A fun 18 weeks have come and gone, and the NFL playoffs are upon us. It went right down to the final week of the season for a few teams to learn their postseason fate, but now we know the participants and their seeding. The Kansas City Chiefs are the only team in the AFC that will get the week off after locking up the 1-seed in dominating fashion weeks ago. Here’s our 2025 AFC Wild Card Weekend preview.
No. 5 Chargers at No. 4 Texans
Saturday, Jan. 11 4:30 p.m. ET on CBS
It didn’t even take a season for Jim Harbaugh to come into the Chargers facility and right the ship in Los Angeles. The Bolts are back in the postseason race and should be an excellent competitor for the Houston Texans who have been riddled with injury on the offensive side of the ball. I am most excited to watch the matchup between Justin Herbert and C.J. Stroud. Two of the best, young quarterbacks in the league are battling it out. Despite this being a road game for LA, they are favored and it’s because of their defense and its ability to completely shut teams down. They are first in points allowed this year. Stroud and the offense have looked out of rhythm at times this year and LA will do its best to add to that in this game. Harbaugh has a .625 winning percentage in the postseason as an NFL coach, that number goes up this week. Prediction: Chargers 24 Texans 20
No. 6 Steelers at No. 3 Ravens
Saturday, Jan. 11 8 p.m. ET on Prime Video
***Before we break into the preview, it’s a Prime Video game, so make sure you have your subscription in order before Saturday*** Now to the good stuff! I love divisional rivalry games in the postseason. This will be the third time the Steelers and Ravens will face each other this season with the series split to this point. Both these teams were still fighting for the division title in Week 18 and Pittsburgh made it easy for Baltimore with a loss to Cincy. Russell Wilson said after the game that he didn’t want to talk about the past in referring to the Steelers four straight losses. Perhaps he should as Wilson and his team need to study those games and figure out what has gone off the rails if they have any chance at knocking off a Baltimore team that has won four straight including a 17-point win over Pittsburgh just a few weeks ago. Lamar Jackson has struggled in the postseason historically, but this may be the year that changes. Prediction: Steelers 20 Ravens 31
No. 7 Broncos at No.2 Bills
Sunday, Jan. 12 1 p.m. ET on CBS
Congratulations to the Broncos for winning in Week 18 against a resting Chiefs team and making the postseason. As your reward, you get to face off against the Buffalo Bills who are surging. Forget Sunday’s loss to New England as the Bills were resting their guys and instead focus on their three-game winning streak entering that game and the fact they had won 11 of 12 up until that point. Josh Allen likely will earn MVP honors in about a month, and I don’t see a world where Bo Nix outplays him in a postseason game that’s going down in Buffalo. Nix has struggled heavily at times with interceptions this season and the Bills are 7th best in the league when it comes to that. Prediction: Broncos 24 Bills 35