Here in New England, it’s been a rough NFL season. As the calendar turns to January, I think many Pats fans are hungry to tune in to some higher quality football, and this year’s NFL playoffs should absolutely bring that. This may be the strongest playoff field in years. It includes 4 teams with 14+ wins and not a single team with less than 10. However, which team will prevail over the rest? Will the Chiefs complete a three-peat? (I don’t think anyone is rooting for that). Will the Lions win their first title in a historic season for the franchise? Could Saquon Barkley add a ring to his 2,000 yard season? What about Josh Allen’s Bills, or Lamar Jackson’s Ravens? Could Kevin O’Connell put the cherry on top of a likely Coach of the Year winning season? There’s so many great squads, but only one can prevail. Keep reading to see how I see it going down.

Wild Card Weekend

AFC

#5 LA Chargers at #4 Houston Texans

Chargers, 31, Texans, 30

This will certainly be a close one. Despite the losses of WRs Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell to injury, QB C.J. Stroud has plenty of weapons to lean on. Stroud hasn’t exactly lived up to the level of performance he was at as a rookie though. I have his sophomore slump ending here with a playoff loss, as QB Justin Herbert outplays him and Jim Harbaugh coaches a great game.

#6 Pittsburgh Steelers at #3 Baltimore Ravens

Ravens, 16, Steelers, 14

This is a battle of two amazing defenses. However, the Steelers have lost four games in a row while the Ravens have won in those same four weeks. I trust the Ravens to close out this game successfully, especially since I’d take QB Lamar Jackson and RB Derrick Henry in a late game situation over anyone on the Steelers offense.

#7 Denver Broncos at #2 Buffalo Bills

Bills, 34, Broncos, 16

This one will not be close. The Broncos have strung together a strong season, but I simply feel they’ll be outclassed here. QB Bo Nix has a bright future, but he’s no match for QB Josh Allen yet. In their first playoff appearance in 9 years, I don’t think Denver has a chance to dethrone a perennial playoff team that’s won 5 consecutive division titles. Experience will reign superior here.

NFC

#7 Green Bay Packers at #2 Philadelphia Eagles

Eagles, 28, Packers, 13

The Packers were right in the mix for most of the season, but their inability to beat the best of the best has been telling. Of their 6 losses, 5 were to the Eagles, Vikings, and Lions. Especially with QB Jordan Love and WR Christian Watson banged up, I see it as pretty likely this will be #6. The Packers are a solid team, but they’re no match for the elite tier of the NFC.

#6 Washington Commanders at #3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Buccaneers, 33, Commanders, 27 (OT)

As he has in most games this season, QB Jayden Daniels should make this a game. However, while he may not be the league’s best quarterback, Bucs QB Baker Mayfield has the tools in Tampa Bay to win in most situations. I think he gets it done here in dramatic overtime fashion.

#5 Minnesota Vikings at #4 Los Angeles Rams

Rams, 34, Vikings, 31

The Vikings may have won 14 games this season, but they did not look too great on Sunday night at Detroit. To add to it, they already lost a game to the Rams earlier in the regular season. I think they’ll put up a fight here, but this Rams offense has shown flashes of elite talent, and I think it will pay off in this one. Led by QB Matthew Stafford, RB Kyren Williams, and WRs Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp, the Rams have the pieces to outplay this Vikings defense. The Rams are going to make a statement in these playoffs.

Divisional Round

AFC

#5 Los Angeles Chargers at #1 Kansas City Chiefs

Chiefs, 27, Chargers, 20

The Chargers have made a lot of improvements this season. One thing they haven’t been able to do is beat their divisional rival over in Kansas City, and I don’t really expect that to change. The Chiefs have won a pair of tight defensive battles over these Chargers this season. I expect this one to be a little higher scoring, but with the team at full health, QB Patrick Mahomes has a deeper arsenal of weapons around him than QB Justin Herbert does.

#3 Baltimore Ravens at #2 Buffalo Bills

Ravens, 34, Bills, 23

The last time these two teams played, this wasn’t even close. I do expect a more competitive effort on the Bills’ part this time, especially offensively. However, this Ravens D matches up really well with Buffalo. A Bills skill player group that’s centered around a RB (James Cook) and a TE (Dalton Kincaid) will lead to a field day for a strong Ravens LB corps headlined by Roquan Smith.

NFC

#4 Los Angeles Rams at #1 Detroit Lions

Lions, 31, Rams, 30

Don’t sleep on the Rams here, they always seem to make things close against Detroit. This rivalry is somewhat fueled by the QB swap a few years back of QB Matthew Stafford and QB Jared Goff. Stafford had his time to shine when he led the Rams to a Super Bowl. This time around, I have Goff leading a stacked Lions offense to victory in a close one.

#3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers at #2 Philadelphia Eagles

Eagles, 21, Buccaneers, 9

The Eagles defense is top 10 in both passing and rushing. The Bucs have some nice pieces on offense, but it takes elite level talent to get through Vic Fangio’s defensive schemes. Outside of WR Mike Evans, it’s hard to say the Bucs have that, and he’ll be locked up by one of Quinyon Mitchell or Darius Slay.

AFC Championship

#3 Baltimore Ravens at #1 Kansas City Chiefs

Ravens, 33, Chiefs, 30

This matchup came down to the wire in Week 1, and I expect the same here. However, the Ravens offense has really picked things up in recent weeks, scoring more than 30 points in each of the final four regular season games. That’s a feat the Chiefs have been unable to accomplish all season. The Chiefs defense will take them far, but their lack of offense will shut them down here.

NFC Championship

#2 Philadelphia Eagles at #1 Detroit Lions

Eagles, 34, Lions, 30

This will be a fun game. Two of the season-long juggernauts of the NFC, facing off for the first time all year. The Lions have played some pretty strong complimentary football throughout the season. However, I think their defensive injuries will catch up to them in this one, as QB Jalen Hurts and WR A.J. Brown combine to school the Lions secondary. QB Jared Goff and the Lions offense should make this close, but they’ll fall just short here.

Super Bowl LIX

#3 (AFC) Baltimore Ravens vs. #2 (NFC) Philadelphia Eagles

Eagles, 28, Ravens, 20

This Super Bowl would be the perfect conclusion to what I like to call “year of the running back”. This year we saw Eagles RB Saquon Barkley become the ninth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. We saw Ravens RB Derrick Henry become the first player in NFL history to rush for 1,900 and still not win the rushing title. Both of them were signed to long term deals this past offseason despite many saying that running backs don’t matter, and both those deals have paid off big time.

The game itself may not be the Barkley-Henry battle many fans expect though, as both of these teams also have elite run defenses. That will force QBs Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson to duke it out in the passing game. While I think Jackson is the better QB, Hurts will get some help from his receivers and a flawed Ravens secondary to win the Eagles their second Super Bowl in the last decade.

Full Bracket

My predictions would lead to the following bracket:

Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment with your thoughts.