Nfl Playoff Predictions Winners For Every Game From Wild Card Weekend

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Jan 10, 2026, 3:30 PM

nfl playoff predictions winners for every game from wild card weekend

With the NFL playoffs kicking off this weekend, you won't want to miss a moment. Watch every postseason game live on mobile, get NFL RedZone during the regular season, stream game replays and more with NFL+ Premium. And for a limited time, get 40 percent off an NFL+ annual plan. Offer ends 2/16/26. Sign up today. One of the things that made the 2025 regular season so interesting was just how open it was, with multiple power players of the past few years giving way to fresh faces on the...

Of course, this element also makes it basically impossible to predict what's going to unfold between now and Super Bowl LX. Five of the eight newly minted division champions missed the postseason completely in 2024, while exactly one top-four seed from the '24 field -- the Eagles -- reached the top four again this year. Who knows how any of these teams will react to the playoff stage? All that variability did not stop us, the editors behind NFL.com's weekly game picks column (Ali Bhanpuri, Brooke Cersosimo, Dan Parr, Gennaro Filice and Tom Blair), from trying our best to forecast the winner... We are fully aware our failure is pretty much guaranteed -- one or more of these prognostications will be upended by some of that delicious chaos that made 2025 so exhilarating. With that in mind, here are our predictions for the entire NFL playoff race, along with breakdowns of some of our more noteworthy decisions.

The 2026 NFL playoff bracket is set, beginning with six star-studded matchups set to unfold over Wild Card Weekend. All 14 teams are vying to get to Super Bowl LX, which is set to be played in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8. The Philadelphia Eagles enter the 2026 NFL playoffs as the defending Super Bowl champions and will open up their title defense with a home matchup against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at 4:30... ET. According to the latest NFL odds at DraftKings Sportsbook, the Eagles are favored by 6 points at home.

Philadelphia's over/under for total team points is 25.5, while San Francisco's is 19.5. You can bet the game here: There are also several fresh faces in the playoffs this year. In total, six teams that failed to make the postseason a year ago will be in the 2026 NFL playoffs, including the Seahawks, Patriots, Bears, 49ers, Jaguars, and Panthers. The Seahawks are the No. 1 seed in the NFC, while the Broncos hold the No.

1 seed in the AFC, and both teams will have the luxury of a bye during Wild Card Weekend. Here's a breakdown of the full 2026 NFL playoff bracket, along with full NFL score predictions and NFL props from our model: The Panthers limp into this contest having lost two straight, but Carolina will have confidence after knocking off the Rams at home, 31-28, on Nov. 30. However, the Panthers are 2-8 in their last 10 games played in January, while the Rams have covered the spread in each of their past seven games in January. According to the latest NFL odds, the Rams are favored by 10 points on the road, while the over/under for total points scored is 45.5.

One of the NFL's most heated rivalries renews when the Chicago Bears host the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night. Green Bay has dominated this series over the years, winning 12 of the last 14 meetings with Chicago. The Packers enter the playoffs having lost four of their last five games, and Green Bay is just 2-9 ATS in its past 11 games on the road. The Bears are 6-1 in their last seven games at home, which includes a 22-16 overtime victory over the Packers on Dec. 20. This time around, the Packers are favored by 1.5 points on the road, according to the latest NFL odds.

Two of the hottest teams in the NFL square off when the Jacksonville Jaguars host the Buffalo Bills. The Jags enter Sunday's showdown having won eight straight, while the Bills are 5-1 in their past six games. Jacksonville has covered the spread in every game during its eight-game winning streak, and Jacksonville is a 1-point favorite at home, according to the latest NFL odds. The regular season is finally behind us, and now we can get down to the real business at hand. The annual 14-team tournament to decide this year’s Super Bowl Champion begins with a pair of NFC matchups this Saturday, followed by three games on Sunday. The final game of Round 1 will be played on Monday night between the Texans and Steelers, giving Aaron Rodgers and Steelers fans an extra day to recover from Sunday night’s heart-stopping win over...

This should be a fun weekend of football, with three of the six home teams currently sitting as underdogs, especially considering how this entire tournament feels like it’s anybody’s to win. It’s all going to come down to which teams can get hot at the right time and avoid critical mistakes, which can ultimately be the difference between victory and defeat. Let’s get right into each matchup and see what we can expect for this year’s Wildcard Weekend. It’s not quite as rare as it used to be for a team with a losing record to make the playoffs. We’ve seen it happen twice this decade, with Tampa (2022) and Washington (2020) both sneaking into the postseason only to be immediately dispatched in the first round. The last time a team with a losing record made the postseason and actually won a playoff game was back in 2014, and that was the same Carolina Panthers.

