January, the most boring, uneventful, lackluster, depression, and all-out worst month of the year, always has at least a few things going for it. Take winter sports for example, and more specifically, Football. The NFL playoffs commence each year every January as the opponents play through multiple rounds to decide who gets to take a trip to the Winter Classic itself: The Super Bowl.

Ever since January 15, 1967, two teams meet up in a neutral location (usually another NFL team’s stadium) to match up in a final winner-take-all championship game that decides who is the best of the best in the NFL. Each team that gets there has to go through two (sometimes three if they’re a Wild Card team, meaning they came in 2nd place and had the best/2nd best record of a non-divisional winning team) rounds of playoff games, known as the Divisional Round and the AFC/NFC championship games for each respected league.

There have been many franchises who have had the luxuries of frequent appearances in the playoffs, such as the Patriots as a more recent example, the Cowboys in the 90’s, the 80’s 49ers, and so on. Other teams have been less fortunate, such as the Bengals, Redskins, Lions and Packers. What every single one of these teams dreams of every single year is to reward their fans’ patience with a deep run that could result in a Championship, and it makes it more special and important when the drought the fans have been waiting through has been more extensive. While this remains true even in the uncertainty of our current times, the 2021 NFL postseason proposes a whole new meaning for every single player that steps foot on the field this month.

Everyone, even the most acclaimed and wealthy athletes, have gone through the same struggles recently, as the COVID-19 outbreak has negatively affected the world in many different ways. No one has been safe from the outcomes and problems the virus has brought among us, and in order to get things to the way there are now, it took a team effort from everyone who pitched in. This, in a way, applies to this postseason. All of these players, their coaches, the owners, they’ve seen the struggle. They’ve lived through it all this year. Some have been dealing with struggles beyond just this year, but for their entire lifetimes. This year, all seven of the teams that make it in will have the chance to go out and win it all, not just for themselves, but for the millions of fans that have gone through the same struggles as them, and by doing this, giving a sense of joy and relief to those who haven’t experienced much at all this year.

While many will view this season as fraudulent, fake, or even as some Twitter users say, “Mickey-Mouse”, one team and their fans will get to experience something that will outlive anything else that has happened this year, and that is winning a Super Bowl Title.