The 2018 NFL regular season is officially a wrap, and the 2019 playoffs are upon us. For San Francisco 49ers fans, the pre-draft process is officially underway, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the playoffs at least a little bit!
The playoff bracket has arrived and we have some fun matchups to get us going next week. The Seahawks travel to face the Cowboys with Dallas a field goal favorite. I’m intrigued by the possibility of betting on the Cowboys inevitable playoff collapse, but 49ers fans picking between Seattle and Dallas? Blech.
The defending champion Eagles fought their way back into the playoffs, beating Washington and earning a berth thanks to the Vikings losing to the Bears. You know everybody is afraid of Philly after their run last year.
On the AFC side, the Texans host the Colts in the third matchup between these two. Somehow this ended up as the early Saturday wild card game, which seems a bit unfair given that the Colts had to play on Sunday Night Football to close out the week. Meanwhile, the Ravens host the cross-country traveling Chargers on Sunday. The Chargers were 7-1 against the spread on the road this season, but now they have to play at 10:05 a.m. PT game in the wild card round.
I need to think on this, but my early run at predictions would be Texans over Colts, Seahawks over Cowboys, Ravens over Chargers, and Bears over Eagles. Do you see more upsets, or more chalk in the first round?
Here’s the wild card and divisional round schedule.
Wild card round
AFC: Saturday, January 5 (4:35 p.m. ET): #6 Indianapolis Colts at #3 Houston Texans (ESPN/ABC)
NFC: Saturday, January 5 (8:15 p.m. ET): #5 Seattle Seahawks at #4 Dallas Cowboys (FOX)
AFC: Sunday, January 6 (1:05 p.m. ET): #5 Los Angeles Chargers at #4 Baltimore Ravens (CBS)
NFC: Sunday, January 6 (4:40 p.m. ET): #6 Philadelphia Eagles at #3 Chicago Bears (NBC)
Divisional round
AFC: Saturday, January 12 (4:35 p.m. ET): AFC #4/#5/#6 at #1 Kansas City Chiefs (NBC)
NFC: Saturday, January 12 (8:15 p.m. ET): NFC #3/#4/#5 at #2 Los Angeles Rams (FOX)
AFC: Sunday, January 13 (1:05 p.m. ET): AFC #3/#4/#5 at #2 New England Patriots (CBS)
NFC: Sunday, January 13 (4:40 p.m. ET): NFC #4/#5/#6 at #1 New Orleans Saints (FOX)