{"id":787896,"date":"2026-03-03T00:47:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T00:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/787896\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T00:47:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T00:47:01","slug":"predicting-the-nfl-playoff-bracket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/787896\/","title":{"rendered":"Predicting the NFL Playoff Bracket"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Predictions are a waste of bandwidth. <\/p>\n

At least, that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to tell myself, after my preseason Super Bowl prediction completely blew up in my face<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But, with the NFL Playoffs set to get underway, it feels like a mulligan is in order. <\/p>\n

Here are my officially official predictions for every playoff game, and the Super Bowl:<\/p>\n

No. 7 Los Angeles Chargers vs. No. 2 New England Patriots<\/p>\n

The Chargers\u2019 offensive tackle situation is an abject disaster, and the last time we saw Justin Herbert, in a Week 17 loss to the Houston Texans, Los Angeles\u2019 star quarterback was sacked five times, marking the fifth time he\u2019s been sacked at least five times in a season. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Patriots enter these playoffs ranked No. 1 in EPA (at .13 per play), offensively, and 11th in defensive EPA (-.03 per play). Drake Maye might be the MVP, as he\u2019s powered an offense that\u2019s produced the third-most explosive plays in the league.<\/a> New England boasts too many weapons, and the Chargers are too injured. <\/p>\n

Prediction: Patriots.<\/p>\n

No. 6 Buffalo Bills at No. 3 Jacksonville Jaguars<\/p>\n

Buffalo, and Josh Allen might be the most dangerous wild card team in recent NFL playoff history. Rushing champion James Cook relegated Josh Allen to being a supporting actor, for the Bills, with the duo powering the league\u2019s fifth-rated offense. <\/p>\n

However, the Jaguars may be the most underrated team in these playoffs, and Jacksonville is steamrolling downhill behind Trevor Lawrence playing the best football of his career, Parker Washington emerging as one of the sport\u2019s breakout stars at wide receiver, and gaining confidence that comes with winning eight in a row to close out the season. <\/p>\n

Prediction: Jaguars<\/p>\n

No. 5 Houston Texans at No. 4 Pittsburgh Steelers<\/p>\n

Renegade isn\u2019t going to be enough to bail Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers out, against the most menacing defense in the sport. <\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s defense was historically dominant this season, holding opponents to just 277.2 yards per game, logging 47 sacks, and allowing a league-low 17.2 points per game. The Texans have won nine straight games, 10 of their last 11, and seem to be gaining momentum each week.<\/p>\n

All of the running back screen smoke and mirrors, and tight end trickery in the world isn\u2019t combating that. <\/p>\n

Prediction: Texans<\/p>\n

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No. 5 Houston Texans at No. 1 Denver Broncos<\/p>\n

The two top defenses meet with a trip to the AFC Championship Game at stake. <\/p>\n

Houston swarmed to the football all season long, holding opponents to just 17.4 points per game, 277.2 yards per game, while posting the second-most expected points added by the defense<\/a>, 66.04, to the Seahawks. Meanwhile, no team pressured the quarterback more often or more effectively than the Broncos, who posted 64 sacks while holding opposing quarterbacks to a league-low 58.8 completion percentage. Expect points to be at a premium. <\/p>\n

Bo Nix, and a young collection of weapons rise to the moment, making just enough plays on a late drive to survive. <\/p>\n

Prediction: Broncos<\/p>\n

No. 3 Jacksonville Jaguars at No. 2 New England Patriots<\/p>\n

The Patriots boast one of the most explosive offenses in the league, but for as well as Maye as played this season, legitimate concerns were raised in New England\u2019s come-from-ahead loss to the Buffalo Bills, at home. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, over the final seven weeks, Trevor Lawrence has scored 22 total touchdowns with just three interceptions, as the Jaguars outscored opponents 234-120 over that span, with the defense tightening the screws as the offense found its groove around its young playmakers. That balance, and dominance on defense make Jacksonville formidable in these playoffs. <\/p>\n

