Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (left) scrambles for yardage and a first down during the NFL game against the New York Giants on November 22, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. Photo: VCG

The National Football League regular season ended on January 9 night and with it the road to the Super Bowl has taken shape as the final playoff spots were cemented.

This season was the first in NFL history to feature 17 regular-season games and two players went into the final game with a chance of putting their names into the record books. One of them - Tom Brady - has his name written into American football history many times over while Cooper Kupp has had a season to remember.

The Los Angeles Rams wide receiver went into his team's matchup with the San Francisco 49ers within sight of two single-season records - receptions and receiving yards. In the end the Pro Bowl wide receiver came up short despite seven catches for 118 yards and a touchdown.

Kupp needed just 18 more yards to best Calvin Johnson's single-season record of 1,964 yards but he goes down as the second best, while he needed five more catches to set a single-season best in receptions, setting another second best mark.

Never mind, Kupp won the receiving Triple Crown - finishing the season as the NFL's leader in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns - a feat not managed since 2005.

He is one of only four players to capture the Triple Crown, joining the San Francisco 49ers legend Jerry Rice, Sterling Sharpe of the Green Bay Packers and Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers.

Over the course of this season the 28-year-old clocked 145 receptions, 1,947 receiving yards and 16 receiving touchdowns.

It was a stellar solo season for Klupp as he guided the Rams to the NFC West title and they move on to face their divisional foes the Arizona Cardinals in the wild card game. This came despite defeat to the 49ers in the regular-season finale.

The San Francisco 49ers had a wild journey of their own to the wild card game - coming back from 17-0 down to the Rams before pulling ahead in overtime to take a 27-24 win. The win takes them to a wild card game against the Dallas Cowboys - the first time since the mid-1990s that the once dominant forces clash heads on the road to the Super Bowl.

Like the Niners, the Pittsburgh Steelers stole in at the last, too. Their wild card spot came thanks to the unlikeliest of routes.

The Jacksonville Jaguars, who had been out of the postseason conversation for the best part of a month after their poor performances, pulled off a shock victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the final game of the season. The Steelers had edged past the Baltimore Ravens in overtime to give themselves the best chance but they then needed the Las Vegas Raiders and San Diego Chargers game to end with a win rather than a tie.

The Raiders came good in OT to send the Steelers to the playoffs thanks to a field goal and move on to meet the Cincinnati Bengals in the wild card game. The Bengals had already secured a first playoff appearance since 2015 and rested up their starters in a season ending dead rubber defeat to the Cleveland Browns.

The Steelers will now face the Kansas City Chiefs, who come into it with nine wins in their last 10 games and as second seeds in the AFC behind the Tennessee Titans - just missing out on a bye to the next round of the playoffs. The Chiefs - ­Super Bowl winners in 2020 and ­runners-up to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last time out - beat the Denver Broncos to wrap up that ninth win in a row.

Last year's Super Bowl champions are still in the hunt for another seat at the Big Dance next month, though they needed Brady at his legendary best once again.

Brady passed 5,000 yards on January 9, becoming the oldest player to do so and only the second player to meet the mark in multiple seasons. His feat came in a 41-17 win over the Carolina Panthers, in which he also broke his own Bucs single-season record for touchdown passes - clocking up numbers 41, 42 and 43 of the season. Brady also surpassed Drew Brees - the only quarterback with more 5,000-yard seasons - for single-season pass completions, setting a new mark of 471. Brady, even at 44, has thrown his way back into the MVP conversation.

The Buccaneers - who won 13 games in a season for the first time in franchise history - secured the No.2 seed in the NFC playoffs and now meet the ­Philadelphia Eagles in their wild card game.

"Thirteen wins and it hasn't been easy," said coach Bruce Arians. "We've had a lot of guys down all season."

"In the end, it's a great achievement to get the two seed," said Brady, who finished with a career-high 5,316 passing yards as he enters his 19th postseason.

"It just felt good to win today. Whatever happened with other teams, you can't ever really control those things. Even for the next game - I don't know, what, you're worried about two games from now? I'm not worried about two games from now. I'm worried about one game from now, which is the Eagles."

Brady's former team, the New England Patriots, will take on Buffalo Bills in the wild card - the third time that the AFC East rivals will go head-to-head this season. The Bills are the form team and took the divisional title ahead of the Pats who had slowed up in recent weeks, finishing off with a loss to the Miami Dolphins. Experience could be a factor as Bill Bellichick's Pats are old hands when it comes to the postseason but this is only the second time the teams have met in the playoffs.

The Green Bay Packers - the No.1 ranked team in the NFC - join the Titans in getting a bye as the top-ranked teams in the conference. Both the Packers and Titans will be rewarded with a home game against the lowest-seeded team from their respective conferences to make it through the wild card round.