NFL Playoffs begin next week; Super Wildcard Weekend matchups set

The NFL playoffs are set to being next weekend, with games spanning three days on Super Wildcard Weekend.

With the final NFC playoff spot decided on Sunday night, the first six games of the NFL playoffs now all have start times and TV networks.

Super Wildcard Weekend will feature two games on Saturday, a tripleheader on Sunday and a single game on Monday night.

On Saturday, Game 1 will feature the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers in a matchup of the No. 7 and No. 2 seeds in the NFC, respectively. Seattle earned the final spot in the NFC playoffs thanks to its win and Green Bay’s loss in Week 18. FOX will televise that matchup at 3:30 p.m. central time.

The 7:15 nightcap on Saturday will be the AFC’s 4 versus 5 matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Los Angeles Chargers. This is the Jaguars’ first appearance in the playoffs since the 2017 season, while Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert will be making his first trip to the postseason. That game can be seen on NBC.

Sunday’s back-to-back-to-back games begin with the Miami Dolphins, the AFC’s seventh seed, visiting the two-seed Miami Dolphins on CBS at noon. The Bills beat the New England Patriots in Week 18, opening the door for the Dolphins to earn the final playoff spot with their win over the New York Jets.

FOX will have the second game on Sunday, a 3:30 matchup between the NFC’s No. 3 and No. 6 seeds, the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants. Both teams entered Week 18 with little to play for, and Minnesota won this weekend while New York lost.

The last game on Sunday will be a divisional matchup on NBC as the Cincinnati Bengals host the Baltimore Ravens at 7:15. These two teams played this weekend, a game the Bengals won by 11 points. Cincinnati is the AFC’s three seed, Baltimore is the six.

Finally, on Monday night at 7:15, ESPN will have the final game of the first weekend of the NFL playoffs as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Dallas Cowboys. The Buccaneers won the NFC South this year and earned the four seed in the conference, while the Cowboys are the NFC’s top wildcard. There will also be a second broadcast of that game on ESPN2 featuring Peyton Manning and Eli Manning.

Two teams that qualified for the NFL playoffs won’t be in action this weekend, as the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles earned byes in their respective conferences. The Chiefs beat the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday to earn the AFC’s top seed, while the Eagles clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC on Sunday with a win over the Giants.