{"id":721037,"date":"2026-02-01T08:28:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/721037\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T08:28:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:28:41","slug":"nfl-playoff-guide-how-to-watch-betting-favorites-and-some-of-the-top-storylines-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/721037\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL playoff guide: How to watch, betting favorites and some of the top storylines"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New England Patriots are back in the AFC championship game<\/a> for the first time since 2019, still alive for a chance to win their seventh Super Bowl since 2001.<\/p>\n

This time, it\u2019s Drake Maye at quarterback and Mike Vrabel coaching on the sidelines instead of the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick combo that dominated the NFL<\/a> during their six title runs.<\/p>\n

All that\u2019s standing between the Patriots and a trip to Super Bowl 60<\/a> are the Denver Broncos<\/a> and backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham, who will be forced into action after starter Bo Nix broke his ankle.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an all-NFC West affair for the other conference championship when the top-seeded Seattle Seahawks<\/a> host the Los Angeles Rams<\/a>. The division rivals split their two meetings during the regular season, with each winning tight contests at home.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: NFL playoff guide: a new generation takes the stage\n <\/p>\n

The road to Santa Clara, California for 14 NFL teams begins this weekend. Correspondent Gethin Coolbaugh reports.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a few more things to know now that the NFL\u2019s postseason is down to four teams: <\/p>\n

NFL playoff schedule and results<\/p>\n

Conference Championships (all times EST)<\/p>\n

NFC<\/p>\n

No. 5 Los Angeles Rams at No. 1 Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, 6:30 p.m. (Fox)<\/p>\n

AFC<\/p>\n

No. 2 New England Patriots at No. 1 Denver Broncos, Sunday, 3 p.m. (CBS\/Paramount+)<\/p>\n

Super Bowl 60 <\/p>\n

AFC winner vs. NFC winner, Feb. 8, 6:30 p.m., Santa Clara, California. (NBC)<\/p>\n

\u2014-<\/p>\n

Past results<\/p>\n

Divisional round <\/p>\n

NFC<\/p>\n

\u2014 No. 5 Los Angeles Rams 20, No. 2 Chicago Bears 17 (OT)<\/p>\n

\u2014 No. 1 Seattle Seahawks 41, No. 6 San Francisco 49ers 6<\/p>\n

AFC<\/p>\n

\u2014 No. 1 Denver Broncos 33, No. 6 Buffalo Bills 30 (OT)<\/p>\n

\u2014 No. 2 New England Patriots 28, No. 5 Houston Texans 16<\/p>\n

Wild-card weekend<\/p>\n

NFC<\/p>\n

\u2014 No. 2 Chicago Bears 31, No. 7 Green Bay Packers 27<\/p>\n

\u2014 No. 6 San Francisco 49ers 23, No. 3 Philadelphia Eagles 19<\/p>\n

\u2014 No. 5 Los Angeles Rams 34, No. 4 Carolina Panthers 31<\/p>\n

AFC<\/p>\n

\u2014 No. 2 New England Patriots 16, No. 7 Los Angeles Chargers 3<\/p>\n

\u2014 No. 6 Buffalo Bills 27, No. 3 Jacksonville Jaguars 24<\/p>\n

\u2014 No. 5 Houston Texans 30, No. 4 Pittsburgh Steelers 6<\/p>\n

Betting Favorites<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, Nix\u2019s ankle injury<\/a> has had a big effect on how the sportsbooks see the Patriots-Broncos matchup.<\/p>\n

According to BetMGM Sportsbook, the Patriots are favored by five points to win the AFC championship and the over-under is currently at 41.5 points, suggesting a low-scoring defensive showdown in Denver.<\/p>\n

In the NFC, the home Seahawks are 2.5-point favorites over the Rams while the over-under is at 47.5 points. The Seahawks haven\u2019t lost a game in more than two months, though that loss was a 21-19 setback on Nov. 16 against the Rams.<\/p>\n

As for the Super Bowl winner, the Seahawks have a slight edge at +150, followed by the Rams (+220), Patriots (+250) and longshot Broncos (+1300).<\/p>\n

The last time<\/p>\n

One bit of intrigue entering the postseason was that five of the 14 teams had never won a Super Bowl, including the Bills, Panthers, Jaguars, Texans and Chargers. The Texans and Jaguars have never even played in a Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

After two weeks of postseason games, all five of those teams were eliminated. As a result, Bills coach Sean McDermott was among 10 NFL coaches<\/a> who lost their job this offseason.<\/p>\n

The last time the four teams remaining won the Super Bowl was relatively recent. The Rams won following the 2021 season while the Patriots (2018), Broncos (2015) and Seahawks (2013) have also won over the past dozen years.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nfl<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New England Patriots are back in the AFC championship game for the first time since 2019, still…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":721038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[3851,925,53,1443,258,833,4432,380,7,253,15096,1682,3872,58,7502,838,22221,249,1917,6,498,84,941,6370,5763,252,3026,82927,261,101104,9,51,1369,5557,37057,855,568,991],"class_list":["post-721037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl-playoffs","tag-bill-belichick","tag-bo-nix","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-california","tag-denver-broncos","tag-drake-maye","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-football","tag-houston-texans","tag-il-state-wire","tag-illinois","tag-jarrett-stidham","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-massachusetts","tag-mike-vrabel","tag-nc-state-wire","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-new-york","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-football","tag-nfl-playoffs","tag-north-carolina","tag-pa-state-wire","tag-pennsylvania","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-sean-mcdermott","tag-seattle-redhawks","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-sports","tag-texas","tag-tom-brady","tag-tx-state-wire","tag-wa-state-wire","tag-washington","tag-wi-state-wire","tag-wisconsin"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}