play2:43How Liam Coen has elevated Trevor Lawrence this seasonTrevor Lawrence details how first-year head coach Liam Coen has catapulted the Jaguars to be a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Steelers storm back with Calvin Austin III’s go-ahead TD with 55 seconds left (0:23)Aaron Rodgers finds Calvin Austin III to put the Steelers ahead in the fourth quarter vs. the Ravens. (0:23)
How Liam Coen has elevated Trevor Lawrence this seasonTrevor Lawrence details how first-year head coach Liam Coen has catapulted the Jaguars to be a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Trevor Lawrence details how first-year head coach Liam Coen has catapulted the Jaguars to be a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
The field for the 2025 NFL season’s playoffs is set after the Steelers beat the Ravens in a season-ending classic. The No. 1 seeds in each conference — the Broncos in the AFC and Seahawks in the NFC — will receive first-round byes. The remaining 12 teams will face each other during wild-card weekend, starting Saturday and running through Jan. 12. Two games will be played Saturday and three Sunday, with the wild-card slate concluding with a “Monday Night Football” game on ESPN and ABC.
Reason for hope: The defense is championship caliber. Mike Macdonald’s unit is allowing the second-fewest points in the NFL this season and has held nine of its past 12 opponents to fewer than 20. The Seahawks are allowing a league-low 3.7 yards per carry and haven’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in 26 straight games despite facing a recent gauntlet of tailbacks that included Bijan Robinson, Jonathan Taylor, Kyren Williams (twice) and Christian McCaffrey (also twice).
Reason for concern: Seattle turns the ball over way too frequently. Its 28 giveaways, which include two on defense via fumbles on interception returns, are the second most in the NFL. Quarterback Sam Darnold leads all players with 20 giveaways (14 interceptions, six fumbles lost). The Seahawks also tend to start slowly on offense. Though they’ve overcome those issues against lesser teams, it will be harder to do in the playoffs. — Brady Henderson
Stat to know: The Seahawks’ rushing defense allowed minus-30 first downs over expectation this season, per NFL Next Gen Stats. That’s based on the positioning and movement of all 22 players at the time of a handoff and describes the suffocating nature of Seattle’s run defense. To put that number in context: The next-best team in the category is Houston, at minus-15. — Walder
Heat check rating: 9. Beating a divisional rival on the road to secure the 1-seed is a tone-setting victory, especially considering the narratives around Darnold’s performances in clutch games. It’s a wide-open NFC playoff field, but it runs through Seattle. — Solak
First-game outlook: The Seahawks will host the lowest remaining seed in the divisional round on either Jan. 17 or Jan. 18. That would either be the No. 4-seeded Panthers, the No. 5 Rams, No. 6 49ers or No. 7 Packers. Seattle split its season series with the Rams and 49ers, defeated the Panthers 27-10 in Week 17 and did not play the Packers this season. — ESPN
Wild-card round: The Bears will host the seventh-seeded Packers on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, Prime Video).
Reason for concern: The opposite can be said of a Bears defense that has surrendered 1,313 yards since Week 16. Chicago ranked 31st in pass rush win rate entering Week 18, which led to only four sacks in its final three games. The Bears are built on takeaways, with a league-high 33 (led by an NFL-high 23 interceptions), but the defense is overmatched when it’s not forcing turnovers. Playing bend-don’t-break football in the postseason is a dangerous proposition. — Courtney Cronin
Heat check rating: 7. Chicago is healthier on defense than it has been for much of the season, and though the Bears have lost a couple of games to NFC playoff teams, their spectacular late-game wins keep hope alive until the clock reaches triple zeros. — Solak
First-game outlook: Chicago and Green Bay split their two regular-season meetings, with the Bears’ 22-16 overtime victory in Week 16 giving them the necessary cushion for an NFC North title. — ESPN
Reason for concern: An inconsistent offense. The offensive line has regressed, and the playcalling has been spotty — two contributing factors in the decline of a once-exceptional running game led by Saquon Barkley. The lack of success on the ground has created tougher sledding for quarterback Jalen Hurts, who has had standout moments but also stretches of unproductive play. The output has not matched the talent for much of the season. — Tim McManus
Stat to know: Entering Week 18, the Eagles ranked second in EPA allowed per dropback, despite ranking only 21st in pass rush win rate. It’s a testament to how good their secondary has been, with cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean leading the way. Mitchell allowed 0.7 yards per coverage snap entering Week 18, seventh best among outside corners with at least 300 coverage snaps, and minus-13 EPA allowed when targeted, per NFL Next Gen Stats. — Walder
Heat check rating: 4. The last time we saw Hurts and the starters, the offense couldn’t complete a second-half pass in a near-disastrous collapse against the Bills. The defense is good, but is it good enough to endure these offensive valleys through January? — Solak
First-game outlook: The Eagles and 49ers haven’t met since Week 13 of the 2023 season, a 42-19 San Francisco win in Philadelphia that helped send the teams in opposite directions that season. — ESPN
Reason for hope: QB Bryce Young. Despite his inconsistencies, Young has shown he has enough to keep the Panthers in games even when he’s not playing his best. Yes, he has good offensive talent around him, and an improved defense has played a role. But when Young plays well and doesn’t commit turnovers, Carolina can play with anybody, as shown in wins against the Rams and Packers.
