NFL Wild Card Weekend: What to know about the upcoming games

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After 18 weeks, the NFL regular season has come to a close, and the playoffs are here.

There are 14 teams left standing, all eyeing a shot at making a Super Bowl run that concludes with confetti on the field in Santa Clara, California. Week 18 delivered heartbreak for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Baltimore Ravens, who fell just short of winning their division and missed the playoffs.

Wild Card Weekend has two games on Saturday, three games on Sunday and one game on Monday.

In Week 18, the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks earned the No. 1 seed and the all-important bye week.

While the Broncos and Seahawks will watch the chaos unfold at home, 12 teams will be battling for their playoff lives during NFL Wild Card weekend.

NFL Wild Card weekend has a little bit of everything: heated rivalries that will add another chapter, rematches from hotly contested regular season games, and rematches of NFC and AFC Championship games.

The Los Angeles Rams will begin the weekend seeking to avenge their Nov. 30, 31-28 loss to the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers lost to the Buccaneers on Saturday, leaving their playoff fate in the hands of the Altanta Falcons. If the Falcons lost to the Saints, then the Buccaneers would have advanced instead.

However, the Falcons beat the Saints, setting up the rematch with the Rams.

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The Saturday night game sets up a round three between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, who have delivered two thrillers so far this season. The teams split the series, each team winning at home.

It’s also the third time the two teams have played in the playoffs, and the bitter rivals split the previous two matchups.

Sunday’s slate begins with the Buffalo Bills traveling down south to play the Jacksonville Jaguars. Both teams are among the hottest in the NFL entering the playoffs, as the Bills have won four in a row while the Jaguars have won eight consecutive games.

The Jaguars had a phenomenal first season under head coach Liam Coen, going 13-4 and winning the second-most games in a single season in franchise history. They will look to take down the Bills, who enter as a Wild Card team.

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The middle game on Sunday is a rematch of the 2022 NFC Championship game between the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers. The Eagles beat the 49ers 31-7 after quarterback Brock Purdy and backup quarterback Josh Johnson suffered injuries.

The 49ers and Eagles have played twice in the playoffs, each winning a game.

The last game on Sunday is between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Chargers, marking the fourth time the two teams have met since the turn of the century. The Patriots have won all of those playoff appearances, downing the Chargers in the AFC Divisional Round in 2007 and 2019, while beating the Chargers in the AFC Championship in 2008.

Monday night’s game is between the Pittsburgh Steelers, who needed a missed Tyler Loop field goal to advance, and the Houston Texans, who boast the NFL’s best defense. The two teams have never played against each other in the playoffs, and the Steelers own a 5-3 record against the Texans all time.

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