The NFL’s Wild Card Weekend matchups are set. They follow a handful of important games on Sunday, Jan. 5 –– the last Sunday of the regular season.
The playoffs start with a pair of AFC games. The first features the Los Angeles Chargers, who clinched three straight games down the stretch, visiting the winners of the AFC South division, the Houston Texans. The two teams haven’t met since the 2022 season. The game airs Saturday, Jan. 11, at 4:30 p.m. EST on CBS.
The Saturday night matchup will kick off at 8 p.m. EST on Amazon Prime and features an AFC North battle between the division-winning Baltimore Ravens, with a 12-5 record, and the rival Pittsburgh Steelers, who finished 10-7. The teams split their two meetings during the regular season.
The NFL celebrates Wild Card Sunday with a triple-header beginning at 1 p.m. EST in Buffalo between the AFC East champion Bills, with a 13-4 record, and the Denver Broncos, who started the season 1-4. The Broncos made it into the playoffs after a blowout win over Kansas City on Sunday, taking advantage of the Chiefs, who were resting their starters.
Broncos quarterback Bo Nix was asked about the season coming down to the final game.
“It’s fun to clinch a playoff spot on the last day of the year against a divisional team,” Nix said. “It’s a great story, but now it’s playoff time and our goal wasn’t just to make the playoffs –– even though it hadn’t been done for a while –– it’s for a lot more than that.”
The middle game on Sunday is at 4:30 p.m. EST on Fox and will be played in Philadelphia, where the NFC East champion Eagles will welcome the 11-6 Green Bay Packers. The teams faced off four months ago during the first game of the season in Brazil, of all places. The Eagles won that meeting, 34-29.
The final game on Wild Card Sunday is on NBC at 8 p.m. EST. The Washington Commanders, who finished with 12 wins for the first time in 34 years, will be in Tampa to take on the NFC South champion Buccaneers.
The Bucs needed a comeback win Sunday over the New Orleans Saints to make it into the postseason. “It’s win or go on vacation, and nobody here wanted to go on vacation,” said Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield. “This is a tough group, and we knew it was going to be a scrappy ballgame.”
Finally, Wild Card Weekend wraps up at 8 p.m. EST on Monday, Jan. 13, with a showdown in Los Angeles on ABC. The Minnesota Vikings were the first team to finish with 14 wins during a season without winning a division title. They’ll face off against a Rams squad that won a tiebreaker over the Seattle Seahawks to take the NFC West and make it into the playoffs.
The playoffs’ No. 1 seeds, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions, are favorites to meet in the Super Bowl. They’ll both have a week of rest to prepare for the Wild Card survivors.