Yep, the Ron Rivera-led Panthers stumbled into the playoffs at 7-8-1 and took down the 11-5 Arizona Cardinals. So, anything is possible, right? Well, sure, maybe, but that Arizona team was hobbled after losing both Carson Palmer and his backup, Drew Stanton, so they lost that game with the mighty Ryan Lindley under center. Barring an injury to both Matthew Stafford and Jimmy Garoppolo in practice this week, Carolina is going to have to figure out another path to victory. What Dave Canales will point to as he motivates his team this week is the fact that the Panthers beat these same Rams back in Week 13 of the regular season. Moreover, the Rams did struggle a bit on the road this year, finishing 5-4 away from SoFi Stadium, while dominating opponents at home to the tune of a 7-1 record.

So yes, anything is possible. While it might sound like I’m making a case for Carolina to pull off the upset here, I just can’t see that happening. When Carolina won back in November, they did so by controlling the clock and forcing turnovers. When you look back at that game now and see that the Rams were able to average over 7 yards per carry on the ground, you have to wonder why on Earth they would... It all came down to LA turning the ball over 3 times, while Carolina played a mistake-free game. That being said, the final margin was just three points.

The bottom line is that the first time around, Carolina played an almost perfect game and only managed to squeak out a narrow win. I can’t see lightning striking twice, and while it would make for a great story, the Panthers aren’t going to win this game. The spread is fairly healthy, and it would be easy enough to say that the Rams will win but won’t cover, but I think this will be a blowout. Davante Adams will be back this week, giving Matthew Stafford his full complement of weapons, and I expect the Rams to use that Week 13 loss as motivation to keep their foot on the... The Rams will roll in this one. Will Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers, Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence and Bears QB Caleb Williams emerge victorious from the wild-card round?

Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: Rich Storry, Geoff Stellfox, Joe Sargent / Getty Images You have to wonder: Was the chaotic NFL regular season we just watched unfold only a precursor to the mayhem that awaits us in the playoffs? Six of the 14 playoff teams weren’t in the tournament a year ago. Ten haven’t won a playoff game in at least two years. Seven don’t have a victory in the 2020s, including six of the eight division champions. The top-two seeds in the AFC haven’t won a playoff game since their last Super Bowl triumph, with the Denver Broncos (2015) and New England Patriots (2018) hoping to end a drought that will...

The NFC’s top-seeded Seattle Seahawks have three postseason victories since their last Super Bowl appearance 11 years ago. That’s still a better resume than the No. 2 Chicago Bears, who are making just their third postseason appearance since their last playoff win 15 years ago. That’s the longest dry spell in the field. It's Wild Card Weekend across the NFL as the postseason kicks off with three days worth of games. The action starts on Saturday with the Los Angeles Rams visiting the Carolina Panthers and wraps up Monday night with the Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the Houston Texans.

The Lombardi Trophy is just a few wins away for the 14 teams in the playoffs and USA TODAY's panel of NFL experts have locked in their picks and predictions for the first round. Here's everything you need to know for the Wild Card games, including live updated odds and injury report news. Information in this article was imported automatically into a template written and reviewed by a USA TODAY Sports editor. You can send feedback using this form. Gambling involves risk. Please only gamble with funds that you can comfortably afford to lose.

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Past performances do not guarantee success in the future and betting odds fluctuate from one minute to the next. The material contained on this site is intended to inform, entertain and educate the reader and in no way represents an inducement to gamble legally or illegally or any sort of professional advice. Last Updated: January 5, 2026 7:46 AM EST • 4 minute read X Social Google News Link After perhaps the best game of the entire NFL season, the playoff field is set with all six wild-card round matchups confirmed, and we're offering our NFL playoff predictions for every game based on... We'll be updating this article throughout the week with our latest ATS predictions, player prop bets, touchdown picks, and more. Latest playoff odds via FanDuel for every NFL wild-card round matchup.

See the latest NFL odds and our expert NFL picks for every playoff matchup. While the Panthers' Week 13 upset victory over the Rams was impressive, I don't foresee them repeating that 31-point performance. Since that eyebrow-raising result, the Panthers' offense has sputtered, averaging just 16 points in the final four games. Wild Card weekend features three matchups where the road team is the favorite. Would you expect anything less? Last year, the home teams were 5-1.

Nfl Playoff Predictions Winners For Every Game From Wild Card Weekend

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