Wow! That’s really all I can say after an absolutely amazing weekend of football, wow! The NFL’s 2025-26 postseason got off to an amazing start last weekend. Let’s take a dive into this weekend’s games and make a prediction of who will win each game.
Buffalo Bills @ Denver Broncos (-1.5)
For Buffalo to win this game, they are going to have to run the ball better than they did last week against Jacksonville. Much like Jacksonville, which hadn’t allowed a single running back to eclipse 75-yards in a single game, the Broncos have held every opponent under the same total save for Jonathan Taylor in week 2 of this season.
The Bills are going to have to figure out a way to open some holes and control the clock. At the very least, to keep this game close so Allen will have a chance to win it in the 4th quarter. They are also going to need somebody other than Khalil Shakir to emerge as a viable downfield weapon.
Brandon Cooks has experience, but he drops a pass for every one he’s able to reel in, and both Tyrell Shavers and Gabe Davis have been lost to knee injuries. They are going to need somebody who can beat up on cornerback Riley Moss on the opposite side of Patrick Surtain. If Keon Coleman is ever going to be a thing, this is the week the Bills need it to happen.
The Broncos path to victory is fairly straightforward. They need Bo Nix to avoid making costly mistakes, and they need to play at a high level for all four quarters. While that may seem obvious, it’s not something they’ve been able to do for most of this season.
They’ve made slow starts part of their whole personality. You can go into halftime trailing Chris Oladokun and the Chiefs and not worry that the game will get away from you, but Josh Allen and the Bills are a different story. The dramatic comebacks were great, and they were able to do it against a quality opponent in the Eagles earlier in the season, but if they fall behind by multiple scores to Buffalo, Josh Allen is going to put them away.
I think this will be a close game, as the spread implies. Much like we saw last weekend, I expect the teams to begin the game conservatively as they feel each other out. If the game remains close, I believe that the Bills and their experience will prevail. At this point, they just seem like a team destined to get at least as far as the finals before falling apart. At the very least, this should be another 4th quarter that keeps us glued to our television screens, so be sure to hit the bathroom when they cut to commercial after the 3rd.
Bills 31 – Broncos 30
San Francisco 49ers @ Seattle Seahawks (-7.5)
For their part, the 49ers defense is going to have their hands full with the Seattle backfield of Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker, who combined for 171 yards on 33 carries the last time these two teams got together. In that game, Frisco lost Tatum Bethune to a torn groin muscle, thus ending his season.
After losing Fred Warner and Nick Bosa earlier in the season, the 49er defense could ill afford to lose another key contributor, yet here we are. If they are going to keep this game competitive, Robert Saleh is going to have to get creative with run blitzes and force Seattle into clear passing situations where Sam Darnold could potentially turn the ball over.
That’s easier said than done when they will also have to contend with covering the league’s best receiver, Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Seattle went from being the last team out in last year’s wild card hunt to being the overall #1 seed this year. It’s a big jump, and typically, I don’t trust teams that haven’t been here before. The script is set for them to advance to the conference finals if they can just beat this team that they just beat two weeks ago.
Seems easy enough, right? The key to victory for the Seahawks here is pretty simple. They just need to play clean and trust their talent. They are healthy on both sides of the ball and have an edge in all three phases of the game. The only way they lose this game is if the version of Sam Darnold that we’ve seen in past big games shows up.
That’s the version of a quarterback that tries to do too much and ends up making throws that he shouldn’t. At the end of the day, I think coach McDonald and his OC, Klint Kubiak, will script this game to the point where Darnold just needs to focus on the simple things like not fumbling the snap, and the rest will take care of itself.
I don’t think the Seahawks are good enough to win it all, but they’re good enough to win this game. It may end up being a little closer than it should, but in the end, Seattle will win this game at home.
Seahawks 27 – 49ers 23
Houston Texans @ New England Patriots (-3)
The Texans rode their defense through the regular season and straight through the hearts of the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night. Despite C.J. Stroud having his worst game of the season, which included 5 fumbles (2 lost) and an interception, Houston was able to beat the Steelers by over 3 touchdowns.
They are not going to win any more games this year if Stroud plays like that again. The interception he threw could have been an absolute killer since it ended a drive inside the Pittsburgh 20 with the Texans clinging to a 1-point lead.
Aaron Rodgers just didn’t have a chance to take advantage of those turnovers in this contest, as both Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter were playing “meet me at the quarterback” with each other all night long. The Texans don’t need to blitz to get to the quarterback, and if a team finds themselves in 3rd and long very often, they’re going to be in for a long day.
The brightest spot for Houston, aside from Christian Kirk doing his best Nico Collins impression, was the emergence of their running game. Woody Marks and Nick Chubb combined for 160 yards on 29 carries and a score. If this team is going to be able to average 5 yards per carry, they are going to be the odds-on favorites to win this whole stinking thing.
I think this game is going to be a somewhat easy win for Houston. They won’t come out and squash the Patriots at Gillette, but they are going to be able to score enough to play with a lead, and their defense will do the rest of the work from there.
I don’t expect CJ Stroud to turn the ball over multiple times, and Nico Collins should be able to clear the league’s concussion protocol to give the young Texan signal caller his full complement of weapons.
If Woody Marks and Nick Chubb can even give them half of what they did last week, it will be plenty enough for Houston to come away from this game with a victory.
Texans 23 – Patriots 16
Los Angeles Rams @ Chicago Bears (+3.5).
The Bears defense finished the season ranked 29th in the league in total defense, and they were actually a bit lower than that over the final 5 weeks of the campaign.
They struggle equally against the run and the pass as they were ranked in the bottom 5 of the league in rushing yards allowed, passing scores allowed, and the bottom 10 in points allowed. What their defense is good at is turning the ball over. If they are going to beat this Rams team, that’s exactly what they are going to need to do to get that done.
I think this game is going to be a lot of fun to watch. The weather forecast is calling for a chance of some snow, which always makes these games fun.
The wind will be blowing, as always, which should make the kicking games a bit dicey. That isn’t something that either team shouldn’t be used to by now, so in the end it will come down to which team will be able to score more touchdowns.
I love Ben Johnson, and I think he is going to be one of the best head coaches in this league for years to come, but he isn’t going to get away with going for it on every 4th down from everywhere on the field and not making it against Matthew Stafford and Co.
I think the game will be close, but in the end, I’ll take Stafford with Puka Nacua and Davante Adams to outlast this young Bears group in what should be a high-scoring affair.
Rams 34 – Bears 30
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