The Seattle Seahawks staged a miraculous comeback to beat the Green Bay Packers 28-22 in the NFC championship game to advance to the Super Bowl for the second straight season.
Pete Carroll's men were down 19-7 with three minutes remaining in the game, but they managed to take the lead with two late scores before Mason Crosby tied the match to send it to overtime.
In overtime, quarterback Russell Wilson delivered a perfect strike down the middle of the field to Jermaine Kearse to secure the NFC title for the second year in a row and with it the chance to defend the Vince Lombardi trophy.
The Packers started well on offense as they managed to move the ball downfield on the vaunted Seahawks' defense, but Aaron Rodgers was intercepted by Richard Sherman in the endzone as he tried to find Davante Adams.
Green Bay got the ball back immediately when Ha Ha Clinton-Dix picked off Wilson, but his side's offense were denied a touchdown as running back Eddie Lacy was stopped on the goalline. Crosby kicked his team ahead with an 18-yard field goal.
The Seahawks turned the ball over again from the kickoff when Doug Baldwin fumbled, allowing Brad Jones to gather. The Packers drove to the goalline, but Seattle came up with a stand to stop John Kuhn forcing Crosby into action again.
At the end of the first quarter, Mike McCarthy's men finally got themselves into the endzone as Rodgers threw a dart to Randall Cobb for a 13-yard touchdown to hand his side a 13-0 lead.
Crosby added another field goal at the start of the second, while the Seahawks' struggles on offense continued as Clinton-Dix intercepted Wilson for the second time deep in his own territory.
Rodgers gave the ball back to Seattle when he was picked off for the second time of the match by Byron Maxwell. However, the home side failed to score as Wilson committed his third turnover of the game when he was intercepted in the endzone by Sam Shields.
In the second half, both sides started poorly on the offensive side of the ball as they went three and out in their first possessions of the third quarter.
However, the Seahawks put themselves back in the game with a huge series as Wilson was sacked for a huge loss on second down by Clay Matthews, but he responded with a 25-yard completion to Doug Baldwin to put his team in field-goal range.
From the field goal the Seahawks faked the kick and punter Jon Ryan threw on the run to find offensive lineman Garry Gilliam in the endzone for a 19-yard score.
The Packers managed to restore control early in the fourth quarter when Rodgers led his team to field-goal drive to restore a 12-point lead with time running out in the game as Crosby's kick was good from 48 yards.
Seattle tried to push back into the game, but Wilson was picked off for the fourth time in the match as his pass deflected off the hands of Jermaine Kearse and into the grasp of Morgan Burnett.
The Packers couldn't ice the game and Wilson led his team downfield once more, finding the endzone when he faked the handoff to Marshawn Lynch and ran in for the score himself.
Needing to gain possession the Seahawks attempted an onside kick, which they were able to gather as Brandon Bostick dropped the ball into the hands of Chris Matthews. Seattle took the lead as Lynch burst through the line and walked in for a 24-yard touchdown.
There was one more twist to the tale as Rodgers moved his team into field-goal range, and Crosby held his nerve from 48 yards to send the game into overtime.
The Seahawks won the coin toss in overtime and Wilson hit a huge throw downfield to find Baldwin to threaten the Packers. The quarterback came up big again with a huge throw down the seam for Kearse to make the catch for the touchdown that sent his team to the Super Bowl.
Seattle become the first team since the New England Patriots to reach the Super Bowl in successive seasons, and will take on the winner of the AFC championship game between the Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts in Glendale.
