NFL Wild Card Round Predictions: Road Teams Will Dominate

THE NFL the playoffs start this weekend with six Wild Card Round matchups extending from Saturday to Monday.

As the AFC and NFC’s top seeds, the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, enjoy a first-round bye and wait to find out who they’ll face, compelling matchups are unfolding across the board among the other 12 teams hoping to make it into the Super Bowl 60 in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The AFC appears wide open with the absence of the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens, while the NFC promises to be a brawl between a series of exciting but flawed teams.

NFL Wild Card Round Predictions – AFC

Buffalo Bills (6) @ Jacksonville Jaguars (3) (Sunday 1:00 p.m. ET, 10:00 a.m. PT, 6:00 p.m. GMT)

With Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson reduced to spectatorship for the playoffs, there’s a case to be made that Josh Allen and the Bills will never have a better opportunity to end Buffalo’s long wait for a Lombardi Trophy.

The problem is that this year’s bills are deeply flawed. They have one of the worst run defenses in the NFL, and on the offensive end, Allen is too often asked to elevate a disappointing group of receivers.

With the Bills 0-5 on the road in the playoffs, that doesn’t bode well for a trip to Duval County against a Jaguars team that has nine wins in its last 10 games to end the season. If the Jags’ top-10 defense can keep Allen in check, it could be a long afternoon for Buffalo.

Prediction: Bills 20-34 Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers (7) @ New England Patriots (2) (Sunday 8:00 p.m. ET, 5:00 p.m. PT, 1:00 a.m. GMT)

The Patriots are back after a few years in the wilderness, and with Drake Maye an MVP candidate, they could have their long-term successor in Tom Brady.

It’s a depressing thought for the rest of the AFC, but, in the immediate future, the Chargers could present a banana skin for New England.

Los Angeles has a defense that can keep the Chargers in the game and, even though their offensive line is broken, Justin Herbert is the kind of quarterback who can pull off Houdini acts, especially against a pretty disappointing New England defense.

Prediction: Chargers 30-22 Patriots

Houston Texans (5) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (4) (Monday 8:15 p.m. ET, 5:15 p.m. PT, 1:15 a.m. GMT)

The Steelers advanced to the playoffs thanks to a missed field goal in their winner-take-all matchup with the Baltimore Ravens, giving Aaron Rodgers the chance for what could be his final attempt at a playoff run.

Rodgers has undoubtedly proven himself to be a good quarterback for the Steelers, but there is no indication that he can thrive against Houston’s defense. At 42 years old, the mobility needed to consistently escape the Texans’ ferocious defensive line has long left Rodgers.

In what could quickly become a defensive struggle, the advantage goes to younger and, frankly, superior quarterback CJ Stroud and a Texas team that has won 10 of its last 12.

Prediction: Texans 20-10 Steelers

NFL Wild Card Round Predictions – NFC

Los Angeles Rams (5) @ Carolina Panthers (4) (Saturday 4:30 p.m. ET, 1:30 p.m. PT, 9:30 p.m. GMT).

A rematch of a Week 13 thriller that saw the Panthers knock out the Rams 31-28, with Los Angeles quarterback Matthew Stafford throwing two interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown.

Despite losing three of their last four games after this victory, the Panthers still won the dreaded NFC South division, albeit with a losing record of 8-9.

Carolina has managed to score more than 17 points just once during this slump, giving the Panthers little confidence to repeat the feat of winning a shootout with the powerful Rams, who are expected to have wide receiver Davante Adams back from a hamstring injury.

Prediction: Rams 31-13 Panthers

Green Bay Packers (7) @ Chicago Bears (2) (Saturday 8:00 p.m. ET, 5:00 p.m. PT, 1:00 a.m. GMT)

The oldest rivalry in NFL history is playing out in the playoffs, remarkably, for only the third time. Only two of the 212 previous meetings between the Bears and Packers have taken place in the postseason, the last being Green Bay’s victory at Chicago in the NFC Championship Game during the 2010 season.

Green Bay continued to assert itself in the Super Bowl, but similar aspirations this season were tempered by a four-game losing streak to end the regular season, although they rested starters in Week 18. That stretch coincided with the loss of star edge rusher Micah Parsons and included a dramatic overtime loss to the Bears in Week 16.

Returning to the playoffs for the first time since the 2020 season, the Bears have improved significantly but are a high-variance team after two successive losses. This likely high-scoring matchup is very difficult to call.

Prediction: Packers 34-27 bears

San Francisco 49ers (6) @ Philadelphia Eagles (3) (Sunday 4:30 p.m. ET, 1:30 p.m. PT, 9:30 p.m. GMT)

A rematch of the 2022 season’s NFC Championship Game in which the 49ers’ hopes were dashed by a horrific injury at quarterback, San Francisco arrives at Lincoln Financial Field having compiled a 12-5 record despite a huge number of injuries this season.

The level of setbacks on the defensive end has made this generation of Niners extremely dependent on their offense, which had no answers last week in their battle for the top seed with the Seattle Seahawks, a 13-3 loss sending them to Philadelphia instead of keeping them at home for the playoffs.

San Francisco’s saving grace is that the Eagles offense has struggled mightily this season. However, if defending champion Philadelphia can move forward running back Saquon Barkley, it’s hard to see a 49ers team that could be without its starting left tackle and top receiver having the ammunition to pull off an upset.

Prediction: 49ers 17-23 Eagles