After 18 weeks of action, the 2025 NFL Season has come to a close, and a little more than half the league is already home for the offseason. For the fourteen teams still alive and kicking, however, things have just gotten started as we enter the win-or-go-home playoffs.
No postseason in professional sports is harder to protect, as the lack of a safety net means it takes just one bad day to sink an all-time season. To look ahead to what might go down in the next month and change, we put the playoff bracket into Madden 26 to see how things shake out when the pigskin is pixelated, as we once again ask the Madden engine to play prognosticator:
Wild Card Round
It was a rough time to be a favorite in the AFC, while the NFC’s top teams all held serve, even the one that had to go on the road to do it:
- #7 Los Angeles 21-13 #2 New England: The New England Patriots were one of the surprises of the season, but Madden doesn’t buy it. This one wasn’t as close as the scoreline would imply, as the Patriots trailed 21-0 at halftime and 21-3 in the fourth quarter before a couple of late perfunctory scores made for the respectable final tally.
- #6 Buffalo 21-23 #3 Jacksonville: Another game where the hometown fans went home sad, Jacksonville at least gave the Bills much more of a fight. This game stayed close throughout, with the Bills edging the Jags by three at the break, extending a bit by scoring a touchdown to the Jags’ field goal in the third, and holding firm in the fourth to get the win.
- #4 Pittsburgh 23-9 #5 Houston: The Steelers did everything in their power to miss the playoffs this year, but the winds at not-Heinz Field remain as treacherous even with a new name, sending Baltimore’s 44-yard field goal for the game and the division hooking as wide as Boswell’s extra point for Pittsburgh a minute prior. As a reward, Madden thinks they will win their first playoff game since the Obama administration.
- #2 Chicago 41-35 #7 Green Bay: The NFC North was a dogfight with four teams all posting winning records, so it’s no shock that Madden thinks it will produce the best playoff game, too. This game saw the Packers scoring and converting the 2-pointer to force OT, both teams scoring touchdowns on their opening possessions in the extra frame, and finally, the Bears scoring yet again to secure the win and move on.
- #3 Philadelphia 27-13 #6 San Francisco: No fanbase has seemed more miserable in a span of multiple titles in a few years than that of the Eagles. Madden reckons they’ll have to keep miserably watching the Eagles for a bit longer this time around as they step up and handily see off one of the three qualifiers out of the mighty NFC West.
- #5 Los Angeles 26-21 #4 Carolina: In a battle of the worst qualifier from the best division and the lone qualifier from the worst one, it’s the former who got the job done, but only just.
Divisional Round
Home team woes were the story of the divisional round as just one team managed to translate home fans into victory:
- #7 Los Angeles 29-21 #1 Denver: In another intradivision clash, it was the surprising top seed in Denver playing host to a team well-used to away games, thanks to getting to play 8 or 9 of them at home every season in the Chargers. Fans of 2-point conversion attempts would love this game, as Denver failed twice while the Chargers succeeded once to generate an unusual score of 29 and a usual score of 21 reached in highly unusual circumstances.
- #6 Buffalo 27-17 # Pittsburgh: With a clear runway as all the AFC’s other star QBs have fallen by the wayside, Madden likes the Bills to ride that opportunity to a surprising AFC Championship home game as a 6-seed as they match Los Angeles’ feat of back-to-back road wins.
- #1 Seattle 24-19 #5 Los Angeles: Losing to an in-division foe from LA seemed to be catching for top seeds as Seattle trailed at the half and fell behind again in the fourth quarter, only to rally with a late drive to score and book a spot in the NFC Championship game.
- #3 Philadelphia 28-17 #2 Chicago: It was back to upsets from there, however, as Ben Johnson’s debut turnaround in Chicago smacked into the immovable object that is the modern Eagles, who jumped out to a 21-0 lead and never looked back.
Conference Finals
Two Championship games from two different ends of the seeding charts both yielded the same road team victory:
- #7 Los Angeles 31-21 #6 Buffalo: Lowest seed is no problem at all for the Chargers, who ran off their third straight road game against Buffalo. Twice the Bills scored to reduce the Chargers’ lead to three, and twice Justin Herbert led them down the field to reestablish a double-digit edge.
- #3 Philadelphia 38-20 #1 Seattle: The NFC West has been a dominant force this year, Arizona excluded, but for the second time in these playoffs, the Eagles put their thumb on one of them and effortlessly squished them. Philadelphia had hung up a 28-6 lead before the Seahawks even found the endzone.
Super Bowl LX
In one corner, a team that has won two Super Bowls in the last eight years. In the other, a team that has one blowout loss to its name, and with a 14-14 halftime score, it all hung in the balance.
It was none other than the no-hopers who seized the day, however, as the Chargers blew the Eagles away in the second half. A pair of third-quarter touchdowns topped by a pair of fourth-quarter field goals, all without response, turned the tense game into a blowout as the Los Angeles Chargers won Super Bowl LX 34-14 to become World Champions as a 7-seed.
