Heading into the 2025 NFL season, who would have thought that the Chiefs, Lions, Ravens, Vikings and Buccaneers would be out of the playoff picture? And that the Patriots, Jaguars, Bears, Steelers and Panthers would be top-four seeds?
Back in September, all of those would have been bold predictions. So yes, sometimes crazy things happen in the NFL. Presumptive first-round picks slide to Round 5, grandfathers return to play quarterback, coaches get fired after 18 years with a team, the Cowboys trade their best player.
And with that in mind, here are the FOX Sports NFL experts’ bold predictions for the postseason.
Armed with the NFL’s best defense, the Texans will make a run to Super Bowl LX. Not only does the AFC feel wide open — no Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow — but Houston is also the NFL’s hottest team, entering the playoffs with a league-best nine-game winning streak.
Quarterback C.J. Stroud has yet to rediscover the magic of his sensational rookie season in 2023, but he has notable postseason experience for a young passer — four playoff games, two wins — and has shown an ability to do enough to help Houston win the low-scoring games the defense creates. The Texans’ young wide receivers have stepped up as of late, and Houston’s run game has been more potent in recent weeks, with rookie running back Woody Marks leading the charge.
Heading to Pittsburgh for the wild-card round shouldn’t feel especially daunting for Houston, considering its elite defense and the fact that it won its final four road games of the regular season. Plus, not for nothing, Stroud won his lone matchup against the Steelers in 2023, when he threw for 306 and two touchdowns with no turnovers.
Houston’s swarming defense gives the Texans a chance to make a deep postseason run. (Photo by David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Greg Auman: At least four lower seeds will win on Wild Card Weekend.
I’m not even sure this is that bold. Of the six teams hosting games this weekend, only the Eagles and Patriots are favored, so you have the natural 5-seed-over-4-seed games with the best wild card beating the worst division champs, but then potentially the 7-seed Packers over the Bears and the 6-seed Bills over the Jaguars.
Some of the best teams in these playoffs have the least experienced quarterbacks, so fans will trust known playoff commodities like Josh Allen and Matthew Stafford. You also have new coaches in the playoffs, from Ben Johnson in Chicago and Liam Coen in Jacksonville to even vets like Mike Vrabel in his first year in New England. How quickly can a culture change show up in the most meaningful way? You have the annual NFL upheaval of four division champs from 2024 not making the playoffs at all, so the control of home-field advantage has shifted considerably.
Jacksonville’s Liam Coen is one of a few new coaching faces in the playoffs. Will their regular-season turnarounds extend into the postseason? (Photo by Logan Bowles/Getty Images)
How will all of that shake out?
The answer is whether this postseason will be highlighted by new faces validating their precocious regular-season success, or if we get the more experienced playoff teams prevailing after regular-season disappointment.
It’s rare to see a receiver win Super Bowl MVP. It’s even rarer when that receiver’s quarterback has a reputation like Matthew Stafford’s. The league typically gives the award to quarterbacks, because they’re the faces of the league.
But I see a scenario in Super Bowl LX where the Rams unleash Nacua, who has six games with 100 receiving yards or more this season. That includes his epic 225-yard performance, with two touchdowns, in Week 16 against the stingy Seahawks.
Nacua is always good for a mind-bending highlight-reel catch. He’s good for major production. And if he snags the game-winning catch in a close title game? That would probably be a trifecta that locks up the award for the young pass-catcher. I like the Rams to win it all. And I could see Puka becoming the ninth receiver to take home the Super Bowl MVP award.
Puka Nacua led the NFL in receptions (129) and receiving yards per game (107.2) this year. Can he finish his stellar season as the Super Bowl MVP? (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
Ralph Vacchiano: Neither top seed will win a postseason game.
In other words, the road to the Super Bowl doesn’t really run through Denver and Seattle. Both are formidable teams, but incredibly flawed.
The Broncos, in particular, have been flirting with danger all season long. They’ve played 13 one-score games — and somehow won 11 of them. That isn’t sustainable, especially if your quarterback isn’t Patrick Mahomes, and also when you consider that only three of those 11 razor-close wins were against playoff teams.
Denver could be staring at a playoff matchup against the Bills, and if Bo Nix & Co. play a tight game then, Josh Allen will make them pay.
As for the Seahawks, they’ve also had their share of close calls — 6-3 in one-score games, 3-2 against playoff teams — but have generally been more dominant than the Broncos. To get behind Seattle as a Super Bowl threat, however, means believing in Sam Darnold as a big-game quarterback.
He certainly showed improvement in that department down the stretch this year, but it’s hard to forget his ghost-ridden past. He might have to get through the Rams or 49ers in the first game, and both of those are true contenders with battle-tested quarterbacks who can be trusted more than Darnold.
So, yes, both the Broncos and Seahawks will be one and done.
After his breakout year in Minnesota in 2024, Sam Darnold had an even better season with the Seahawks in 2025. But he has yet to win a playoff game in his career. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Longtime head coach Mike Tomlin said the big moments at the end of the season are why the Steelers brought in the future Hall of Famer.
“This was the vision in the spring when we pursued him,” Tomlin said. “That’s why you do business with a 41-, 42-year-old guy, a been-there done-that guy with a résumé like his. He’s not only capable, he thrives in it.”
Aaron Rodgers celebrates following the Steelers’ win over the Ravens in Week 18 to take the AFC North and advance to the playoffs. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
So far, Rodgers has been up to the task, leading Pittsburgh to a critical victory over the Ravens in Week 18 to reach the postseason. The Steelers will get WR1 DK Metcalf back after a two-game suspension, and the AFC is wide open, with the Chiefs, Ravens and Bengals all watching from home.
The Steelers will start at home with a tough but winnable game against the Texans, then likely will have to hit the road in the divisional round. But two tense, drama-filled wins for Tomlin’s Steelers with Rodgers at the controls are doable.
Hey, crazier things have happened.
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