Ranking best possible wild-card games: All the NFL playoff scenarios we want to see
The playoff bracket for the 2023 NFL season won’t be set until Sunday night. And heading into Week 18, not much has been finalized aside from the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers sewing up their respective conference’s No. 1 seeds – which confer a first-round bye and home-field advantage as long as those teams remain alive.
At this point, none of the six opening-round matchups have been locked, five berths still up in the air – including both the AFC and NFC South titles. But football fans can wish, right? As the regular-season finale approaches, no better time to map out what might be the most optimal sextet of games – while ranking them – for what the league has been dubbing “Super Wild Card Weekend.”
6. Philadelphia Eagles (5) at New Orleans Saints (4)
If this wound up as the least-compelling matchup to open the postseason, wild-card weekend would indeed be super. We know the NFC South champions will host the NFC East runners-up, so there are a few permutations in play. But let’s slot the defending, if struggling, conference champs here against a surging Saints squad that’s won three of four, each of those victories by double-digit margins. Maybe the spiraling Eagles get back on track to make another Super Bowl run. And maybe QB Derek Carr caps his uneven debut campaign in the Big Easy by experiencing the first playoff victory of his 10-year career while leading a New Orleans franchise that hasn’t gotten this far in three years.
5. Pittsburgh Steelers (7) at Buffalo Bills (2)
Clues here if this contest comes to pass. Pittsburgh’s involvement – and who doesn’t want to see the Steelers in January (aside from Baltimore and Cleveland fans)? – means the Jacksonville Jaguars have been eliminated, while sending them to Western New York means the Bills emerged as AFC East champions. But this game would mean smashmouth football, potentially a dollop of Great Lakes winter weather, scads of star power and coaches Mike Tomlin and Sean McDermott – teammates at the College of William & Mary once upon a time – matching wits. McDermott has won three of four against Tomlin, but few defenses have the big-play ability of Pittsburgh’s … to say nothing of an offense that’s finally clicking with QB3 Mason Rudolph.
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4. Cleveland Browns (5) at Houston Texans (4)
Yeah, this would be especially juicy if it entailed injured QB Deshaun Watson taking on his former team in Houston and all the associated subtext. But don’t turn up your nose thinking you’ve already seen this movie given the Browns leveled the Texans 36-22 on Christmas Eve. Houston rookie QB C.J. Stroud didn’t play due to the aftereffects of a concussion. Would he be up to the task of overcoming the league’s top-ranked defense and its hottest arm in resurrected Cleveland QB Joe Flacco, who has won seven road playoff games in his career? Yes, please.
3. Green Bay Packers (7) at Dallas Cowboys (2)
A pairing of such storied franchises, which have split eight all-time postseason meetings, wouldn’t require much more hype. But let’s factor in Dallas HC Mike McCarthy, who beat the Cowboys twice in the playoffs when he was leader of the Pack. This scenario also assumes America’s Team as NFC East champions – meaning they’d host Green Bay at AT&T Stadium, where the Cowboys have won 16 in a row. Yet could the Packers’ Jordan Love end that streak by doing something predecessors Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers couldn’t – appearing in and winning a playoff game in his first year as Green Bay’s QB1? And what about the fallout in North Texas, whether it’s another disappointing ouster for McCarthy’s team, or a step toward ending the Cowboys’ nearly three-decade Super Bowl drought.
2. Miami Dolphins (6) at Kansas City Chiefs (3)
Seems like the Fins are descending just as the stakes are rising, but discount the league’s top-ranked and highest-scoring offense at your peril. Conversely, K.C.’s typically high-powered attack was relatively muted in 2023 – yet the defense has never been nearly this good during the Patrick Mahomes era. So while the spotlight might shine on Miami's offense against the Chiefs defense, such a matchup might turn based on how a decimated Dolphins D could handle Mahomes’ listing bunch. And, not to bury the lead, but while the Chiefs beat Miami in Germany in Week 9, this game would finally afford superstar Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill to take the stage at Arrowhead Stadium, his former stomping grounds – and a venue he was looking forward to invading in aqua and orange prior to the 2023 schedule release.
1. Los Angeles Rams (6) at Detroit Lions (3)
Division champions for the first time in 30 years, the Lions will be hosting their first-ever playoff game at Ford Field while aiming for their first postseason victory in 32 years – currently the league’s longest drought. These also happen to be up-and-coming clubs fueled by rising stars like Rams RB Kyren Williams and WR Puka Nacua and Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, TE Sam LaPorta and DE Aidan Hutchinson. Yet the main event here would be LA QB Matthew Stafford coming back to Motown to face the team that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2009 before he went on to set all of the franchise’s significant passing records over the course of 12 years before being traded to the Rams in 2021 and leading them to a Super Bowl triumph. Yet let’s not forget the undercard given Stafford was dealt, in part, for QB Jared Goff, a No. 1 pick himself in 2016. He piloted the Rams to Super Bowl 53 following the 2018 season before being sent to Detroit when LA HC Sean McVay decided he needed an upgrade behind center. And while Goff might have seemed like a guy in decline three years ago, he’s since recaptured his Pro Bowl form while helping restore the Lions to relevance. No matter how you cut it here, somebody’s sticking it to their former buddies if this couplet hopefully materializes.
***Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter @ByNateDavis.