The NFL playoffs will begin Saturday, Jan. 10 with the first two wild-card round games. But before we get there, we still have to finalize the 14-team field and seedings.
Heading into Week 18, there are two open spots (one in each conference), uncertainty for both the AFC and NFC 1-seeds, and a few division titles out there for the taking. We won’t know the complete NFL playoff bracket until late Sunday night, once the Ravens-Steelers game is complete; the winner takes the AFC North, while the loser misses the postseason entirely.
Wild-card weekend will feature games on Jan. 10, 11 and 12. Games in the divisional round will be on Jan. 17 and 18. The conference title matchups will be on Jan. 25. Super Bowl LX will be played Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
Here is what we know about the AFC and NFC brackets. The wild-card schedule will be announced during Week 18. Below is the projected bracket for both conferences using simulations from ESPN’s Football Power Index.
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Projections | Clinching scenarios
Projected NFC bracket
(7) Green Bay Packers at (2) Chicago Bears
(6) Los Angeles Rams at (3) Philadelphia Eagles
(5) Seattle Seahawks at (4) Carolina Panthers/Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Bye: (1) San Francisco 49ers
Projected AFC bracket
(7) Los Angeles Chargers at (2) New England Patriots
(6) Buffalo Bills at (3) Jacksonville Jaguars
(5) Houston Texans at (4) Baltimore Ravens/Pittsburgh Steelers
Bye: (1) Denver Broncos
Two divisional round games will be Saturday, and two will be Sunday.
The 1-seeds in both conferences will play their first playoff games during the divisional round.