, moving the ball to the Rams' 11-yard line. But over the next two plays, he threw an incompleted pass and was sacked for a 6-yard loss by Rams lineman Jimmy Kennedy. After that, he completed a 12-yard pass to Engram, bringing up fourth down and four on the Rams' 5-yard line. With 27 seconds left, Hasselbeck tried to connect with Engram in the end zone, but the pass zipped through his hands and the Seahawks turned the ball over on downs.
Bulger finished the game with 313 passing yards and 2 touchdowns, with 1 interception. Holt caught 6 passes for 108 yards and a touchdown, while Curtis added 4 receptions for 107 yards. Hasselbeck completed 27 of 43 passes for 341 yards and two touchdowns, with 1 interception, and rushed for 26 yards. Jackson caught 12 passes for 128 yards.
The game, notably, was also the last of wide receiver Jerry Rice's legendary career.
This was the Rams' last playoff win as the St. Louis Rams as they would relocate to Los Angeles in 2016. They would not win a playoff game until 2018.
After this loss, the Seahawks went on to win 10 consecutive home playoff games, a streak which lasted through the 2020 NFC Wild Card playoffs in which the Seahawks were once again defeated by the Rams.
This was the first postseason meeting between the Rams and Seahawks as divisional rivals.
AFC: New York Jets 20, San Diego Chargers 17 (OT)
The Jets entered the game after losing their last two regular season games, but managed to defeat the Chargers with a Doug Brien field goal in overtime. This game proved to be as close and competitive as the earlier playoff game in Seattle, featuring numerous key plays in the fourth quarter and in overtime that kept it going until 14:55 had elapsed in the extra period.
The Jets took the opening kickoff and drove to the Chargers' 11-yard line. But the Chargers' defense kept them out of the end zone and Brien missed a 31-yard field goal attempt. In the second quarter, the Chargers drove 88 yards and scored with Drew Brees' 26-yard touchdown pass to Keenan McCardell, which was initially ruled an incompletion, but overturned to a touchdown after a replay challenge. Later in the quarter, a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty against the Chargers on a punt gave the Jets the ball on the Chargers' 37-yard line. Five plays later, quarterback Chad Pennington completed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Becht, tying the game at 7. On their ensuing drive, the Chargers mounted a scoring threat by moving the ball to the Jets' 37-yard line, but Reggie Tongue intercepted a pass from Brees and the score remained tied at halftime.
After forcing a punt on the opening second half drive, Pennington completed three consecutive passes for 68 yards, the last one a 47-yard touchdown pass to Santana Moss. Then after forcing a punt, the Jets drove 42 yards in eight plays, featuring two receptions by Curtis Martin for 33 yards and scored with a 42-yard field goal from Brien, giving them a 17–7 lead going into the fourth quarter.
In the final period, the Chargers managed to rally back. First they drove 54 yards in 12 plays and scored with a 35-yard field goal by Nate Kaeding. The Jets responded with a drive to the Chargers' 33-yard line, Pennington threw an incomplete pass on third down and they decided to punt rather than risk a 51-yard field goal. The Chargers subsequently moved the ball 80 yards in 10 plays to tie the game on a thrilling drive in which they nearly turned the ball over twice. On the first play, Brees fumbled the ball while being sacked by linebacker Jonathan Vilma, but he recovered it himself. Then he completed a 21-yard pass to tight end Antonio Gates to pick up the first down. One play later, he completed a 44-yard pass to Gates at the Jets' 22-yard line. Two runs by LaDainian Tomlinson for 13 yards and a 7-yard run by Brees brought up third down on the Jets' 2-yard line. After Tomlinson was tackled for a 1-yard loss, A fourth-down pass Brees with under 20 seconds left fell incomplete into the end zone, but Jets linebacker Eric Barton was penalized for roughing the passer, giving the Chargers a first down from the one-yard line. Brees threw a touchdown pass to Gates on the following play, sending the game into overtime.
After an exchange of punts in overtime, the Chargers drove to the Jets' 22-yard line, but Kaeding missed a 40-yard field goal attempt late in the extra period, allowing the Jets to come back down the field. Two Pennington completions for 29 yards and a 19-yard run by LaMont Jordan then set up a 28-yard field goal from Brien with five seconds remaining in overtime.
Pennington completed 23 of 33 passes for 272 yards and 2 touchdowns. Moss finished the game with 4 receptions for 100 yards and a touchdown. Brees completed 31 of 42 passes for 319 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 1 interception. Tomlinson rushed for 80 yards and caught 9 passes for 53 yards.
The Chargers would not be eliminated in the Wild Card Round again until 2022.
This was the first postseason meeting between the Jets and Chargers.