NFL playoff predictions: can anyone derail the Kansas City Chiefs’ three-peat bid?
Team that will be missed most in the playoffs
Cincinnati Bengals. This is the obvious answer, because it’s a shame when the team with one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks (Joe Burrow), the receiving Triple Crown winner (Ja’Marr Chase) and the NFL’s sack leader (Trey Hendrickson) looking from the outside. Plus, it would certainly be fun to see opponents torch the Bengals’ questionable defense. As things stand now, we’ll have to wait until next season to know if a defensive overhaul (including the firing of defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo) will bear any fruit. Doug Farrar
Cincinnati Bengals. Burrow delivered an MVP-caliber season and Chase earned the rare triple crown of receivedbut the Bengals’ five-game win streak to end the regular season wasn’t enough to erase their 4-8 start, inconsistent play on both lines and a dismal 4-7 record in one-score games. Bryan Armen Graham
Cincinnati Bengals. I’m still salivating at the idea of a Bengals-Bills wild card showdown that will never happen. Thank you very much, Kansas City. Whether intentional or not, the entire AFC owes Andy Reid some new Hawaiian shirts. The Bengals finished the season on fire with five straight wins. Denver is a nice addition, but let’s be honest: Burrow and Chase would draw significantly more interest. New rule proposal: A team with the best wideout in football and proves it by winning the Triple Crown gets a free pass to the postseason. Melissa Jacobs
Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks deserved better than their season ending after winning six of eight games. It means Geno Smith, the NFL’s perennially most improved franchise QB, will be denied the opportunity to get revenge on the second-seeded Vikings after falling three points short against them last month. Instead, his future will hang in the balance as the Seahawks consider their new direction under new coach Mike Macdonald – who just let go of Smith’s coordinator. AL
High ranking team is at risk of going out early
Kansas City Chiefs. It’s generally a bad idea to bet against Andy Reid, Steve Spagnuolo and Patrick Mahomes when the playoffs come around. But this year’s Chiefs have had so many wins with spading and baling wire, and you never know how durable it will be, even if they set records with it. The Chiefs’ mediocre passing game has had a mild rebirth with the debut of receiver Hollywood Brown in Week 16, and Spags will always find a way to get it done, but the margins for error are very narrow this time. D.F
Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Despite their offensive prowess, the third-seeded Bucs have a defense that has shown vulnerabilities, especially against mobile quarterbacks like Washington’s Jayden Daniels. On the AFC side, the second-seeded Bills appear headed for a terribly tough divisional round clash with the Ravens. BAG
Kansas City Chiefs. How much fairy dust is left for the two-time defending Super Bowl champions? They are the new Patriots in the sense that you should never count them out in the postseason, especially when there is home field advantage. But this team has serious problems with its rotation at offensive tackles; keeping Joe Thuney at LT will undermine their interior line. There are a lot of AFC playoff teams that could expose this weakness, especially with this current version of Mahomes and his less than spectacular arsenal. MJ
Kansas City Chiefs. It’s been a strange year for the Chiefs. They were so far out of form, and yet they kept piling up wins. Still, their huge loss to the Broncos in the season finale shows how vulnerable they could be if they lost even one of their stars – Mahomes, not least. AL
Long odds of winning
Green Bay Packers. The 11-6 Packers finished third in the NFC North behind the Lions and the Vikings, which puts them on the outside looking in from a popular perspective, and it doesn’t help that they start their playoff run by moving to 14-3 to travel to Philadelphia. . But it’s important to note that since Matt LaFleur’s offense really focused on running back Josh Jacobs, that offense grew out of eighth to second in DVOA (opponent-adjusted efficiency). Additionally, Green Bay’s defense, led by first-year coordinator Jeff Hafley, has seen a similar DVOA increase since Week 10, from 14th to fifth. You never know when the right wild-card team will surprise, but it’s generally the one with the hot hand at that point, and the seventh-seeded Packers do qualify at this point. D.F
Minnesota Vikings or Green Bay Packers. How good was the NFC North this year? The Lions, Vikings and Packers finished with a combined record of 34-5 against the other 29 NFL teams. That means the No. 5 and No. 7 seeds on the NFC side, who almost always rotate as well, have much more plausible expectations for the Super Bowl than in normal years. BAG
Los Angeles Chargers. Who has it better than the Chargers? Nobody. Jim Harbaugh transformed a team that went 5-12 in 2023 into an impressive 11-6 contender. Sure, there are better all-around teams and even quarterbacks in these playoffs, but Harbaugh’s magic is real. In his four years leading San Francisco, the 49ers went to three conference championships and one Super Bowl. The Chargers’ defense needs a boost; perhaps an ideal opening round against the Texans will do the trick. But aside from all the weaknesses, including an inconsistent offense, there is something ruthless and intimidating about a Harbaugh-led team in the postseason. MJ
