You guys feel that? That tingly feeling of enchantment and wonder? Children scamper up and down the streets, throwing snowballs that are gray from road grime. That one dude is mowing his lawn despite it not having grown in two months. Everyone is sending memes about the office around the holidays, because no one is nice enough to tell them that work is the last thing they want to think about while they have a heated debate with their tipsy uncle at 1 PM about whether or not college athletes should be paid.

Yes that's right, it's Christmas time once again, and with the arrival of Kris Kringle also arrives the real reason we trudge on through our desolate lives: the fantasy football playoffs. Four teams survived the onslaught of this season, which saw everyone reach double-digit points for the first time since the Top 5 system was adopted. This year also saw the 2nd most points scored since the league's inception with 18,582.3 (last year was the record with 18,676.9).

So now we turn our watchful eyes to these wizards of the waivers, these lords of the lineups, these kings of taking fantasy advice from random Instagram accounts, as they dance for us and compete for the coveted trophy (and the sweet sweet cash that comes with it). Lets meet our Yuletide Gladiators.

#1 vs #4

Collin

The team to beat this year, Collin tore through the season without prejudice, only stumbling twice in losses to Jake and Nathan (he still scored 140+ in his other loss to TK). Armed with a dynamic team of RBs, including both Cowboys backs Tony Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott, Collin puts the ball in the hands of Joe Burrow to take the field and lead his team to victory as the clear favorites to win the championship.

The fight was a good one, and Collin continued to put up the points we've become accustom to this season, but it wasn't enough this weekend. We all know that making the playoffs requires a good team, but winning the playoffs requires some good timing. Collin got matched up up against a team that got hot, and it didn't pan out for him. A great 29.5-point game from Joe Burrow and five more players scoring in the teens or higher gave Collin a score that would be a winning amount in around 75% of playoff games, so he can take the loss with pride and go whoop up on the embarrassment that is Austin's team in the Money Back Bowl to finish the season with a little paycheck.

TK

Despite scoring the second-most points in the league, TK struggled to break his habit of catching losses at inopportune times. Four times he was handed an L while scoring in the Top 5 of the league for that week. The unfortunate record dropped TK to the 4 seed where he is pitted against Collin without star QB Lamar Jackson (knee). Nick Chubb and Justin Jefferson will have to put the team on their backs and fight to advance to the ship.

TK stood up to the occasion and put up a 150 burger to take down the regular season king and advance to the championship. Six players scoring in the teens, including two stellar 30+ point outings from Justin Jefferson and TJ Hockenson to compliment another 23 from Daniel Jones put TK in the position to win his first championship in 11 years. The last time TK was in the championship, he lost to his upcoming opponent Mike in a low-scoring affair 112-95. TK's chance for revenge is here, and please TK for the love of God get your revenge. I can't handle Mike being the only 4-time champ in the league.

#2 vs #3

Mike

3-time champ and fellow 20+ pointer Mike wants to reestablish his fantasy superiority. After 2017, he'd won back-to-back titles and 3 of the last 5. In the four years following, he went 26-31 with only 1 playoff appearance. Now, Mike looks at QB1 Patrick Mahomes and a pair of top-10 RBs in Dalvin Cook and Miles Sanders to right the ship and put Mike back on top for his 4th title.

He did just that, although Cook (10.7) and Sanders (5.1) wound up not doing anything. Patrick Mahomes put up 27.76 points and DJ Moore led the surging Carolina Panthers with a 20.1-point outing to rocket past an Austin team that looked like the little dying alien from Men in Black. With the win, Mike advances to his 4th championship appearance, where he's walked away victorious in every showing to date.

Austin

Like Mike, Austin has seen better days. The 2-time champ won the trophy in 2018, then went 20-23 from '19-'21. Now Austin returns, looking for this 3rd championship but limping his way there. Austin will be without Jalen Hurts, Jonathan Taylor, and potentially Rhamondre Steveson. That, plus a weak TNF outing from Zay Jones puts Austin in a precarious spot for this matchup.

To say that Austin didn't live up to the hype would have been.... a bit of an understatement. Coming into this season, only 10 times in 44 playoff games (or 88 lineups) had a team scored under 100. Only once had a team scored under 80. Austin put up 63 points. An absolutely abysmal performance on all fronts. The lowest playoff score, which was also Austin in 2013 with 42 points, can at least be written off as Austin not checking his team all year. That being considered, this is, almost undoubtedly, the worst playoff performance in league history. I wish I had more at my disposal to punish you for this transgression, Austin.