Both New Orleans and Los Angeles skated through the regular season with their prolific offenses. However, both teams began to show weaknesses in the final few games of the year. New Orleans Drew Brees-led offense showed holes and Jared Goff began to slump with six interceptions over the last few games. However, both teams clinched their bye weeks with 13-win seasons and will have an extra week to prepare for their playoff matchups.
Two teams that weren't expected to make the playoffs despite their storied history, dominated with an old-school run game and solid defense to surprise so-called "experts" by catching fire late and winning when it meant most to clinch their playoff spots.
Dallas won the NFC East Division with a 10-6 record following a 3-5 start to the season. They went on to win seven of their final eight games thanks in large part to a midseason trade for wide receiver Amari Cooper. Cooper's addition gave quarterback Dak Prescott a rejuvenated offense as Coopers scored five touchdowns in a three-game stretch during the team's winning streak.
Dropping to 0-2 after the first two games of the season in a projected rebuilding year with the losses of Richard Sherman, Michael Bennett, Kam Chancellor, Cliff Avril, Jimmy Graham, etc, Seattle managed to defy the odds and win 10 of their next 14 games.
Seattle topped the Cowboys in Dallas 24-13 in one of the Seahawks three-games that they lost by more than one score. Seattle's defense ranked in the top 10 with 26 takeaways.
Behind a banged up offensive line, Seattle still managed to lead the league with 160 yards per game on the ground behind running backs Chris Carson, Mike Davis and Rashaad Penny and Wilson has continued to use his mobility to lead Seattle in late-game drives.
Dallas' very similar offensive style with Pro-Bowl running back Ezekiel Elliott who led the league in rushing with 1,434 yards on the ground.
For Dallas, rookie linebacker Leighton Vander Esch has proved to be worth a first-round pick, becoming one of the Cowboys best defensive players. Dallas ranked 10th in the league in third-down conversions. Seattle ranks fifth in third-down conversion rate.
This isn't expected to be a shootout playoff matchup in any means. Two versatile quarterbacks going head-to-head with a hard-hitting run game and pressure defense will make it a close low-scoring game.
It's the defending Super Bowl Champions versus Khalil Mack and tenacious Bears defense.
It's an unlikely matchup as the Super Bowl Champion Eagles are the underdogs that barely squeaked into the playoffs and the Bears are a team that nobody wants to play, despite finishing last in the NFC North just one season ago.
With a new head coach in Matt Nagy, Chicago made a late offseason trade for Raiders Pro Bowl linebacker Khalil Mack and never looked back, ranking as the NFL's top overall defense and ranking third in the NFL in sacks. Offensively, second-year quarterback Mitch Trubisky has looked like a superstar in some games and average in others. Tarik Cohen has been Trubisky's number one offensive threat on the ground and in the air and the Bears shocked everyone with a dominant 12-4 season.
Philadelphia entered the season with high hopes following a 13-3 season that ended with Super Bowl Championship. Nick Foles led the Eagles to an improbable run last season after Carson Wentz tore his ACL. Wentz returned this year after Foles started the first two games and the Eagles continued to struggle with the losses of key players for a 6-7 record midway through the season. Then Wentz suffered another injury. That made way for Foles to lead the Eagles to win their final three games and clinch another playoff berth.
Foles will have the chance to guide the Eagles on another Cinderella Run once again. To do so, he'll have to beat a fifth-ranked Bears red zone defense. The Eagles scored on 68.8 percent of their red zone trips with Foles at the helm, but the Bears also led the league with 36 takeaways.
It's a battle of the experienced and inexperienced. On paper, the Bears are the better team. Chicago is also one of the youngest teams in the league. Philadelphia ranked last in the league in passing defense and the Bears have been one of the better teams in protecting their quarterback. There will be some big plays by the Bears defense, but there will still be plenty of offense in this one.
Kansas City had the best offense in the league behind likely MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but their defense is something to keep an eye on. For a short week, it looked like New England could be playing in their first wild-card game in almost a decade. Then, thanks to a Houston loss and two victories over Buffalo/New York, the Patriots clinched their ninth straight playoff bye week. Tom Brady has begun to look like his age, but we tend to say that every year. We'll take a deeper dive next week previewing these two teams.
It's an AFC South Divisional showdown between two teams that had fallen out of the playoff conversation through the first few weeks. Houston had promising hopes this season but began the season 0-3 before winning nine-straight games to take the AFC South title. Indianapolis began the season with a dismal 1-5 record, but Andrew Luck recaptured his former MVP-like play and the Colts won nine of their final 10 games.
Both teams are led by quarterbacks coming off potentially career-ending injuries and the offensive lines are vastly different protecting each one. Indianapolis has been unable to give Andrew Luck any protection prior to this season, partially leading to his shoulder injury, but this season the Colts were the only NFL team to allow fewer than 20 sacks. A large part of that is due to the impressive play by rookie tackle Quenton Nelson.
Houston, on the other hand, was the only team in the NFL to allow more than 60 sacks. Deshaun Watson hasn't looked as electric compared to his first few games as a rookie and has been taking a beating with Houston's struggling offensive line. Wide receiver Deandre Hopkins has been one of the league's best and MVP of this Houston offense.
Indianapolis has the weapons on offense with Luck playing some of his best football, Marlon Mack bringing a solid run game and TY Hilton is still a big factor when healthy. The offensive line also has the potential to stop the scary Houston defensive line duo of JJ Watt and Jadeveon Clowney.
The two times these two teams played earlier in the season, the road team won by three points. The first matchup was high scoring, but Watson's energy seemed depleted in the second matchup.
This game is a toss-up. Houston will need a big game from Watson, Hopkins and Miller and Indianapolis will need to tire out the Texans defense and hope TY Hilton is healthy enough to contribute.
Los Angeles and Baltimore met just two weeks ago and it was arguably the worst game of the season for the Chargers. Baltimore prevailed 22-10 behind their stout defense and a 204-yard passing game from Lamar Jackson.
Baltimore's season did a complete 180 once Jackson took over at QB for the then-injured Joe Flacco. Jackson kept the job once Flacco was healthy and led Baltimore to a 6-1 record. He threw for 1,200 yards and rushed for 695 yards. Rookie Gus Edwards improved Baltimore's run game with Alex Collins being put on the IR and the Ravens defense ranked in the top two behind the Bears in the second half of the season.
Los Angeles may be the #5 seed in the playoffs, but they're tied for the best record in the AFC thanks to a career-year from veteran quarterback Philip Rivers. The Chargers wide receiver trio of Keenan Allen, Tyrell Williams and Mike Williams have given LA a prolific offense in the air. Melvin Gordon leads the ground game but is still working his way back to form from a late-season injury.
The Chargers are balanced. They have the sixth-ranked scoring offense and eighth-ranked scoring defense led by defensive ends Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram and rookie safety Derwin James.
Baltimore will need Lamar Jackson to play like a veteran against a Chargers defense that plays a lot better on the road. Away from Los Angeles, the Chargers are 7-0. Their one road loss was at the Rams, which is still in LA.
Melvin Gordon was also out two weeks ago against Baltimore in a game where Rivers threw three interceptions. Both teams are very different in their playing styles and it'll come down to which team wants it most.