The NFL playoffs are here and, though the league has dropped it from the official branding, Wildcard Weekend is back and just as SUPER as ever! With 14 teams punching their ticket to the post season, 12 took the field this weekend to win and advance to the Divisional Round where the Lions and Chiefs wait patiently for their opponents. Let’s take a look at last weekend’s matchups and how I fared in my predictions (hint: I was mid).

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AFC Games

#5 LA Chargers @ #4 Houston Texans

Oh boy was I wrong about this game! Going into the playoffs I thought the Texans and Chargers were trending in the opposite directions. The Chargers were finally looking healthy – the perennially beaten up Herbert and JK Dobbins were on the mend – and their offense had some live to it. On the other hand, the Texans were trending downward toward complete mediocrity. This Houston team hadn’t been fun to watch since second-year WR Tank Dell left the season due to yet another leg injury. Even though the Texans were the division winners and the Chargers were the wildcard team, I wasn’t really worried about picking the lower seed.

Turns out I ignored two key factors:

1. The Texans defense is not just frisky, they are good.
2. The Chargers will never stop Chargering.

Cursed franchises can’t just turn around, get a new coach, and suddenly be free of all their woes. Though Jim Harbaugh was a core shaker to this organization, bringing things from pathetic to exciting, he couldn’t completely shed the stink of the Chargers terrible luck off of him after one single season. I mean what is more Chargers than Justin Herbert throwing more interceptions in this one game than he did all season long? You can’t argue with the acts.

It surely didn’t help that the Texans defense gave one of, if not the best defensive performance of the weekend. Pair that with CJ Stroud and the offense finding a little bit of a rhythm – finally! – and you got a very convincing win.

I don’t know what to do with this Texans team now, but I do hear a little voice in the back of my head – the voice that I shouldn’t listen to – telling me that they might be hot enough to beat the Chiefs next week. Especially considering they boast the same record and seeding as that special 2021 Bengals team that made it all the way to the Super Bowl, taking the Chiefs down along the way.

#6 Pittsburgh Steelers @ #3 Baltimore Ravens

I don’t think anyone, even Steelers fans, were surprised to see this game play out the way it did on Saturday night.

It has become a pattern in recent years for the Steelers to cruise along to a wildcard or division winning playoff spot and drop the first game in their would-be playoff run. In fact, four of their last five seasons have ended in the wildcard round. It’s not exactly the best pattern to settle into if you are a team with championship aspirations with a coach who is considered to be one of the best in the league. The truth is that this team has a lot of problems that likely won’t be fixed in time for this team to be equipped to make a playoff run anytime soon.

On the other side of the ball there is a team who is primed and ready to snatch the Super Bowl away from anyone who tries to take it from them. The Ravens seem to be rounding into form at the perfect time. This team has struggled in years past, not unlike their divisional rivals, to capitalize on regular season successes come the post season. Who could forget when the 14-2 Ravens were run over by the Derrick Henry led Titans in the 2019 divisional round? Perhaps getting Henry on their side will reverse the curse they have been ailed with since that loss. All signs seem to be pointing in that direction.

But their road ahead is not an easy one. Worst case, they have to get through three of the toughest teams in the NFL to lift the Lombardi: the Bills, Chiefs, and Lions. Best case: they still have to get through the Bills next week. I can’t even begin to guess who will win that game, but I do know I will be firmly seated and ready to soak in a game that has the potential to be one of the best in recent memory.

#7 Denver Broncos @ #2 Buffalo Bills

I felt very confident in this prediction going into Sunday’s early game. The Bills have looked unstoppable and shown grit even in their losses. The Broncos on the other hand, have a rookie QB and scrapped their way into a playoff spot. Should be a ridiculously easy spot for the Bills.

When Bo Nix came out and threw a rocket 43-yards to Troy Franklin for a touchdown, I was astounded. Had I completely underestimated what this Denver team is capable of? Is Bo Nix really as good as people have been fantastically proclaiming? Or is Sean Peyton really just that dude taking a mediocre team and turning them into Super Bowl contenders? It looked so easy for the Broncos to come out the gate and score. But as we all know now, if not just from the score listed above, this was the only score they got all game long. The rest, was all – and easily I might add – Josh Allen and the Bills.

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NFC Games

#7 Green Bay Packers @ #2 Philadelphia Eagles

The Packers were the one’s who got away in the 2024-2025 season. They entered with potential oozing out of them and quickly turned into a messy, uneven team who was doomed to suffer the exact fate they suffered: losing in the Wildcard round to a team who is unarguably better than them. Even though the Eagles did not play one of their best games – by a long shot, I might add – the Packers couldn’t get anything going. There were bursts of promise, but ultimately nothing stuck for this squad.

