The NFL is knocking on the door of the playoffs. All that separates us and the postseason is Week 18, and then it’ll be off to the races in a mad dash to New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX. While some teams already have their playoff position locked in, there are still things that need to be determined before we reach Super Wild Card Weekend. That gives us a little room to wonder aloud what the playoff matchups could end up being by this time next week.
Below, we’ve combed through all the permutations of possible playoff head-to-heads and ranked what we deem to be the best of the bunch. Of course, these matchups are not set in stone, and some of the teams listed might not even make the playoffs. If they do, however, it could set up some insane win-or-go-home games for us to enjoy.
The Los Angeles Rams have gone a roundabout way to lock in the NFC West and a spot in the playoffs, but they’re in. Meanwhile, the Detroit Lions also have a playoff position locked up, but where specifically is still to be determined. If they defeat the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night, the Lions will be the No. 1 seed and have the first-round bye that comes with it. However, if they lose this game, they’d drop to the No. 5 seed in the NFC. And if the Rams fall to the Cardinals in Week 18 and Tampa Bay defeats the Saints, Los Angeles would sit as the No. 4 seed.
In this scenario, we’d have our second consecutive year where Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff will square off against their former teams in the playoffs. Last postseason, Stafford made his return to Ford Field during Super Wild Card Weekend and was sent packing by his former Lions squad in a narrow 24-23 win. These two teams also met back in Week 1, and it required overtime for Detroit to get the win. If history tells us anything, these games are highly entertaining when the Lions and Rams square off.
It would also be the latest chapter in what has been one of the more seismic trades of the decade.
This is one of those matchups that you may not be super jazzed up about when it first pops up on the screen, but you should. One of the more enjoyable storylines in the NFL over the last couple of seasons has been the resurgence of veteran quarterbacks on new teams after previously being cast off by their former clubs. The poster boys of that storyline have been Baker Mayfield with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Sam Darnold with the Minnesota Vikings.
Both quarterbacks have gone through the gauntlet in their NFL careers after being top-three picks. The Browns got rid of Mayfield following the 2021 season, and the Jets moved on from Darnold after 2020, and each signal-caller bounced around the league before landing in an ideal situation. In fact, Mayfield and Darnold were teammates on the Carolina Panthers in 2022.
Mayfield landed with the Buccaneers last season and is now on the doorstep of winning his second-consecutive NFC South title with a win against the Saints on Sunday. As for Darnold, he’s in his first season with the Vikings and has been playing at a legitimate MVP level. Under Darnold, Minnesota could still win the No. 1 seed and the NFC North if they defeat the Lions in Week 18. If they don’t, however, they’d be the No. 5 seed, which sets up a matchup at Raymond James Stadium against the Bucs (so long as Los Angeles doesn’t lose to Arizona).
Both clubs have high-flying offenses, and two of the best wide receivers that the NFL has to offer in Justin Jefferson and Mike Evans, so there’s plenty of star power outside of these quarterbacks to enjoy as well.
There’s just something about division rivals meeting in the playoffs that hits different. The Philadelphia Eagles are locked in as the No. 2. seed in the NFC. If the Commanders (who already clinched a playoff berth) lose to the Cowboys on the road in Week 18, along with the Packers defeating the Bears, that would stamp Washington’s ticket to Lincoln Financial Field for Super Wild Card Weekend.
These two NFC East rivals split the season series, with the Commanders pulling out the most recent win over the Eagles in Week 16. That game saw Washington erase a 13-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter to get the victory and had rookie phenom Jayden Daniels dazzle with five passing touchdowns. Of course, the caveat in this most recent matchup was that Eagles starting quarterback Jalen Hurts exited early due to a concussion.
So long as everyone is healthy for this potential playoff matchup, it could be one of the better NFC East playoff contests in quite some time. Hurts and Daniels are two of the more dynamic quarterbacks in the NFL, while Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, and Terry McLaurin headline a stellar group of skill position players on both offenses.
While the two sides downplayed the ordeal after the fact, there was a postgame altercation between Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni and Commanders tight end Zach Ertz following that Week 16 contest that could add a little extra spice to the head-to-head as well.
Yes, there’s the chance we could get another Harbaugh Bowl. Better yet, this latest Harbaugh Bowl would be a playoff matchup! Who’s got it better than us?
If the season ended today, this would be the matchup. Jim Harbaugh’s Los Angeles Chargers would fly across the country to Baltimore, where his brother John Harbaugh and the Ravens playing host on wild-card weekend. For this to be locked in after Week 18, the Ravens would need to defeat the Browns to win the AFC North. Then, the Chargers would either need to finish with the same or worse record than the Steelers. Both teams come into Week 18 at 10-6, but Pittsburgh owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Ravens and Chargers met back on “Monday Night Football” in Week 12, where Baltimore came out on top, 17-13. With that win, John Harbaugh is currently 3-0 in the sibling rivalry, which includes a victory in Super Bowl 47 in February of 2013. This would be the second playoff game between the two brothers.
This is the matchup every football fan should be rooting for because it brings with it utter chaos in Week 18. Remarkably, the Cincinnati Bengals are still in the playoff race as we enter the final week of the regular season. For them to get in as the No. 7 seed, they’d need to defeat the Steelers on Saturday and then sit back on Sunday and hope that both the Broncos and Dolphins lose their respective games. If those pieces fall just right, the Bengals would sneak in and punch their ticket to Buffalo, where the No. 2 seed Bills are waiting.
Not only would this be the culmination of an improbable playoff run for the Bengals, but it’d set up one of the best quarterback matchups imaginable. Josh Allen is currently the frontrunner for NFL MVP, while Joe Burrow is having arguably the best season of his career and has lit it up down the stretch. From a QB star power perspective, you can’t get much better for a first-round playoff matchup. Meanwhile, thrusting another star receiver like Ja’Marr Chase into the limelight would also be a welcome sight to everyone other than the Buffalo secondary.
There’s a bit of playoff history between these two as well, with Cincinnati defeating the Bills in the divisional round back during the 2022 season.
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