Prediction: Jaguars<\/p>\n

Refer a friend<\/a><\/p>\n

No. 3 Jacksonville Jaguars at No. 1 Denver Broncos<\/p>\n

A rematch of one of the most consequential and revelatory games on the AFC schedule this season, with a trip to the Super Bowl at stake. <\/p>\n

Back in Week 16, the Jaguars rode an explosive play parade from wide receiver Parker Washington, and clutch red-zone catches from Brenton Strange while strangling the Broncos\u2019 offense to a pivotal 34-20 victory that helped propel Jacksonville to the AFC South championship. <\/p>\n

However, Sean Payton and the Broncos got away from the running game that afternoon at Mile High, with R.J. Harvey and Jaleel McLaughlin combining for just 12 carries, for 87 yards combined. <\/p>\n

Expect a low-scoring affair, but if the Broncos can control the tempo early on and force Trevor Lawrence into some mistakes, it could swing the outcome and the conference championship Denver\u2019s way. <\/p>\n

Prediction: Broncos <\/p>\n

No. 5 Los Angeles Rams at No. 4 Carolina Panthers <\/p>\n

Regardless of the Rams playing with their food down the stretch, albeit with future Hall of Fame wide receiver Davante Adams sidelined, Los Angeles is among the most explosive and complete teams in football. <\/p>\n

Los Angeles ranks second to the Seahawks in DVOA, Matthew Stafford is an MVP front-runner, in large part because of his off-the-charts 46 to 8 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and his two-pick meltdown in Charlotte seems more of a fluke than cause for significant concern. <\/p>\n

The Panthers have plenty of young talent, especially on offense and at wide receiver around a legitimately ascending Bryce Young, but Carolina backed into the playoffs and just aren\u2019t ready to compete with a roster that\u2019s as loaded on both sides of the ball as the Rams are. <\/p>\n

Prediction: Rams<\/p>\n

No. 7 Packers at No. 2 Chicago Bears<\/p>\n

The Packers looked like the team to beat in the NFC from the moment Micah Parsons arrived and Green Bay blew the doors off the Detroit Lions in Week 1, and proceeded to get stingier on defense as the season rolled along. Then, Parsons tore his ACL, Devonte Wyatt was lost for the season, Jordan Love suffered a concussion, Josh Jacobs has been banged up beyond normal running back wear-and-tear, and Green Bay has looked like a shell of itself limping towards the postseason like a mirage off in the distance in the desert. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Bears needed onside kick heroics Romeo Doubs to do Romeo Doubs things and muff an onsides kick, to beat the Packers, in Soldier Field, to assume command of the NFC North. Ben Johnson has done wonders for Caleb Williams, in the former No. 1 overall pick\u2019s second season, and Chicago is riding a dominant ground game and a defense with turnover vultures at all three levels into becoming one of the league\u2019s ascending teams. They won\u2019t need heroics to beat Green Bay this time. <\/p>\n

Prediction: Bears<\/p>\n

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No. 6 San Francisco 49ers at No. 3 Philadelphia Eagles<\/p>\n

This game has the potential to be a case study for what matters most to winning in the modern NFL. <\/p>\n

When healthy and firing on all cylinders, the 49ers are among the most prolific offenses in the sport, especially with multi-faceted threat Christian McCaffrey flanking Brock Purdy, who passed for 20 touchdowns to 10 interceptions in just nine games this season. Head coach Kyle Shanahan\u2019s offense is as turnkey as they come, finishing seventh in total offense, despite Mac Jones making eight starts. The problem is, San Francisco\u2019s backups to the backups on defense are battling injuries and this team has been a sieve since losing Nick Bosa and Fred Warner. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Eagles\u2019 offense has suffered through an 18-week identity crisis that likely lined the pockets of therapists across the Delaware Valley, both with grumbling players and disgruntled fans. <\/p>\n

However, Vic Fangio\u2019s defense is a stifling one, that held opponents to just 19.1 points per game, led by an elite front-seven and Quinyon Mitchell, who might be one of the top-five most dominant cornerbacks in the league. Who knows if Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley finally get right against a vulnerable 49ers defense, but they might not need to if Philadelphia\u2019s defense rises to the moment. <\/p>\n

