NFL Wild Card Predictions: Road teams to dominate opening round of the playoffs

The NFL playoffs get off and running this weekend with six Wild Card Round matchups stretching from Saturday to Monday.

While the top seeds in the AFC and NFC, the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, enjoy a first-round bye and wait to learn who they will face, there are compelling games across the board among the 12 other teams hoping to feature in Super Bowl 60 in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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

NFL Wild Card Round Predictions – AFC

Buffalo Bills (6) @ Jacksonville Jaguars (3) (Sunday 1:00pm ET, 10:00am PT, 6:00pm GMT)

With Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson reduced to the role of spectators for the postseason, there’s a case to be made that Josh Allen and the Bills will never get 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 side, Allen is too often asked to elevate an underwhelming cast of receivers.

With the Bills 0-5 on the road all-time in the playoffs, that doesn’t bode well for a trip to Duval County against a Jaguars team coming off nine wins in their 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 8:00pm ET, 5:00pm PT, 1:00am GMT)

The Patriots are back after a few years in the wilderness and, with Drake Maye a contender for the MVP award, they may have their long-term successor to Tom Brady.

That’s a depressing thought for the rest of the AFC when looking ahead 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, while their offensive line is banged up, Justin Herbert is the kind of quarterback who can pull off Houdini acts, especially against what is a pretty underwhelming New England defense.

Prediction: Chargers 30-22 Patriots

Houston Texans (5) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (4) (Monday 8:15pm ET, 5:15pm PT, 1:15am GMT)

The Steelers inched into the playoffs courtesy of a missed field goal in their winner-take-all clash with the Baltimore Ravens, gifting Aaron Rodgers the chance for what he could be his final attempt at a run in the postseason.

Rodgers has undoubtedly proven an upgrade at quarterback for the Steelers, but there’s little to suggest he can thrive against the Houston defense. At 42, the mobility needed to consistently evade the Texans’ ferocious defensive line has long since left Rodgers.

In what could quickly become a defensive struggle, the edge goes to the younger and, frankly, superior quarterback in C.J. Stroud and a Texans team coming off 10 wins in their last 12.

Prediction: Texans 20-10 Steelers

NFL Wild Card Round Predictions – NFC

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

A rematch of a Week 13 thriller that saw the Panthers stun 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 following that victory, the Panthers still won the dreadful NFC South division, albeit with a losing record of 8-9.

Carolina managed more to score more than 17 points just once during that slump, providing little confidence the Panthers can repeat the feat of winning a shootout with the high-powered Rams, who should get wide receiver Davante Adams back from a hamstring injury.

Prediction: Rams 31-13 Panthers

Green Bay Packers (7) @ Chicago Bears (2) (Saturday 8:00pm ET, 5:00pm PT, 1:00am GMT)

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

Green Bay went on to prevail in the Super Bowl, but similar aspirations this season have been tempered by a four-game losing run to end the regular season, though they rested starters in Week 18. That streak coincided with the loss of star edge rusher Micah Parsons and included a dramatic overtime loss to the Bears in Week 16.

Back in the playoffs for the first time since the 2020 season, the Bears have improved dramatically but are a high variance team coming off two successive defeats. This likely high-scoring matchup is very tough to call.

Prediction: Packers 34-27 Bears

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

A rematch of the NFC Championship Game in the 2022 season in which the 49ers’ hopes were undone by dreadful injury luck at the quarterback position, San Francisco comes into Lincoln Financial Field having compiled a 12-5 record in spite of a huge amount of injuries this term.

The level of setbacks on the defensive side has made this Niners vintage extremely reliant on their offense, which had no answers last week in their fight for the one seed with the Seattle Seahawks, a 13-3 defeat 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 champions Philadelphia can get running back Saquon Barkley going, it’s tough to see a 49ers team that may be without their starting left tackle and top wide receiver having the ammunition to spring the upset.

Prediction: 49ers 17-23 Eagles