NFL Playoff Capsules
Los Angeles Rams (12-5) at Carolina Panthers (8-9)
Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET
FanDuel odds: Rams -10.5, Total 45.5
Series Rewind: The Panthers have won seven of the past 10 meetings with the most important being the 31-28 home triumph over the Rams in Week 13. Mike Jackson had a pick-six for Carolina and Bryce Young’s third touchdown pass was the decisive one in the fourth quarter.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford could be about to win the NFL MVP award but he had some rough moments during the earlier visit to Charlotte when he was intercepted twice while passing for 243 yards and two touchdowns. Stafford was intercepted just eight times in the regular season while posting league-leading totals of 4,707 yards and 46 TDs. It doesn’t hurt to have Puka Nacua on your side and he grabbed a league-best 129 receptions for 1,715 yards (second in the NFL) and 10 scores. Davante Adams (hamstring) will be back after a three-game absence. The Panthers are playing in just their second playoff game since losing to the Denver Broncos in the 2015 season Super Bowl. They lost the most recent appearance to the New Orleans Saints in the wild-card round after the 2017 regular season. Young turned the corner this season, his third in the NFL, with 3,011 yards and 23 touchdowns against 11 interceptions. That said, he only topped 200 yards in four of his 16 starts so Carolina needs to make sure this contest remains low scoring. Cornerbacks Jaycee Horn (five picks) and Jackson (four) will need to be in top form against Nacua and Adams. In fact, Nacua had just six grabs for 72 yards in November. Rams star linebacker Byron Young (12 sacks this season) will look to cause some trouble in the Carolina backfield.
Green Bay Packers (9-7-1) at Chicago Bears (11-6)
Saturday, 8 p.m. ET
FanDuel odds: Packers -1.5, Total 44.5
Series Rewind: It’s only the third postseason clash in the NFL’s oldest rivalry, all in Chicago. The Bears won 33-14 in a divisional playoff on Dec. 14, 1941, and the Packers won 21-14 in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 23, 2011.
Green Bay is 30-7 against Chicago since the start of the 2008 season, including the playoffs. The NFC North rivals split their games this season, with the Packers winning 28-21 at Lambeau Field in Week 14 and the Bears winning 22-16 in overtime at Soldier Field two weeks later. Green Bay is the No. 7 seed for the third straight year, while Chicago is looking for its first playoff win since Jan. 16, 2011. The Packers are riding a four-game losing streak but quarterback Jordan Love is ready to return from a concussion sustained in the Week 16 loss at Chicago. He doesn’t exactly “own” the Bears a la Aaron Rodgers, but he does have a 9-2 TD-INT ratio in six meetings (4-2 record). Packers RB Josh Jacobs posted 1,211 scrimmage yards and 14 TDs. The Bears led the NFL with 33 takeaways this season. Caleb Williams fell short of 4K but set a Chicago record with 3,942 passing yards, and D’Andre Swift tallied a career-best 1,386 scrimmage yards with 10 TDs. Bears WR Rome Odunze (foot) is healthy again after missing the last five games, including both meetings with Green Bay.
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Buffalo Bills (12-5) at Jacksonville Jaguars (13-4)
Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
FanDuel odds: Bills -1.5, Total 51.5
Series Rewind: The all-time series is tied 10-10. Buffalo smashed the Jaguars 47-10 the last time they played in 2024, but Jacksonville has won both times they’ve faced off in the playoffs, a 10-3 win in the 2017 season and a 30-27 win in 1996, both in the wild-card round.
Jacksonville enters on an eight-game win streak but is a home underdog against Buffalo. Jaguars coach Liam Coen already had made NFL history as the first coach to inherit a team that won four or fewer games and lead them to 12 or more wins in his debut season. Now he’s one of two men (along with Chicago’s Ben Johnson) trying to become the first rookie head coach since George Seifert in 1989 to win a Super Bowl. Bills QB Josh Allen seems to have a somewhat clearer playoff path with no Chiefs, Ravens or Bengals involved this year. However, it’s likely his entire run will be on the road and he enters this week 0-2 in road playoff games. Buffalo hasn’t won a road playoff game since the 1992 season, losing eight straight. He’ll have help from RB James Cook III, who won the rushing title by 26 yards with 1,621 this season. Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence played the best football of his career down the stretch. After the former No. 1 pick threw 14 touchdowns to 11 interceptions in his first 11 games of the season, Lawrence threw 15 TDs and one pick over the final six contests. Adding a career-high nine rushing touchdowns, Lawrence set the franchise record with 38 total touchdowns in his first season in Coen’s offense. Jacksonville’s defense also broke the franchise record with 22 interceptions.
