With Week 18 of the 2023-2024 NFL season being in the books, this year’s playoff matchups are set. 

The playoff format goes as follows: Wild Cards (January 13th-15th), Divisional Rounds (January 20th-21st), Conference Championships (January 28th) , and then the Super Bowl (February 11th). Every single team in this year’s playoffs has their own interesting story. 

Starting at the top of the AFC, the Baltimore Ravens clinched the first seed. They finished with an impressive 13-4 record as well as winning 7 out of 8 road games. They were led by Lamar Jackson, who had a great season, even being one of the favorites for MVP. As they are first in the AFC, they will not have to play in the first round (Wild Card Weekend). The second seed in the AFC is the Buffalo Bills. They had an up and down year but finished strong, winning 6 out of 7 games to close out the year. On January 14th, they will face the 7th seed Pittsburgh Steelers. At one point, the Steelers were 7-7 and their hopes to make the playoffs were dwindling down. However, they would win their final 3 regular season games to finish 10-7, giving them the last playoff spot in the AFC. Although the Bills are heavily favored, the Steelers are a very gritty team who can upset any team at any time. 

The third seed in the AFC is the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs are the reigning Super Bowl Champions, but have had a rather disappointing season. Their offense has looked much worse than it has in the past few years, however they are still a championship contender. They will face off on Wild Card Weekend against the 6th seeded Miami Dolphins. The Miami Dolphins had an extremely high-flying offense throughout the year. Their skill position players are easily the fastest in the league. However, this season they are an abysmal 1-5 against teams with winning records. The Chiefs vs Dolphins Wild Card matchup should nevertheless be an exciting game. The final AFC Wild Card matchup is the Houston Texans up against the Cleveland Browns. The Texans have had a remarkable season. Last season, they were a bottom-two team. However, this past year, they drafted quarterback C.J Stroud. The second overall pick has completely changed the team. As for the Browns, they had the best defense in the entire NFL this season. They had some struggles offensively, but newly signed quarterback Joe Flacco has helped lead the offensive. The Texans and Browns game will be interesting, as we will see a rookie quarterback face the best defense in the NFL. 

At the top of the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers have clinched the number one spot giving them a “bye” in the first round of the playoffs. Throughout the season the 49ers have been extremely impressive. They are extremely star-studded on both ends of the ball and are going to be a nightmare for whichever team they play in the Divisional Round. The second seed in the NFC is the Dallas Cowboys, who will face off against the 7th seed Green Bay Packers on Wild Card Weekend. The Dallas Cowboys have had a great season and are another team that is great on both ends of the ball. They are led by quarterback Dak Prescott, who had an MVP-caliber season. As for the Packers, they have had a better season than expected. This was their first season in a little over a decade without star quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Despite no Rodgers, the Packers still played great football. Led by Jordan Love in his first season starting, the Packers went 9-8 slipping into the last spot in the NFC. Even though the Cowboys are heavily favored to win the game, do not count the Packers out.

Andrew Tropp 26’, a huge Cowboys fan says “I am so nervous, I feel confident that the Cowboys will win and make a deep playoff run. Nevertheless, it should be a great game.”

The third seed in the NFC is the Detroit Lions. The Detroit Lions have had an incredible season, and they also have an incredible story. The Detroit Lions have not appeared in the playoffs since 2016 and have not won an actual playoff game since 1991. A playoff win for the Lions is long overdue. Led by quarterback Jared Goff, the Lions finished with a 12-5 record. However, they will play the 6th seeded Los Angeles Rams in the first round. The story behind this matchup is that Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford played his first 12 seasons with the Lions before being traded to the Rams in exchange for Jared Goff. Both quarterbacks are playing against their old teams, giving them lots of motivation to win. The Rams were the Super Bowl champions of the 2021-2022 season. Although this was a few years ago, they still have key players who were on that same team including Stafford, Aaron Donald, and Cooper Kupp. This game will most definitely be an exciting one. The last NFC matchup of Wild Card weekend is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against the Philadelphia Eagles. This game should be very interesting to watch solely because it could easily go either way. The Philadelphia Eagles are seen as the better team by most people, but they struggled at the end of the regular season, losing 5 out their last 6 games. They are also dealing with injuries, as star quarterback Jalen Hurts has an injured finger, and wide receiver DeVonta Smith is dealing with an ankle injury. Despite all this, they are still seen as the better overall team, as they finished with two more wins than the Buccaneers. The Buccaneers are led by quarterback Baker Mayfield. This is his first year with the franchise, yet he still has played extremely well. They have also had their struggles throughout the season, however. Another thing to note is that these two teams played each other in week 3 of the regular season. The Eagles won that matchup by several scores. 

In short, this year’s playoffs are expected to be very good. All these teams are very good and any game can go either way for either team.