play0:17Purdy finds McCaffrey for TD to put 49ers ahead lateBrock Purdy throws a touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey to give the 49ers the lead late in the fourth quarter vs. the Eagles.
play1:04Recapping the Bears’ comeback win over PackersKimberley A. Martin recaps the performance of Caleb Williams and the Bears against the Packers.
play0:3410-yard tush push leads to go-ahead Bills TDJosh Allen gets pushed almost all the way into the end zone to set up the Bills’ go-ahead TD.
play0:24Patriots deck Herbert to force fumbleK’Lavon Chaisson drops Justin Herbert and forces a fumble.
Should Rams be concerned after tight win over Panthers? (1:19)Alex Smith, Tedy Bruschi, Rex Ryan and Randy Moss discuss the Rams’ 34-31 wild-card win over the Panthers. (1:19)
Purdy finds McCaffrey for TD to put 49ers ahead lateBrock Purdy throws a touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey to give the 49ers the lead late in the fourth quarter vs. the Eagles.
Brock Purdy throws a touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey to give the 49ers the lead late in the fourth quarter vs. the Eagles.
Recapping the Bears’ comeback win over PackersKimberley A. Martin recaps the performance of Caleb Williams and the Bears against the Packers.
10-yard tush push leads to go-ahead Bills TDJosh Allen gets pushed almost all the way into the end zone to set up the Bills’ go-ahead TD.
(5) Houston Texans or (4) Pittsburgh Steelers at (2) New England Patriots
The wild-card round of the 2025 NFL playoffs is nearing completion, and the divisional round matchups are taking shape. The NFC pairings are set: The San Francisco 49ers will play at the Seattle Seahawks, and the Los Angeles Rams will face the Bears in Chicago. One AFC game is set, too, as the Buffalo Bills will play at the Denver Broncos on Saturday. The New England Patriots will host the winner of Monday’s wild-card game between the Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday.
But there’s another reason for Seahawks optimism: While their passing game has not been the same in the second half of the season, they can offset that with a more reliable rushing attack against a 49ers defense that is hurting at linebacker. Warner and Tatum Bethune are out, and Dee Winters missed San Francisco’s wild-card game too. — Walder
Stat to know: Darnold led the NFL with 20 turnovers this season (14 interceptions, six fumbles lost). This is the first time dating to 1978 that a player on a No. 1-seeded team has led the league in turnovers. — ESPN Research
Purdy finds McCaffrey for TD to put 49ers ahead late
Why the Rams will win: The Rams are arguably the best team in football — and the Bears are not. Don’t get me wrong: Chicago deserves plenty of credit for its remarkable season, but the numbers clearly favor Los Angeles. The Rams are ranked second in EPA per play on offense, and they have the MVP favorite at quarterback, the best wide receiver in football in Puka Nacua and a solid offensive line that will give Stafford all day to throw against the Bears’ lacking pass rush.
And while the Rams’ defense is not perfect, each of the major players on the line — Jared Verse, Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske and Poona Ford — can create mayhem for their opponents.
Kimberley A. Martin recaps the performance of Caleb Williams and the Bears against the Packers.
Matchup background: The Rams and the Bears did not play this season, with their most recent matchup coming in Week 4 of 2024. Chicago prevailed 24-18 at Soldier Field, breaking a three-game losing streak to Los Angeles. This is only the third postseason matchup between these franchises and the first in 40 years. The Bears defeated the Rams 24-0 in the 1985 NFC Championship Game en route to the Super Bowl XX title, which is Chicago’s most recent NFL championship. — ESPN
Stat to know: After being sacked two or more times in 15 games last season, Williams has been sacked one or zero times in 11 games in 2025 (including Saturday’s playoff victory). The Rams had 47 sacks in the regular season and added two more in their wild-card win over Carolina. — ESPN Research
Why the Bills will win: Josh Allen. Forgive simplicity, but the thesis for Buffalo is that Allen is the best quarterback in the playoffs and can put the team on his back. That is exactly what he did in the wild-card round against the Jaguars.
Will those sorts of performances be tougher to pull off against a dangerous Broncos defense that can mitigate Allen’s impact both on the ground and through the air? You bet. But the real answer to this question is not actually just Allen. It’s Allen, his running backs and one of the better offensive lines in the league. Last season’s MVP is not out there alone, and the Broncos’ defensive front might not look quite so dominant against Buffalo’s collection of talent.
