The NFL regular season has come to an end and now we venture into the playoffs. The Wild Card round will take place on Saturday, Sunday and Monday Night. The final week of the regular season is difficult to pick because a lot of team’s rest players. My regular season finale picks garnered me a 7-4 record to finish. My record is 129-56 and my winning percentage dipped from 70.1% to 69.7%. My first defeat came when the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. The win gave the Bengals some hope to make the playoffs. They needed losses by Miami and Denver, but the Broncos beat a Chiefs team who rested their starters. The second loss came when Carolina beat Atlanta in OT to prevent them from winning the division. It didn’t matter either way because Tampa Bay beat New Orleans to secure the NFC South and playoff berth.

My third defeat came when the Bears took down the Packers to end their 11-game losing streak. The fourth and final loss came when Seattle beat the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams had already clinched the division, but with their loss and Bucs win, the Rams are the fourth seed. In the AFC, the Kansas City Chiefs will have homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. The Detroit Lions beat the Minnesota Vikings to clinch homefield advantage in the NFC. We will have two games on Saturday, three Sunday and one more on Monday Night. Let’s check out my Wild Card picks and see who advances to the Divisional Round.

We start things off with the Houston Texans hosting the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers finished the season on a 3-game winning streak. Justin Herbert had an amazing season taking care of the ball. Ladd McConkey is one of the best receivers in his rookie year. The Chargers are facing issues at the running back position, so they brought in Ezekiel Elliott for the playoffs. Will the top ranked scoring defense slow down the Texans offense? The Texans won their division and were one of my top 5 AFC teams before the start of the season. Houston dealt with a lot of injuries that derailed their season. Joe Mixon and Dameon Pierce could be vital to the Texans in this game. I’m leaning towards trusting Herbert more than Stroud in a critical game. I’m taking Los Angeles to get the road win and advance. Chargers Win 24-17

The second game will have a pair of AFC North rivals meeting for the third time this season. The Pittsburgh Steelers will travel to Baltimore to face the Ravens. The Steelers won the first matchup at home but lost in their second encounter. Pittsburgh limps into this game on a 4-game losing streak. During their four game losing streak, the offense is putting up an average of a little more than 14 points. Can they end their losing streak and upset the Ravens? On the other hand, the Baltimore Ravens come into the postseason with a 4-game winning streak. The defense has improved over that stretch by just allowing less than 11 points per game. Lamar Jackson is a candidate for league MVP again and Derrick Henry rushed for over 1900 yards. It feels like Baltimore will edge by the Steelers to advance. Ravens Win 27-17

The first game on Sunday will see the Buffalo Bills host the Denver Broncos. Denver clinched their playoff berth with a 38-0 win over the Chiefs. Before that, the Broncos lost their previous two games and one of them came against the Bengals. Bo Nix had an incredible rookie season for the Broncos. The defense is one of the best in the league and ranked 3^rd in scoring. Can they find a way to go to Buffalo and pull off the upset? Buffalo capped off a great season by finishing 13-4 and the second seed in the AFC playoffs. Josh Allen is the favorite to take home his first NFL MVP award. Allen and the Bills are thinking about the big picture and finally bringing a Super Bowl to Buffalo. The Bills were undefeated at home this season and they will remain after beating Denver. Bills Win 31-20

The second game on Saturday evening will be the first in the NFC. The Philadelphia Eagles will host the Green Bay Packers. These two teams met in Brazil during the first weekend of the season. The Eagles left with the win and Saquon Barkley showed what was to come. Green Bay ended the season losing their final two games. The Packers come into this game dealing with some serious injury issues. Christian Watson went down with a torn ACL and will miss the game. Jordan Love left last week’s game early with an elbow injury. Philadelphia is dealing with an injury to Jalen Hurts as he’s still in concussion protocol. This Eagles team is much different from the one Green Bay saw earlier in the season. Philadelphia and their defense will be the difference as they win. Eagles Win 34-20

The Sunday Night game will see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Washington Commanders. Jayden Daniels is as cool as it gets when it comes to quarterbacks in the league. Daniels will be the Rookie of the Year after leading this team to 12 wins. Washington has a top 5 scoring offense while ranking third in rushing. Daniels rushed for almost 900 yards this season himself. The defense has its fair share of holes, and the Bucs could expose them. Tampa Bay finished the season winning six of their last seven games. They beat this Commanders team earlier in the season, but it was the first game. The emergence of Bucky Irving gives this team a great weapon against Washington. Can they beat the Commanders again? In a tough game, I’m picking Tampa to barely edge the Commanders to advance. Bucs Win 31-27

The final game of Wild Card weekend will take place on Monday Night. The Minnesota Vikings will make that trip to Los Angeles to take on the Rams. This will be a battle between two of the best WR duos in the league. Minnesota has Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison while the Rams got Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp. The Vikings fell to this Rams team earlier in the season. The Vikings didn’t look good in their season finale loss to Detroit. Can they turn it around? Los Angeles had won five in a row before losing to Seattle in the finale. They rested a lot of their starters in the game and that included Matthew Stafford. This game will come down to can the Rams defense pressure Sam Darnold into bad throws. In a close one, I’m picking Los Angeles to edge the Vikings. Rams Win 26-21

What do you think about my picks for Wild Card weekend? Who do you have advancing to the next round? Any upsets happening? Leave some feedback below about anything related to Wild Card weekend or my picks. Check out my divisional round games below.

AFC Divisional Round Matchups

• 1. Kansas City Chiefs vs. 5. Los Angeles Chargers
• 2. Buffalo Bills vs. 3. Baltimore Ravens

NFC Divisional Round Matchups

• 1. Detroit Lions vs. 4. Los Angeles Rams
• 2. Philadelphia Eagles vs. 3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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