It’s not all bad news for the Pack though. This team is still very young and very talented and very well coached. Josh Jacobs has been a fantastic addition to this already exciting team and injuries certainly did impact their ability to finish off the season well. It’s not a doomed season, it’s just a disappointing way to end a mess of a season. If this team can stay healthy and Jordan Love can see a Josh-Allen-esque trajectory of buttoning up his game, we are all in for a show.

The Eagles on the other hand, are marching on to the next round and have yet to play their best football. It’s a scary notion to realize the untapped potential of this Eagles squad that is not holding back their ability to win in dominating fashion. The question is whether or not they can keep this up or if Saquon and the defense will hurt their back from carrying this team.

#6 Washington Commanders @ #3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I am heart broken for Baker Mayfield. Maybe I am biased due to having family in the Tampa area and just enjoying the Baker Mayfield experience, but there was no part of me that felt the Commanders deserved to win this game. The Buccaneers were clearly the better team in a close match up. That darned fumble was the turner of the tides and a shit way to end a season where Mayfield looked like a bonafide star.

It makes you wonder how much the Chris Godwin injury impacted the year. I know he is just one man, but having another threat – who was having a career year before he got injured on a garbage time play – would have been very helpful in this game for Tampa.

I should probably say something nice about the Commanders, a team who I like and think have a lot of promise. This year seems like it has gone just about as well as it could have for this team. Jayden Daniels looks like a franchise quarterback who could snag himself an MVP before too long to add to collection along with the Heisman and his inevitable Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Terry McLaurin – one of the most talented WR in the league with some of the best hands since Randy Moss – finally has a talented QB throwing him the ball and has immediately capitalized on this by setting the franchise record for most touchdowns in a single season. Veterans like Bobby Wagner and Zach Ertz are making their presence known as impact players. And coach Dan Quinn seems to have, like Stella before him, gotten his groove back. I enjoy watching this team, but am interested to see how they show up next week against a dominating Lions team. The Commanders have made some serious noise in what was supposed to be a calibration year, but are they just lucky? Or can they go toe-to-toe with the best?

#5 Minnesota Vikings @ #4 Los Angeles Rams

When news broke in the preseason that Vikings rookie QB, JJ McCarthy, would be undergoing season ending injury and Sam Darnold would be replacing him, myself and many others preemptively wrote this Minnesota team off. No way that failed Jets QB turned backup, Sam Darnold, would be able to keep this team competitive in one of the strongest divisions in NFL history.

Week after week, the Vikings proved me wrong. They kept winning and winning…and winning. Sam Darnold made the freaking pro bowl! It didn’t take long for conversations to start about whether or not the Vikings should sign him and bench JJ McCarthy to develop under Darnold’s tutelage.

The Rams came into the 2024-2025 NFL season looking sharp as a tack and ready to compete in what has recently been one of the most competitive divisions in the league. They started off alright, but soon felt victim to the years injury big and began to lose. They kept losing and losing…and losing. The vibes looked so bad in LA – Nacua was placed on IR, the team was openly shopping around Cooper Kupp, and nothing seemed to be working for them. Until they beat the Raiders and then, the Vikings. From that point on the Rams only dropped two more games and crawled out of the hole they started the season in. They were able to take advantage of a very off year in their division and claim the four seed.

On paper, it would seem as though the feelings we felt about these teams prior to the season starting were misleading. The Vikings, after all, had a chance to get the #1 seed in the NFC in week 18. While the Rams narrowly clinched their division over the Seahawks. Or at least, that is what I had fooled myself into thinking prior to this Monday night matchup. Turns out, those premonitions before week one were exactly right about these teams:

• The Rams offensive weapons are amongst the best in the league and their young defense is trending in a positive direction.
• The Vikings have what it takes to be a great team, but Sam Darnold is not the answer to their question mark at quarterback.

In the end, I felt like a clown picking this Vikings team to win after their abysmal week 18 performance. I should have listened to that gut instinct I had back in August when JJ McCarthy got hurt. And I never should have doubted Sean McVay.

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Ranking the Remaining Teams

Now that we have weeded out the weak teams and made it to the divisional round, the stakes are higher and the matchups are much more contentious. Looking at the remaining teams left, I have ranked them from one to eight based on what I believe are their chances to win the Super Bowl. I don’t feel confident about it, because truthfully 1-5 could be in any order and who am I to rule out the Rams and Texans? But if I had to choose, this is the power rankings I would go with heading into the Divisional Round:

1. Detroit Lions (#1, NFC)
2. Buffalo Bills (#2, AFC)
3. Baltimore Ravens (#3, AFC)
4. Kansas City Chiefs (#1, AFC)
5. Philadelphia Eagles (#2, NFC)
6. Los Angeles Rams (#4, NFC)
7. Houston Texans (#4, NFC)
8. Washington Commanders (#6, NFC)