Stat to know: The Panthers have a minus-8% pass rate over expectation, second lowest in the NFL. Their extreme run tendency made sense earlier in the season, considering they were much more efficient on the ground as the passing attack was struggling. But from Week 11 on, the passing game has been much better, though Carolina maintained high run rates relative to expectation. The question moving forward: Which Young will show up, and will the Panthers be willing to rely on him more? — Walder
Heat check rating: 3. Never a good feeling to back into the playoffs — but because this is the Panthers’ first divisional title since 2015, one can only lament the circumstances so much. The Panthers will get to play the “nobody believes in us” card and face a Rams team they’ve already beaten in Charlotte once before. — Solak
First-game outlook: Carolina upset the Rams 31-28 when the teams played in Week 13 and is 1-0 against them in the playoffs, beating the then-St. Louis Rams in double overtime of the 2003 NFC divisional round. — ESPN
Reason for hope: Quarterback Matthew Stafford has played at an MVP level for most of the season. The Rams’ offense has been more consistent this season, led by Stafford. Los Angeles has scored at least 30 points in 10 games. Stafford has 4,707 passing yards and an NFL-leading 46 touchdowns, and he looks poised to lead the Rams on a deep playoff run.
Stat to know: Entering Week 18, the Rams ranked in the top three in rates of play-action (35%), designed rollouts (12%), motion at the snap (48%) and max protection (14%). Those are all valuable levers for McVay to pull, which help with pass protection or overall passing efficiency — or both. No doubt Stafford and wide receiver Puka Nacua have had unbelievable seasons. But those schematic tools are contributing factors to the Rams’ success, too. — Walder
Heat check rating: 5. The Rams went 2-3 in their last five meaningful games, and the defense showed more gaps in December than it did previously. Perhaps the return of wide receiver Davante Adams and nickel Quentin Lake brings the team back to its dominant ways … but there’s reasonable concern in Los Angeles entering the Rams’ path to the Super Bowl. — Solak
First-game outlook: Los Angeles is looking for its first road playoff victory since beating the Buccaneers in the 2021 NFC divisional round en route to a Super Bowl LVI championship. — ESPN
First-game outlook: San Francisco has split two previous playoff matchups with the Eagles, the most recent a 31-7 loss to Philadelphia in the NFC Championship Game for the 2022 season. — ESPN
Reason for hope: The Packers have gotten elite-level quarterback play — from Jordan Love and Malik Willis — most of the season. Love was as high as third in some MVP odds late in the season, and his numbers were better than Sam Darnold’s, the third of the three NFC Pro Bowl quarterbacks, before Love’s Week 16 concussion against the Bears. Willis might be one of the best — if not the best — backup quarterbacks in the game.
Stat to know: The Packers entered Sunday ranked second in EPA per dropback. And similarly, Love ranks second in QBR. The efficiency of the Packers’ passing offense has almost gone under the radar — in part because Green Bay is a run-leaning team. So while the Packers’ Super Bowl hopes were certainly diminished after Micah Parsons’ season-ending injury, they are one of the best at the most important facet of football: passing offense. — Walder
Heat check rating: 2. The Packers lost their last three meaningful regular-season games, they won’t have Parsons for their playoff run and the fan base is more concerned with Love’s contract vs. Willis’ quality backup play than anything else. Bad vibes. — Solak
First-game outlook: The Packers split with the Bears this season. Green Bay beat Chicago in Week 14 for the Packers’ last win in the regular season. These teams haven’t met in the playoffs since the Packers beat the Bears in the NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field in the 2010 season. — ESPN
Reason for hope: A playoff-worthy defense. The Broncos’ defense has shown it can make quarterbacks’ lives miserable (a franchise-record 68 sacks), and it should rise even more in the postseason. Denver can create pressure against almost any protection look and has a deep secondary, led by cornerback Pat Surtain II, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. The Broncos can line Surtain up against any No. 1 receiver in the league and have confidence that he can win the matchup.