You know what always cheers me up?

It has been two years since I enjoyed a football game as thoroughly as I did Friday’s Peach Bowl.

In fact, it was so great, I’m going to hold off just a little bit before I dive into the Ducks’ nose dive because I want to savor it.

I have emerged from the corner of the couch where I spent far too much of the last four days watching football.

I’m not saying regret it. Not a bit.

The college-football semifinals and wild-card round of the NFL playoffs were nothing short of epic. Besides, I cleaned our refrigerator on Friday afternoon, a process that included removing and scrubbing the produce bins (though I neglected to clean the shelves on the door).

Before I get to the games themselves, I’ll provide you with the two things everyone in Seattle wants to know.

1. What does it mean for the Seahawks? They’ll be facing the 49ers on Saturday in Seattle after San Francisco beat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-23 on Sunday.

   Christian McCaffrey scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and an injury-ravaged Niners defense forced a turnover on downs to close out the victory.

   This will be the third time Seattle and San Francisco have met in the playoffs and the second time in 15 days the two teams have played.

2. Did Demond Williams announce he plans to leave Washington? No. At least not this weekend.

I have spent a significant amount of time over the past 20 years trying to become a more balanced, less angry person. I have gone to (multiple) therapists. I started taking anti-depressants and I stopped drinking. I read self-help books, the most recent being “Are you mad at me?” I write about my feelings. A lot.

But there is nothing that I have encountered that is more guaranteed to make me feel better than watching Oregon’s football team get dragged up and down the field by its ear lobe.

It happened last year in the quarterfinals, when Ohio State turned Oregon into a skid mark. It happened this year in the semis when Indiana beat Oregon like it stole something for the second time this season.

My God it was great, and while I was informed – on multiple occasions – that I don’t have any room to talk given my school was last seen threatening to sue its quarterback to keep him from leaving, well, I don’t particularly care about being rational or logical about this.

I would prefer to just scroll through social media and retweet all the things that make me laugh.

Like this:

Or this:

Or this:

As I was writing this on Monday morning, it occurred to me that it might be fun to blurb this game as if I were a film critic, delivering a quick, punchy assessment that could be included on movie posters and advertising:

Mitch Levy invited me to sit at the grown-up’s table for this week’s episode of Mitch Unfiltered, and we (briefly) looked ahead to Seattle’s matchup with San Francisco.

🏈 Playoff summaries 🏈 

Rams 34, Panthers 31

Fourth-quarter lead changes: 4. Game-winning touchdown scored with 38 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

The Rams were one Eagles touchdown away to coming to Seattle this weekend, and while Seattle won the last meeting, the Rams are the only franchise that’s ever beaten the Seahawks in the playoffs at Lumen Field.

Bears 31, Packers 27

Fourth-quarter lead changes: 1. Game-winning touchdown scored with 1:43 left in the fourth quarter.

Chicago trailed by as many as 18 points in this game, and Caleb Williams has some of the worst body language I can remember seeing on a quarterback. He also had one of the more incredible throws I’ve seen, throwing to Rome Odunze on fourth-and-10 to sustain what turned out to be the game-winning drive.

This was the third time this season that the Packers have lost a game they led by 10 more points with 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter. That’s crazy.

Bills 27, Jags 24

Fourth-quarter lead changes: 4. Game-winning touchdown scored with 1:04 left in the fourth quarter.

This is the first road playoff win of Josh Allen’s career. Given that Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow are all absent from the postseason, I think Allen is the best quarterback in these playoffs. He got the crap beat out of him in this game, though, from his knee to the index finger on his throwing hand to getting his noggin’ jarred in the first half.

49ers 23, Eagles 19

Fourth-quarter lead changes: 3. Game-winning touchdown scored with 2:54 left in the fourth quarter.

Philadelphia has played in two of the past three Super Bowls. This is the fifth consecutive season the Eagles have made the playoffs and last season, they won their second Super Bowl in nine seasons, yet the crowd in Philadelphia began booing the Eagles offense on Sunday at a point in which Philadelphia was still leading.

You know what? The crowd was right.

That offense is garbage. I’m not sure if it’s the coordinator, the coach or the quarterback who seems to excel at two things:

1. Throwing deep along the sidlines;

2. Getting pushed forward 18 inches in short-yardage situations.

This was a game Philadelphia lost just as much as the 49ers won it.

New England 16, L.A. Chargers 3

It has been a while since I’ve seen a quarterback get bludgeoned as badly as Justin Herbert did in this game. That man took a beating, and while I know that he has yet to win a playoff game in three trips to the postseason, you’re not going to be able to convince me he was the problem on Sunday night. The Chargers lost both their starting tackles over the course of this season and it showed.

Also, Mike Vrabel looks to have assembled himself a fierce defense in New England, which should be concerning to everyone in the AFC, because unlike when he was in Tennessee, he now has a stud quarterback in Maye.