- The NFL wild-card weekend schedule has been released, creating advantages for some teams and disadvantages for others.
- The Houston Texans and Aaron Rodgers benefit from extra rest with a Monday night game.
- Los Angeles teams and the Green Bay Packers face challenging road games and short rest weeks.
The NFL playoffs haven’t started yet, but some have already won while others have lost.
After 18 weeks of regular-season action, the wild-card round of the playoffs is about to get underway. The NFL released the schedule during halftime of ‘Sunday Night Football’ between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 18, giving fans a look at the menu of games on tap for the weekend.
The schedule might only reveal time and place, but some teams will certainly enjoy their spot more than others.
Here’s a look at the winners and losers from the NFL wild-card weekend schedule.
Winners
NFL fans
It’s a long season that spans 18 weeks and 272 games. Watching every minute of every game is impossible, but that issue goes away in the playoffs. All eyes are on one game at a time, allowing fans to enjoy the story that each contest tells. With a loaded slate of playoff football ahead, it’s hard for the fans to not walk away as big winners.
TV networks
What would the playoffs look like without the Kansas City Chiefs? Not too bad, if you base it on the wild-card schedule. The networks have to be thrilled with some of these matchups. Saturday’s schedule brings a rematch for the Panthers and Rams, before wrapping up with the Bears and Packers renewing their rivalry.
Sunday will see two of the AFC’s best in Jacksonville when the Bills battle the Jaguars, the 49ers and Eagles meet in a rematch of the 2022 NFC Championship Game, and then the Chargers take on the Patriots in a duel between two of the better quarterbacks in the sport.
That’s all before the round concludes on ‘Monday Night Football’ when the Texans head to Pittsburgh to play the Steelers.
Houston Texans
The Houston Texans have been to the playoffs eight times in their history. They have been the 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday kickoff all eight times in the wild-card round, until now. Perhaps that’s a sign that the Texans should be taken seriously as contenders, or maybe it’s just that the 8-9 Panthers deserved the early spot a little more. Whatever the reason, it takes a lot for the NFL to break tradition and it just did that in a big way by scheduling Houston for the final game of wild-card weekend.
That’s not the only reason for Houston to claim victory though. We also can’t forget that DeMeco Ryans’ team plays a physical style of football. They’ll have the luxury of playing the weakest AFC playoff opponent and get an extra day of rest before doing so. It’s a new era in Houston.
Aaron Rodgers
Winning has been a foreign concept to Rodgers in recent seasons, but the four-time NFL MVP is back in the postseason. His team’s inclusion in the schedule is enough to make the quarterback a winner, but the 42-year-old also gets some extra rest ahead of this playoff matchup.
He’ll probably need it with this Texans defense coming to town, but that extra day might make the difference.
Losers
Los Angeles football
The Rams not only have to travel east to battle the Carolina Panthers in the wild-card round, but they also have to do it on a short week. It’s an unfortunate reality for the team that was in possession of the NFC’s top seed just a few weeks ago. The Rams should be able to take care of business against a Panthers team that beat them on Nov. 30, but the travel spot is certainly less than ideal and could make for a closer matchup than everyone predicts.
Just like the Rams, the Chargers also have something to be annoyed about when it comes to the schedule. They also have to travel east, but they get stuck with a night game in New England against the Patriots. For a team used to playing indoors, they now have to deal with the elements on a Sunday night at Gillette Stadium. Good luck.
Green Bay Packers
The walking wounded head back to Chicago for the second time in four weeks. Jordan Love hasn’t played since that Saturday night in the Windy City, when he exited with a concussion. The Packers will try to piece together a winning game plan against the Bears, but they’ll have to do it without the luxury of a full week to practice.
Already without Micah Parsons and Tucker Kraft, the Packers are losers of four straight and haven’t played particularly well in that time either. Maybe they can flip the switch, but they’ve already struggled to win the battle in the trenches against the Bears team twice in 2025. It’s a tall task asking them to do it in the Bears’ first playoff home game since 2019.
CBS
Fox got a pair of games. Amazon, NBC and ESPN got prime time matchups. CBS got the 1 p.m. ET kickoff on Sunday. Ouch.
There’s an argument to be made that the Bills and Jaguars should’ve been the ‘Sunday Night Football’ matchup, which is certainly good for CBS. However, they don’t get a prime time window or multiple games to make up for that. Despite the great matchup, they drew the shortest straw out of all the networks.
NFL playoff schedule
The NFL playoffs will kick off on Jan. 10 with the league’s first two wild-card matchups before concluding on Feb. 8 with Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Wild-card weekend
All times Eastern
Saturday, Jan. 10
- