With 12 seconds on the clock and the Steelers clinging to a two-point lead, Ravens kicker Tyler Loop lined up for a 44-yard field goal that would send Baltimore to the playoffs and Pittsburgh home for the winter. The kick sailed wide right, and in that moment, the most chaotic regular season in recent memory came to a fitting conclusion. The Steelers won the AFC North on the final play of the final week, the Ravens’ season ended in heartbreak, and the stage was set for a Wild Card Weekend unlike any we’ve seen.
The 2025 NFL season delivered the unexpected at every turn, and the playoff field reflects that unpredictability. Six teams that missed the postseason entirely last year will compete for a Super Bowl LX berth in Santa Clara. For the first time since Patrick Mahomes became a starter, the Kansas City Chiefs are watching from home after finishing 8-9. The conference landscapes have shifted dramatically, and this weekend’s slate is loaded with the kind of high-stakes matchups that define January football.
Every matchup carries genuine upset potential because there are no clear favorites. The top seeds in both conferences earned their byes through excellent regular seasons, but neither the Denver Broncos nor the Seattle Seahawks have been tested in the crucible of playoff pressure with their current rosters. The teams fighting through Wild Card Weekend have the opportunity to announce themselves as legitimate contenders, and at least one of them will likely make a deep run through the bracket.
Saturday’s Doubleheader: NFC Rivalry Games
The weekend begins Saturday afternoon with the Los Angeles Rams visiting the Carolina Panthers in a matchup few would have predicted before the season. Both franchises completed remarkable turnarounds from disappointing 2024 campaigns, and both enter the playoffs with something to prove. The Rams, seeded fifth, finished 11-6 despite significant injuries to their offensive line, relying on Matthew Stafford’s veteran savvy and a defense that ranked eighth in points allowed. The Panthers, seeded fourth as NFC South champions, won their first division title since 2015 behind a rebuilt roster that exceeded every preseason expectation.
Carolina’s home-field advantage at Bank of America Stadium looms large in what projects as a low-scoring affair. The Panthers allowed just 19.8 points per game this season, per Pro Football Reference, and their ability to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball makes them a nightmare matchup for teams that can’t impose their will physically. The Rams have the more experienced quarterback and the better receiving corps, but they’ll need to protect Stafford against a Carolina pass rush that recorded 48 sacks during the regular season. Expect a game that comes down to the final possession, with whichever team commits fewer mistakes advancing.
Saturday night delivers one of the NFL’s oldest rivalries under playoff lights when the Green Bay Packers travel to Chicago to face the Bears. These franchises have met 208 times in the regular season, but this will be just their fifth postseason meeting. The Bears haven’t won a playoff game since 2010, a drought that weighs heavily on a fanbase desperate for January success. The Packers bring playoff experience that Chicago lacks, but they’ll face a hostile environment at Soldier Field where the Bears went 7-2 this season.
Chicago’s emergence as a playoff contender has been one of the season’s best stories. Their defense, rebuilt through smart free agency signings and excellent drafting, ranks fourth in total defense and second in takeaways. The Packers counter with a balanced offense that can attack both through the air and on the ground, but they’ve struggled on the road against quality opponents. Green Bay’s 4-5 road record includes losses to every playoff team they faced away from Lambeau. If the Bears can force turnovers and control the clock with their running game, they have a real chance to end their postseason drought.
Sunday’s Main Events: Championship Rematches and Quarterback Showdowns
Sunday’s slate features four compelling matchups that could produce the weekend’s most memorable moments. The afternoon begins with the Buffalo Bills traveling to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars in a game that features two of the AFC’s most talented rosters playing their best football at the right time. Buffalo enters as the sixth seed despite winning their final four games, a surge that has ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky calling them “the most dangerous team in the conference nobody wants to face.”
Josh Allen has been magnificent down the stretch, throwing 14 touchdowns against just one interception over the final month of the season, per ESPN Stats & Info. The Bills’ defense, which struggled early, found its footing in December and held opponents to 17.3 points per game during their winning streak. Jacksonville counters with Trevor Lawrence, who has finally lived up to his generational billing with a breakout season featuring 4,412 passing yards and 32 touchdowns. As NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah noted, “Lawrence has gone from a quarterback reacting to what defenses give him to one dictating the terms of engagement.” The Jaguars’ new coaching staff transformed Lawrence from a player who looked lost in 2024 into someone who controls games with his decision-making and arm talent.
The afternoon’s marquee matchup sends the San Francisco 49ers to Philadelphia for a rematch of last year’s NFC Championship Game, which the Eagles won 31-7 on their way to Super Bowl victory. San Francisco has spent the entire offseason and regular season thinking about that humiliation. The 49ers retooled their roster, addressed defensive weaknesses that Philadelphia exploited, and enter the playoffs with revenge on their minds.
The Eagles, seeking to become the first NFC team since the 1993-94 Dallas Cowboys to repeat as Super Bowl champions, present a more complete picture than last year’s team. Their offensive line remains the best in football, allowing just 18 sacks all season according to PFF. Their running game, led by a healthy backfield, averaged 4.9 yards per carry. And their defense, which was good last year, has been great this year, ranking third in scoring defense. The 49ers have the talent to pull the upset, but they’ll need to play a near-perfect game against a team that knows exactly how to win in January.
Sunday night features the Los Angeles Chargers visiting the New England Patriots in a game that pits two of the league’s brightest young quarterbacks against each other. Justin Herbert has transformed the Chargers into one of the AFC’s most dynamic offenses, while Drake Maye has exceeded every expectation in guiding New England back to the playoffs. The Patriots’ defensive transformation under their new coordinator has been remarkable, allowing just 18.2 points per game and creating 31 takeaways. This game could come down to which young quarterback handles playoff pressure better.
Monday Night Football: The Weekend’s Final Word
The weekend concludes Monday night when the Houston Texans visit the Pittsburgh Steelers in a matchup built for primetime drama. Pittsburgh earned the right to host this game with their dramatic Week 18 victory over Baltimore, and the Terrible Towel-waving faithful will pack Acrisure Stadium expecting another memorable playoff moment. The Steelers’ defense, anchored by T.J. Watt’s league-leading 16.5 sacks per Pro Football Reference, has been the backbone of their improbable division title. They’ll face a Houston offense that scored 39 total touchdowns this season and can attack from anywhere on the field.
The Texans arrive in Pittsburgh riding a wave of confidence from a strong second half of the season. Their young quarterback emerged as one of the game’s most exciting playmakers, and their receiving corps gives him weapons that can exploit any coverage. Houston’s challenge will be containing Watt and the Pittsburgh pass rush, which has disrupted every quarterback it’s faced this season. The Steelers have won six of their last seven games, and playing at home in January has historically been an advantage this franchise knows how to leverage.
This matchup carries particular intrigue because of how evenly matched these teams appear. Pittsburgh’s defensive strengths align perfectly against Houston’s offensive identity, creating a chess match between coordinators that will play out across all four quarters. The winner advances to face either the Denver Broncos or the Buffalo Bills in the Divisional Round, with a trip to the AFC Championship Game potentially on the line.
The Top Seeds Wait and Watch
While the Wild Card games unfold, the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks will be preparing for their Divisional Round opponents. Denver clinched the AFC’s top seed with a franchise-record-tying 14-3 record, their best season since winning Super Bowl 50 after the 2015 campaign. Head coach Sean Payton, who has now led two different franchises to the No. 1 seed, built a team that finished 11-2 in one-score games and led the league in defensive takeaways, per Next Gen Stats. The Broncos’ reward is a bye week to get healthy and a home game against the lowest remaining seed.
Seattle’s NFC counterpart has been equally impressive. Head coach Mike Macdonald’s squad closed the regular season on a seven-game winning streak, riding the league’s stingiest scoring defense into a bye week. The Seahawks now wait to see which NFC team emerges from Wild Card Weekend to challenge them at Lumen Field in the Divisional Round.
The wide-open nature of this playoff field means both top seeds face paths that could go sideways quickly. The Broncos and Seahawks earned their byes through excellent regular seasons, but a first-round rest only guarantees one thing: a well-rested opponent whose identity is already sharpened by a Wild Card survival test.
Wild Card Weekend’s Defining Storylines
Several storylines will define Wild Card Weekend beyond the games themselves. The young quarterbacks will receive intense scrutiny. Lawrence, Maye, and the Texans’ signal-caller all produced excellent regular seasons, but single-elimination football demands a different caliber of execution. How each responds under the spotlight will shape their career narratives for years to come.
Coaching decisions will also take center stage. The difference between advancing and going home often comes down to fourth-down calls, timeout management, and halftime adjustments. Several coaches in this field are navigating their first January games, while others are seeking redemption for past postseason failures. Whoever adapts fastest between possessions will give their team the edge.
Weather will shape the outdoor matchups in Chicago and Pittsburgh. January football in the Midwest and Northeast often features conditions that favor certain styles of play, and teams that can adapt to those conditions gain advantages that don’t show up in scouting reports. The Packers-Bears game, in particular, faces forecasted sub-20-degree temperatures Saturday night at Soldier Field, conditions that historically suppress passing efficiency and favor ground-and-pound teams like Chicago.
The Pick
The Buffalo Bills are the team to fear this weekend — and possibly this entire postseason. Their 6-1 finish masked how fundamentally the defense changed after the Week 11 bye. Buffalo’s pass rush, which generated pressure on just 22% of dropbacks through ten games, jumped to 34% over the final seven weeks, per PFF. That schematic shift coincided with Allen playing the most efficient football of his career. The Bills are the rare sixth seed that enters the playoffs playing better than any team in their conference, top seed included.
The weekend’s biggest upset comes in Philadelphia, where the 49ers’ retooled defensive front finally solves the Eagles’ run game. San Francisco held opponents to 3.6 yards per carry over their final eight games — a stark contrast to the 5.1 they allowed in last year’s championship blowout. PFF’s Sam Monson has called the 49ers’ interior defensive line “the most improved unit in football,” and that improvement targets exactly the strength Philadelphia relies on. Take the 49ers to end the Eagles’ repeat bid, and take the Bills to reach the AFC Championship Game.
Sources
- NFL Wild Card Picks, Predictions, Schedule, Odds - ESPN, Wild Card Weekend preview and analysis
- 2025 NFL Standings and Team Stats - Pro Football Reference, season statistics and records
- 2025 NFL Playoffs: Biggest Strength and Weakness for Every Team - PFF, team grades and player evaluations
- NFL Wild Card Weekend Picks and Score Predictions - CBS Sports, matchup analysis and predictions
- NFL Official 2025 Playoff Bracket - NFL.com, official playoff bracket and schedule
