Analysis of the weekend’s heated NFL divisional round battles
Chris Bumbaka and Prince Grimes take a look at the matchups and storylines from the NFL divisional playoff rounds.
Wild Card Weekend: 6 teams eliminated from NFL Playoffs. The divisional round will see further reductions as the remaining eight teams will be reduced to just four after the weekend.
The divisional round will be the first time each conference’s No. 1 seeds will play in the postseason. The Denver Broncos are looking to silence Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, while the Seattle Seahawks are hoping for a similar result to their Week 18 game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Throughout the season, the competition has looked wide open on both sides of the bracket, and that continues for the remaining eight teams. The Chicago Bears vs. Los Angeles Rams matchup in the NFC will be the most anticipated of the four games, while the Houston Texans will look to upset the seeding for the second year in a row and play spoiler in the AFC side of the bracket.
Here’s what you need to know about the NFL’s divisional round schedule and how the league’s playoff bracket works.
What are the NFL playoff games this weekend?
Four NFL playoff games will be played as the league’s postseason slot advances to the divisional round. According to the conference, they are:
AFC division round match
NFC Division Round Game
NFL division round playoff schedule
The NFL’s Divisional Round games are played on both Saturday and Sunday. Two games will be played each day, starting with the Broncos vs. Bills game on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET.
There will be no “Monday Night Football” games played during the divisional round of the playoffs. The league’s “MNF” schedule ended with the Texans defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-6 in the Wild Card Round.
Below is the complete NFL divisional weekend schedule.
Saturday NFL Playoff Game
- Denver Broncos vs. Buffalo Bills: CBS 4:30 p.m.
- Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers: 8 p.m. on Fox
Sunday’s NFL playoff game
- New England Patriots vs. Houston Texans: 3 p.m. on ESPN/ABC
- Chicago Bears vs. Los Angeles Rams: 6:30 p.m. on NBC/Peacock
Updated NFL playoff bracket
The remaining eight teams in the NFL playoffs will all play in the divisional round. The only two teams yet to play heading into Saturday’s game are the top-seeded Broncos and Seahawks, who earned wild-card weekend byes with the best records in their respective conferences.
Here is the complete bracket for the NFL playoffs.
AFC playoff bracket
- 1st place Denver Broncos vs. 6th place Buffalo Bills
- 2nd place New England Patriots vs. 5th place Houston Texans
NFC playoff bracket
- 1st place Seattle Seahawks vs. 6th place San Francisco 49ers
- 2nd place Chicago Bears vs. 5th place Los Angeles Rams
How does the NFL playoff bracket work?
The NFL’s playoff spots are constantly changing, unlike the static format common in other leagues. This means that seeding will play an important role in future matchups. Based on seeding, the top-seeded Broncos and Seahawks will face the worst remaining team in the conference in the divisional round.
Denver and Seattle will also retain home-field advantage throughout their respective brackets as long as they remain in the playoffs. If either team loses, the best remaining team based on seeding will receive home field advantage.
The No. 1 seed in each conference will receive a bye to the divisional round of the postseason, and the remaining six teams in each conference will play in the wild-card round.
The AFC’s top-seeded Broncos tied their matchup with the 6th-seeded Bills, and the NFC’s top-seeded Seahawks tied their matchup with the 6th-seeded 49ers.
The winners of the divisional round games will meet in their respective conference championship games to determine which team advances to the Super Bowl.
When will the divisional round winners learn their opponents?
The NFL’s conference championship game brackets will be determined by Sunday night after the league’s divisional rounds. The Bears vs. Rams game will be the final contest to end, but once the results are finalized, there will be two teams left in each conference.
Saturday’s winner will know two potential championship game opponents entering Sunday’s game thanks to a fixed bracket. There aren’t many scenarios like a wild card weekend. The winning team simply plays the rest of the conference.
Full schedule of NFL playoffs
The NFL Playoffs begin Saturday, Jan. 10, during the league’s Wild Card Weekend and conclude on Feb. 8 with Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara.
The schedule and scores so far are as follows.
wild card round
always east
Saturday, January 10th
- 5th place Los Angeles Rams 34 in 4th place Carolina Panthers 31
- 2nd place Chicago Bears 31 vs. 7th Green Bay Packers 27
Sunday, January 11th
- 6th place Buffalo Bills 27 3rd place Jacksonville Jaguars 24
- 6th place San Francisco 49ers 23 3rd place Philadelphia Eagles 19
- 2nd place New England Patriots 16 vs. 7th place Los Angeles Chargers 3
Monday, January 12th
- 5th place Houston Texans 30 4th place Pittsburgh Steelers 6
division round
Saturday, January 17th
- 1st place Denver Broncos vs. 6th place Buffalo Bills: CBS 4:30 p.m.
- 1st place Seattle Seahawks vs. 6th place San Francisco 49ers: 8 p.m. on Fox
Sunday, January 18th
- 2nd place New England Patriots vs. 5th place Houston Texans: 3 p.m. on ESPN/ABC
- 2nd place Chicago Bears vs. 5th place Los Angeles Rams: 6:30 p.m. on NBC/Peacock
NFL Conference Championship Round
Sunday, January 25th
- AFC Championship Game: 3pm
- NFC Championship Game: 6:30 p.m.
60th super bowl
- time: 6:30 p.m.
- tv set: NBC
- date: February 8, 2026
- position: Levi’s Stadium (Santa Clara, California)