San Francisco 49ers (12-5) at Philadelphia Eagles (11-6)
Sunday, 4:30 p.m. ET
FanDuel odds: Eagles -4.5, Total 44.5
Series Rewind: San Francisco won handily 42-19 in its last trip to Philadelphia in Week 13 in 2023, about 11 months after getting blown out 31-7 there by the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 29, 2023.
The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles rested most of their starters in Week 18 and settled for the No. 3 seed, while the 49ers dropped to the sixth seed after losing a battle with Seattle for the coveted No. 1 slot. This is the fifth straight playoff appearance for Philadelphia under fifth-year coach Nick Sirianni, whose teams alternated wild-card losses with Super Bowl runs in their first four postseasons under his watch. It’s the fifth playoff trip in the past seven seasons for the 49ers under Kyle Shanahan, which includes a couple of Super Bowl setbacks. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is 5-0 at home in the playoffs and facing a 49ers squad that is 7-2 on the road this season. Hurts can attack San Francisco’s shaky pass defense with 1,000-yard receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith and tight end Dallas Goedert (11 touchdowns). Niners star Christian McCaffrey was second in the NFL with 2,126 scrimmage yards but faces a Philly front anchored by Pro Bowl DT Jalen Carter. Philadelphia’s All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson (foot) hopes to play for the first time since Week 11. San Francisco All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams (hamstring) and wideout Ricky Pearsall (knee/ankle) are questionable.
Los Angeles Chargers (11-6) at New England Patriots (14-3)
Sunday, 8 p.m. ET
FanDuel odds: Patriots -3.5, Total 46.5
Series Rewind: New England leads the all-time series 27-17-2 and has won each of the three times they’ve faced off in the NFL playoffs (2007, 2008, 2019). But Los Angeles beat the Patriots in 2023 and 2024 by a combined score of 46-7.
Patriots MVP candidate Drake Maye is set to make his playoff debut after a stellar second season in which he led the league with a 72.0 completion percentage along with 4,394 yards and 31 TDs to eight picks. He led an offense which finished second in scoring (28.8 points per game) and third in total offense (379.4 yards). But he was also sacked 47 times, fourth-most of any NFL QB, and will be facing a Chargers defense which ranked 10th in the league in sacks (45). Chargers QB Justin Herbert has actually been sacked even more (54 times, third in the NFL) behind a ramshackle line missing two tackles. Herbert is looking for some playoff redemption after his first two postseason games did not go according to plan. Los Angeles blew a 27-0 lead in a 2022 wild-card game at Jacksonville, and he threw a career-high four picks in a 32-12 wild-card game last season at Houston. Herbert (left hand) has practiced fully this week after sitting out the regular-season finale with minimal stakes. Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs (1,013 receiving yards) and rookie RB Tre’Veyon Henderson (911 yards, nine touchdowns) have boosted Maye, who could be down two starting offensive linemen this week with left guard Jared Wilson (concussion) and center Garrett Bradbury (illness) missing practice or limited.
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Houston Texans (12-5) at Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7)
Monday, 8:15 p.m. ET
FanDuel odds: Texans -3, Total 38.5
Series Rewind: Houston pounded Pittsburgh 30-6 in 2023 to end a three-game skid in the series. That was C.J. Stroud’s rookie season and he shined by passing for 306 yards and two TDs. This is their first postseason meeting.
The Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in nine years and now the NFL’s best defense stands in the way and threatens to impose another unhappy ending. Aaron Rodgers (11-10 as a postseason starter) will be asked to solve the defensive unit of the Texans and end the dubious streak that has seen Pittsburgh drop six consecutive playoff games since defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round on Jan. 15, 2017. Rodgers had 3,322 yards and 24 touchdowns against seven interceptions in 16 games. He hasn’t been picked in his last seven outings. Protecting the ball is key against Houston, which ranks second in the NFL with a plus-17 takeaway margin. The Texans allowed a league-low 277.2 yards per game and ranked second in points allowed at 17.4 per game. Danielle Hunter finished third in the NFL with 15 sacks and Will Anderson Jr. tied for eighth with 12. Stroud is playing in the playoffs for the third straight season and has a 2-2 postseason mark. During the regular season, he passed for 3,041 yards and 19 touchdowns against eight interceptions despite missing three games due to a concussion. The Steelers get DK Metcalf (team-best 850 receiving yards, six TDs) back from a two-game suspension. Also, star linebacker T.J. Watt should feel a bit more spry in his second game since lung surgery.
