The NFL playoffs are here after Week 18, the final round of the regular season, saved its best drama for the final game of the weekend.
The Detroit Lions — eliminated from playoff contention earlier Sunday when the Seattle Seahawks beat the Los Angeles Rams — pushed past their disappointment and played the role of a spoiler, rallying to beat the Green Bay Packers 20-16 last Sunday night. The win denied quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Packers the final spot in the postseason.
Instead of Green Bay, it's the Seahawks who will be the No. 7 seed in the NFC. They now travel to face division rivals San Francisco 49ers in the upcoming wild card round.
The rest of this weekend's wild card schedule is also set as the road to the Superbowl heats up: In the AFC, it’ll be the Miami Dolphins at the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens at the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Chargers at Jacksonville Jaguars. In the NFC, the Minnesota Vikings will host the New York Giants and the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Dallas Cowboys.
Here’s all you need to know about the wild card weekend:
What’s the wild card weekend schedule?
Saturday
Seattle Seahawks at San Francisco 49ers, 4:30pm ET/9:30pm GMT, FOX/Sky Sports
Los Angeles Chargers at Jacksonville Jaguars, 8:15pm ET/1.15am GMT (Sun), NBC/Sky Sports
Sunday
Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills, 1pm ET/6pm GMT, CBS/Sky Sports
New York Giants at Minnesota Vikings, 4:30pm ET/9.30pm GMT, FOX/Sky Sports
Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals, 8:15pm ET/1.15am GMT (Mon), NBC/Sky Sports
Monday
Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 8:15pm ET/1.15am GMT (Tues), ESPN/ABC/Sky Sports
What’s the format of the playoffs?
This is the third straight year of the current NFL playoff format, which includes the top seven teams from both the AFC and the NFC.
The four division winners in both conferences automatically get the top four seeds, regardless of record, and then the top three teams with the best record that didn't win their division are the wild card selections. That's why it's fairly common for a wild card selection to have a better record — but worse playoff seeding — than a team that finished as a division winner.
The No. 1-seeded team in each conference gets a bye into the second round — that's the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles — while No. 2 hosts No. 7, No. 3 hosts No. 6 and No. 4 hosts No. 5 during wild card weekend.
The NFL has a re-seeding policy after each playoff round. That means that no matter how the bracket started, the lowest-seeded team will always travel to the higher-seeded team.
There are four rounds to the playoffs: The wild card round is during the upcoming weekend, the divisional round is Jan. 21-22, the conference championship games are on Jan. 29 and the Super Bowl is scheduled for Feb. 12 in Glendale, Arizona.
What are the odds to win the Superbowl?
- Kansas City Chiefs - 3/1
- Buffalo Bills - 4/1
- Philadelphia Eagles - 5/1
- San Francisco 49ers - 5/1
- Cincinnati Bengals - 7/1
- Dallas Cowboys - 12/1
- Los Angeles Chargers - 20/1
- Minnesota Vikings - 25/1
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 25/1
- Baltimore Ravens - 33/1
- Jacksonville Jaguars - 40/1
- New York Giants - 50/1
- Miami Dolphins - 50/1
- Seattle Seahawks - 66/1
All odds supplied by Betfair before the start of wild card weekend
Additional reporting by AP