Washington commanders. Rookie QB Jayden Daniels has made everything possible in Washington, harking back to the golden days when RGIII had football fans in the Beltway and dreams of another Lombardi Trophy. But where Robert Griffin played the role of a man tempting fate, Daniels is the epitome of control: unflappable and unsurprised by the pressure that overwhelms him. His talent for this moment, combined with his experienced teammates and a Super Bowl-caliber head coach in Dan Quinn, will take these reborn commanders further than expected. AL
Most important player this postseason
Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore Ravens. The 28-year-old could do more to build on his legacy in this postseason than any other player, as Jackson’s playoff performance was less than great overall. But this is also a different Lamar. He’s always been extremely athletic and he’s been a much better pocket passer than people think, but this season — his second under offensive coordinator Todd Monken — Jackson has risen to the rare status of the opponent-proof quarterback who can burn any defense no matter what. it throws at him. Now is the time to prove it once and for all. D.F
Jared Goff, QB, Detroit Lions. The average football fan is not conditioned to take the Lions seriously their bleak history goes back many decades, but this Detroit team is the current Super Bowl favorites on merit and their gifted signal caller is one of the biggest reasons why. After suffering one injury after another to secure the NFC’s top spot, the Lions will rely on Goff’s decision-making, experience and knowledge as they attempt to win their first ever Super Bowl and first NFL title game in 67 years to achieve. BAG
Sam Darnold, QB, Minnesota Vikings. The clock struck midnight and then a little with Darnold’s stench from a game against the Lions on Sunday night. This version of Darnold was nervous and failed all the time. One more of those and the Vikings’ season will be over and Darnold will likely be looking for yet another team. But a rebound game would say a lot about Darnold’s resilience and potentially cement his future in Minnesota. MJ
Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City Chiefs. Where he goes, the three-peat goes too. AL
AFC Championship Game
Ravens over Chiefs. D.F
Raven about chargers. BAG
Bills via chargers. MJ
Leaders over bills. AL
NFC Championship Game
Lions above eagles. D.F
Eagles over Vikings. BAG
Lions above eagles. MJ
Lions over commanders. AL
Your Super Bowl Champion will be…
Ravens over lions. If the Lions were even remotely healthy on defense, I could reverse this result. But as much as Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has done to alleviate his personnel shortages this season (and he’s done a tremendous job), it’s hard for me to imagine the combination of Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry not giving the Lions a few points will yield. more bruises than they can handle. All it takes for a defense to lose to Baltimore’s offense is for one guy to take the wrong angle, and things tend to snowball from there. D.F
Eagles above ravens. Just twelve months after the wildest pre-season unraveling in NFL history, Philadelphia will reach their second Super Bowl in three years behind a defense that has been completely reinvented under Vic Fangio. The first Eagles team to rank No. 1 in total defense since then Bud Carson’s seminal 1991 examplethey are young, fast and athletic at all three levels, with a chemistry and togetherness that seems to be improving from week to week. And that’s before you run an offense powered by the star wideout tandem of AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith, plus an imposing ground attack led by 2,000-yard rusher Saquon Barkley and the The NFL’s best offensive line. Fangio and company made Baltimore’s vaunted offense look mediocre when they met in December and they’ll do it again when they reverse their I-95 showdown in the Big Easy. BAG
Bills over lions. Come on, who doesn’t want a Buffalo-Detroit Super Bowl? This has the makings of a classic, but the Bills will prevail thanks to the presumptive NFL MVP. I’m not sure how Detroit can defensively neutralize Josh Allen, who is playing in a different stratosphere this season. The Lions’ send-the-house approach, which upset Sam Darnold in Week 18, won’t work with Allen. Buffalo’s defense has had issues all season and containing Sonic (Jahmyr Gibbs) and Boom (David Montgomery) will be a tall order. But the defense needs to back up the third-down plays a bit and let Allen do his thing. MJ
Lions over leaders. In the battle between hyped juggernauts, Detroit takes on the two-time reigning champions and brings glory to a long-suffering fan base. Ben Johnson’s relentless offensive scheme proves so overwhelming that head coach Dan Campbell gambles on just fourth down to run up the score, paving the way for Jared Goff’s Super Bowl MVP redemption. It shows that the Lions’ narrow win over the Chiefs in Week 1 of the 2023 season was no fluke, but also heralds the brain drain to come as Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn are snapped up for head coaching jobs amid the falling confetti. . It’s a shining moment for a city under siege, but — like their neighbor across Lake Michigan in the early 1980s — ultimately victorious. AL