Prediction: Eagles<\/p>\n

No. 6 Los Angeles Rams at No. 1 Seattle Seahawks<\/p>\n

Each of the Rams vs. Seahawks games this year felt like an existential crisis for both teams, and a potential NFC Championship Game previews. We get Round 3 a week early. <\/p>\n

These are the top-two teams in the league, by DVOA, each with prolific offenses built around explosive receivers and punishing ground attacks, buttressed by two of the stingiest defenses around. <\/p>\n

Seattle is among the toughest homefield advantages in all of sports, but Matthew Stafford is battle-tested, the Rams\u2019 defense has taken over a playoff game against Sam Darnold before, and Sean McVay\u2019s offenses always seem to have an answer late in games down the stretch this season. Stafford plays like the MVP and stuns the Seahawks with a comeback drive to win it. <\/p>\n

Prediction: Rams<\/p>\n

Share Between The Hashmarks<\/a><\/p>\n

No. 3 Philadelphia Eagles at No. 2 Chicago Bears<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a chance that had head coach Nick Sirianni played the Eagles\u2019 starters, this game would be in Philadelphia, rather than a raucous Soldier Field. <\/p>\n

Regardless, the Bears have shown that their brand of football travels, and Chicago proved on Black Friday at Lincoln Financial Field that the backfield duo of D\u2019Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai can dictate to the Eagles\u2019 defensive line and front-seven in ways that few teams have had the kind of ability to all season long. <\/p>\n

Chicago has made a living by creating a league-high 33 takeaways, with the Bears boasting a league-best +22 turnover differential, and this just feels like the kind of close game where a late takeaway proves to be the difference. <\/p>\n

Prediction: Bears<\/p>\n

No. 6 Los Angeles Rams at No. 2 Chicago Bears <\/p>\n

The Bears, in a lot of ways arrived ahead of schedule, while winning the division on the back of playing complementary football and loosening Caleb Williams\u2019 training wheels as the season progressed. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Rams have played like the most dominant team in football for much of the 2025 campaign, which has resulted in a +10.1 points differential<\/a>, which is second only to the Seahawks and a tenth of a point better than the New England Patriots. <\/p>\n

Los Angeles\u2019 potent combination of elite and established quarterback play paired with big-game experience prove enough to overcome the Chicago cold and the Bears\u2019 best shot to shorten the game on the ground. <\/p>\n

Prediction: Rams<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Rams vs. Denver Broncos<\/p>\n

There is a haunting similarity between this Denver team and the 2015 squad that dragged Peyton Manning to a ring. <\/p>\n

That year, the defense didn’t just play well \u2026 they broke people. This 2025 unit, led by a front-seven that finished with an NFL-leading 64 sacks, is built to do the same to Matthew Stafford.<\/p>\n

Stafford guides the league\u2019s highest-scoring offensive attack, and the Rams boast a roster that finished second to the Patriots in EPA (Expected Points Added), backed by a defense that finished 10th in EPA. There\u2019s a veteran savviness to how the Rams win, just as there is explosive talent all over the roster. <\/p>\n

The Broncos, though, are built to drag teams into the mud. <\/p>\n

Sean Payton has the horses to play an elite game of keep away, especially if Nik Bonitto and the Broncos\u2019 front seven are as terrorizing in Santa Clara as they have been throughout the season. <\/p>\n

Denver\u2019s brand of football isn\u2019t flashy, it\u2019s not the “modern NFL” shootout the league wants, but it\u2019s how Denver hoists trophies. <\/p>\n

The defense remains the gold standard, and Bo Nix becomes the youngest QB to win a Super Bowl by simply staying out of the way of his own defensive line, and perhaps orchestrating a long drive for the ages to notch a seventh game-winning drive and 12th one-score win of the season.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Broncos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Predictions are a waste of bandwidth. At least, that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to tell myself, after my preseason…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[7,6,84],"class_list":{"0":"post-787896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-playoffs","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-nfl-playoffs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787896","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=787896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}