Cover photo taken from The SportsRush.
It’s time to be wrong. We’ve previewed each of the league’s 32 teams; now it’s time to see how it’ll all play out in the postseason. Last time I did this, I predicted the Super Bowl correctly (Chiefs over 49ers in 2023), so I’ve got a reputation to uphold here. Hopefully this isn’t the disaster that I’ve been known to produce in the past.
First, a look at the playoff picture:
NFC Standings
1 – 
Philadelphia Eagles (13-4)
2 – 
Green Bay Packers (12-5)
3 – 
Los Angeles Rams (12-5)
4 – 
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-6)
5 – 
San Francisco 49ers (12-5)
6 – 
Washington Commanders (11-6)
7 – 
Detroit Lions (10-7)
AFC Standings
1 – 
Kansas City Chiefs (15-2)
2 – 
Buffalo Bills (14-3)
3 – 
Baltimore Ravens (12-5)
4 – 
Houston Texans (10-7)
5 – 
Los Angeles Chargers (12-5)
6 – 
Denver Broncos (11-6)
7 – 
Cincinnati Bengals (10-7)
And now, for the playoff prediction:
Wild Card Weekend
Buccaneers over 49ers
Better team wins a real toss-up. Home-field advantage and an offense with more playmakers puts the Bucs over the top in a shootout.
Packers over Lions
Lambeau finally holds its own as a fortress as Green Bay’s defense proves to be the difference-maker in a hard-fought divisional game.
Commanders over Rams
Jayden Daniels’ homecoming is an explosive one against an inexperienced Rams secondary with Washington winning an exciting road playoff game with plenty of burgundy and gold in the stands.
Texans over Chargers
See: last year’s playoff game.
Ravens over Broncos
Denver’s defense keeps Baltimore’s offense in check for a bit, but the Ravens’ overwhelming talent breaks through late for a close, hard-fought win.
Bills over Bengals
The wheels fall off Cincinnati’s defense as Josh Allen and the Bills get revenge for the 2022 Divisional.
Divisional Round
Eagles over Commanders
Sigh. We’ll see if the idea of revenge fires us up, but I still just don’t know if we have what it takes to keep up with the Birds right now. I’d love to be proven wrong.
Packers over Buccaneers
Tampa can’t keep up in the frozen tundra as the Packers offense explodes for a dominant win to get back to the NFC Championship for the first time since 2020.
Chiefs over Texans
See: last year’s playoff game.
Bills over Ravens
See: last year’s playoff game. I think Baltimore is the best team from top to bottom in the league, but until I see them win in January, I’ll trust what my eyes have seen repeatedly before picking them to finally win it all.
Championship Weekend
Packers over Eagles
Someone has to beat them, right? The Micah Parsons trade makes the Packers a bonafide Super Bowl contender, despite some of their shortcomings in the secondary. This feels like a year that it can all come together for them — from Jordan Love’s ascendancy to Micah’s game-wrecking ability off the edge, I think they’re able to go on the road and knock off the team that’s been the class of the NFC in recent years. Or so I hope.
Chiefs over Bills
Like I said with the Ravens, I actually have to see the Bills win this game to predict them to do so. I do think it’s a matter of when, not if, that Buffalo and/or Baltimore finally knocks off Kansas City. But it’s not for me to say that it’ll be now. I need to see it to believe it. If Buffalo winds up hosting this game, they’d almost have to win it — there would be no better way to send off the Ralph than finally getting the Mahomes monkey off their back and get back to the Super Bowl. And the thought of opening the new stadium with a banner dropping gives you chills. I genuinely hope that it happens. But I’ve seen this film before. We know how it ends.
Super Bowl LX Prediction
(you guys are gonna hate me for this)
Chiefs over Packers
I said it when I picked Patrick Mahomes to win MVP: this season screams 2022 for the Chiefs. That season, everyone wrote them off only for them to go on a run where Mahomes took home that award en route to another ring and Super Bowl MVP.
Well, here we are again. Everyone is discarding the Chiefs after they got crushed in Super Bowl LIX against the Eagles and once again pushing their chips towards the center of the table for Baltimore and Buffalo. Well, only one active quarterback has ever beaten Mahomes in the AFC playoffs, and his defense ain’t getting him to a position where he can do it again. So, to pick KC to get back to the big game feels simple enough.
This would be a very tough test against what’s going to be a vaunted defensive front, but we’ve seen the Chiefs get the job done in this spot time and time again. As I always say, it’s simply them until proven otherwise.
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