The road to Super Bowl LVII is much shorter now as the National Football League (NFL) playoffs are set to kick off this Saturday, January 14th. A total of 14 teams will battle it out in the postseason in hopes of booking their ticket to the championship game at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on February 12th. Last year’s Super Bowl champions, the Los Angeles Rams, won’t have a chance to defend their title unfortunately, as they failed to make the postseason.
The four division winners and three wild cards teams in both the NFC and AFC Conference reached the playoffs to make up the 14 participants. The division winner with the best regular-season record in each conference receives a first-round playoff bye, which means the Kansas City Chiefs (AFC) and Philadelphia Eagles (NFC) get to relax during the opening weekend.
For the first time since 1999 all three of the NFL’s Florida franchises, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Miami Dolphins, and Jacksonville Jaguars reached the postseason and for the first time since 2000 the playoffs won’t feature either the Pittsburgh Steelers or New England Patriots.
This season’s playoff matchups start with the Seattle Seahawks visiting the San Francisco 49ers in an NFC clash on January 14th with the Los Angeles Chargers visiting the Jacksonville Jaguars in an AFC showdown the same day.
On January 15, the Buffalo Bills host the Miami Dolphins and the Baltimore Ravens visit the Cincinnati Bengals in AFC showdowns while the New York Giants visit the Minnesota Vikings in an NFC battle. There’s then another NFC duel on January 16th when the Dallas Cowboys head to Florida to meet the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In each conference, the four division winners are seeded from 1 to 4 based on their regular-season record with the wild card squads being seeded 5 to 7. There is no fixed-bracket postseason system in the NFL which means clubs from the same division could potentially face each other in any of the rounds.
In the first round, the 2nd seed hosts the 7th seed, the 3rd seed hosts the 6th seed and the 4th seed hosts the 5th seed as the top-seeded side gets the bye. During the second round, January 21/22, the top seed enters the fray and hosts the lowest surviving seed after the first round of games. The other winners play each other with the higher-seeded clubs playing at home. These games lead to the NFC and AFC Conference Championships on January 29th with the higher-seeded team playing at home again. The Conference Champions then battle it out in the Super Bowl on February 12th.
Please be aware that if the AFC Championship Game sees the Kansas City Chiefs meeting the Buffalo Bills, the game will take place at a neutral site which has yet to be determined.
The 2022-23 AFC seeds are as follows: 1-Kansas City Chiefs (West Division Champion) 2- Buffalo Bills (East Division Champion) 3-Cincinnati Bengals (North Division Champion) 4-Jacksonville Jaguars (South Division Champion) 5-Los Angeles Chargers (wild card) 6-Baltimore Ravens (wild card) 7-Miami Dolphins (wild card)
The NFC seeds are: 1-Philadelphia Eagles (East Division Champion) 2-San Francisco 49ers (West Division Champion) 3-Minnesota Vikings (North Division Champion) 4-Tampa Bay Buccaneers (South Division Champion) 5-Dallas Cowboys (wild card) 6-New York Giants (wild card) 7-Seattle Seahawks (wild card)
NFC: Seattle Seahawks vs San Francisco 49ers
These teams have met once before in the playoffs with Seattle winning the 2013 NFC Championship game 23-17. San Francisco won both meetings this season as they earned a 27-7 victory at home in Week 2 and a 21-13 decision on the road in Week 15.
AFC: Los Angeles Chargers vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
This is the first time the clubs are meeting in the playoffs. The sides met in the regular season in Week 3, with the Jaguars winning 38-10 on the road.
AFC: Miami Dolphins vs. Buffalo Bills
These clubs have met four times previously in the playoffs with the last time being a 1998 AFC Wild Card Game which saw Miami win 24-17. However, Buffalo won the other three meetings. The sides met twice this season with Miami winning 21-19 at home in Week 3 and Buffalo winning 32-29 at home in Week 15.
NFC: New York Giants vs. Minnesota Vikings
These sides have met three times before in postseason play with the Giants holding a 2-1 edge. They blew the Vikings away 41-0 in the 2000 NFC Championship in the last meeting. They met once this year with Minnesota winning 27-24 at home.
AFC: Baltimore Ravens vs. Cincinnati Bengals
These two teams have never met before in the playoffs and they split this year’s regular-season series as Baltimore were 19-17 winners at home in Week 5 while the Bengals won 27-16 at home in Week 18.
NFC: Dallas Cowboys vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
This will be the third postseason game between the teams with Dallas winning both previous outings. The last contest saw them win 30-17 in the 1982 NFC Wild Card Game. They met this season in Week 1 with Tampa winning 19-3 on the road. Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady has never lost in his NFL career to Dallas.
As far as winning Super Bowls is concerned, the San Francisco 49ers enter this year’s playoffs as the most successful participant with a 5-2 record in Super Bowl contests. The Dallas Cowboys are 5-3; the New York Giants are 4-1; the Miami Dolphins are 2-3; the Kansas City Chiefs are 2-2; the Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are both 2-0; the Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles are both 1-2; the Los Angeles Chargers franchise is 0-1; the Cincinnati Bengals are 0-3 while the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills are both 0-4 and the Jacksonville Jaguars have yet to reach a Super Bowl.
The oddsmakers at bet365 have listed the Kansas City Chiefs as the current favorites to lift this year’s Super Bowl at +340 followed by Buffalo at +400, Philadelphia at +500, San Francisco at +550, Cincinnati at +750, Dallas at +1200, the Los Angeles Chargers at +2200, Tampa Bay at +2500, Minnesota at +3000, Baltimore at +3500, Jacksonville at +4500, the New York Giants at +5000 with Seattle and Miami both at +8000 as the longest shots.
Remember, you can also wager on each individual NFL playoff game as well as partake in live betting while the action takes place. There are also many other popular bets during the playoffs such as the conference winners, the playoff MVP and the division of the Super Bowl winner etc.
