The 2018 NFL playoffs are proving defense still wins championships

“Defense wins championships” is a tired cliché in football. It feels especially overused when the New England Patriots — led by the NFL’s No. 1 offense and the winningest quarterback ever — are in the AFC Championship for the seventh year in a row.

But if the Divisional Round was any indication, defense still matters a ton.

Tom Brady, like always, is on the doorstep of a trip to the Super Bowl. But the other three quarterbacks who led a team to a conference championship comprise a list that sounds more like the scrap pile of an offseason free agency list.

Blake Bortles. Nick Foles. Case Keenum.

Barring injury, at least one of those quarterbacks will start in the Super Bowl. Two if the Jacksonville Jaguars can upset the Patriots next week.

The common thread for all three teams is that their defense leads the way, and even the Patriots rebounded from a poor start defensively to finish the year as a formidable unit to score against.

And although quarterbacks will inevitably draw the spotlight, defense has reigned supreme in the NFL for a while now.

A top-ranked defense is never an easy out. The offenses for the three teams aiming for a first-ever Lombardi Trophy are doing enough to let the defenses pick up the slack.

Of the three quarterbacks who are making people say “Wait, how did he get here?” Keenum is the one who has played like a playoff quarterback all year.

With Teddy Bridgewater recovering from a knee injury suffered in 2016 and Sam Bradford going down with a knee injury of his own early in the season, the Vikings turned to Keenum and got surprisingly great results. In 15 regular-season games in 2017, he threw 22 touchdowns with just seven interceptions and finished the year with the NFL’s seventh-best passer rating (98.3).

He put up brand-name statistics on a Costco-brand reputation, and that means a significant payday is on the horizon for Keenum.

Before going to the Vikings as a backup on a cheap one-year, $2 million deal, Keenum had a 2-8 record as a starter for the Texans and a 7-7 record with the Rams before he was benched in 2016 for Jared Goff. His passer rating at both stops prior to Minnesota was less than 80.

He was a Band-Aid from the start, just like Foles in Philadelphia, except Keenum has played beyond expectations.

But it’s the Vikings defense that’s the backbone of the team. The unit finished No. 1 in points allowed, No. 1 in yards allowed, and allowed Minnesota to be one of only two teams that ended up with more than 500 rushing attempts in 2017. The other was the similarly defensive-minded Jaguars.

It was Keenum’s miraculous, last-second touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs that saved the day for the Vikings, but their elite defense kept the Saints off the scoreboard altogether for the first 40 minutes of regulation.

Statistically, the 45-42 win over the Steelers that sent the Jaguars to the AFC Championship was the worst defensive performance of the year for Jacksonville.

The Jaguars gave up more than 500 total yards for the first time all season. The 42 points allowed were the second-most behind only the 44 given up to the 49ers, who housed a pick-six early in their win over the Jaguars.

But Jacksonville’s defense did its part in the scoring avalanche in Pittsburgh:

It’s also hard to blame the Jaguars too much for giving up a meaningless touchdown with one second left in the game that cut the team’s lead to three.

Even in a high-scoring game that saw Leonard Fournette bulldoze his way to 109 yards and three touchdowns and Blake Bortles throw for 214 yards and a touchdown, the Steelers still got a healthy dose of the Jaguars defense doing what it does best: creating chaos.

The unit was second in the NFL in takeaways, second in sacks, second in points allowed, and second in yards allowed.

And that means every game against the Jaguars is going to be tough to win. If the inconsistent Jacksonville offense scores only 10 points like it did against the Bills, the defense can hold its opponents to single digits. And if the opponent has a scoring explosion like the Steelers, the Jacksonville defense can pitch in some points of its own.

Philadelphia has embraced the underdog mentality, even wearing dog masks on the field after a 15-10 win over the Falcons:

Make no mistake: The only reason the 13-3 Eagles weren’t favored at home against the 10-6 Falcons was Nick Foles. And he’s the reason Philadelphia will be a home underdog again when the Vikings visit Sunday.

But the Eagles aren’t going to roll over and die without Carson Wentz. The Philadelphia defense — which may have the most momentum of any defense still alive — isn’t going to allow it.

With Wentz lost for the year due to an ACL tear, Philadelphia’s hopes rely on Foles — an NFL journeyman on his third team in as many years — leading the Eagles to enough points to win.

Thanks to the team’s defense and ground attack, it took just 15 points to get the job done this weekend.

The Eagles lost in Week 17, but the defense held the Cowboys to just six points. And Philadelphia shut down the Raiders in a 19-10 win the week before that.

While Philadelphia’s defense hasn’t earned the praise and accolades that the Vikings’ and Jaguars’ have, it has been a nightmare for three consecutive opponents. And if it holds Minnesota in check too, Foles won’t need to lead the Eagles to many points to get the team to the Super Bowl.

The Patriots entered the season as Super Bowl favorites, and it should come to the surprise of nobody that the team with Tom Brady is the favorite. Especially when he’s in a final four that also features three starting quarterbacks who all have a strong chance of becoming free agents in a few months.

But the Divisional Round was evidence — yet again — that defense really does matter in January. It’s never going to be a walk in the park against a team that’s tough to score on.

And even though touchdowns are a blast to watch, defense can be fun, too. The 2018 playoffs have had edge-of-your-seat action and down-to-the-wire finishes — six of the eight games so far have been decided by a single score. It bodes well for our chances of seeing exciting conference championships and a Super Bowl that isn’t a blowout.

There are three elite defenses and the league’s best offense left. If defense really does win championships, the road through Bortles, Keenum, and Foles to another Super Bowl won’t be as easy as it looks for Brady. And that’s why we could be in for one of the most memorable finishes to a season in a while, no matter who’s at quarterback.