But it’s not just defense that favors the Broncos. Quarterback Bo Nix is probably playing the best football of his pro career. Since Denver’s Week 12 bye, Nix has a 67.2 QBR (seventh best), with low interception (1.2%) and sack (4.0%) rates. And with one of the league’s best offensive lines in front of him, Nix should have plenty of time to work. — Walder
Matchup background: The Bills and Broncos last met in the 2024 wild-card round, as Buffalo defeated Denver 31-7 in the Broncos’ first playoff game in eight seasons. They’ve played one other time in the playoffs, as the Bills narrowly edged the Broncos in the 1991 AFC Championship Game to advance to Super Bowl XXVI. — ESPN
Stat to know: Allen became the second player in NFL history with a go-ahead passing touchdown and go-ahead rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter of the same playoff game, joining 49ers quarterback Alex Smith in the 2011 NFC divisional round against the Saints. — ESPN Research
Josh Allen gets pushed almost all the way into the end zone to set up the Bills’ go-ahead TD.
Patriots deck Herbert to force fumbleK’Lavon Chaisson drops Justin Herbert and forces a fumble.
K’Lavon Chaisson drops Justin Herbert and forces a fumble.
Matchup background: The Steelers beat the Patriots 21-14 in Week 3 thanks in large part to five New England turnovers. The Patriots hold a 4-1 advantage in playoff meetings, most recently beating the Steelers in the 2016 AFC Championship Game. Houston and New England have not played since Week 6 of the 2024 season, a 41-21 Texans win. The Patriots have won both playoff meetings between the teams, most recently prevailing in a 2016 divisional round game. — ESPN
Stat to know: Maye (66) and running back Rhamondre Stevenson (53) became the first Patriots duo with 50-plus rushing yards in a playoff game since LeGarrette Blount (166) and Stevan Ridley (52) in the 2013 divisional round against the Colts. — ESPN Research
What the Seahawks did during their bye week: It was hardly an off week for the Seahawks. They practiced outside in the elements on Wednesday and Thursday — in a light rain Wednesday and with temperatures in the low 40s and the wind blowing both days — as coach Mike Macdonald tried to get his team accustomed to playing in the kind of weather it might see in the postseason. “We’re not treating it like a regular-season bye week where guys are flying to Mexico and Hawaii and enjoying their time,” Pro Bowl defensive lineman Leonard Williams said. “I think we really celebrated that win against the Niners. But immediately that next day, you could tell guys were like, ‘Hey, the job is not done. We’ve got a lot of work to do.'” — Brady Henderson
Why the 49ers will win: Because Sam Darnold is not the same player he was at the beginning of the season. Ten weeks into the campaign, the Seahawks quarterback led the NFL in QBR (77.8). But in Week 11, Seattle lost at the Rams, and from that moment forward, Darnold ranked 27th (36.9) in the same metric! The 49ers will not fall into the trap other teams have against Seattle: matching the Seahawks’ big personnel with base defensive personnel. San Francisco is a nickel-heavy team, which will either invite Seattle to run or force Darnold into less favorable passing situations. And for all that went wrong in the 49ers’ regular-season finale, they still held the Seahawks to just 13 points.
Giving San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan two weeks to study film after that loss might be enough for him to find some new ways to beat that seemingly impenetrable Macdonald defense. And the 49ers have a good passing game; they’ve averaged 0.17 expected points added (EPA) per dropback, which ranked sixth best among all teams and fifth best among those that made the playoffs. With All-Pro offensive tackle Trent Williams expected to play (he missed the Week 18 matchup), the 49ers definitely have a chance here.
Why the Seahawks will win: They proved it Week 18 in the battle for the No. 1 seed. Seattle shut down the 49ers’ offense with its ferocious defense, holding San Francisco to only three points. It was hardly an aberration: Seattle has the best defense in football, and the stats are undeniable. No. 1 in EPA allowed per play. No. 1 in opponent’s success rate. And one of my favorites: minus-30 first downs over expectation allowed on opponent runs, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, doubling up the next-best team in the regular season (the Houston Texans at minus-15).
Why the Bears will win: They can never be ruled out. Chicago added to its season of improbable victories with an incredible come-from-behind win over the Packers in which the Bears entered the fourth quarter down 15 points and exited it up four. In between, we witnessed the Bears at their absolute best. Williams made the throw of a lifetime on fourth-and-8 to keep Chicago’s hopes alive, and coach Ben Johnson used an imbalanced line to sell the screen of a screen-and-go, fooling the Packers’ secondary and freeing DJ Moore for a touchdown.
What the Broncos did during their bye week: Broncos coach Sean Payton tried to put the team in a playoff mode during the bye week, especially in Friday’s practice, when it was starters against starters for most of the team drills. Payton said he was “salty” at the offense’s performance in Denver’s regular-season finale, when it didn’t score a touchdown and was 0-of-3 in red zone trips in a 19-3 win. Payton said the offense “will have to be better” for any postseason run. He believes it will be important for the Broncos to be aggressive offensively, adding that “we’ll definitely stretch the ball down the field. We’ll be aggressive in how we call these games.” — Jeff Legwold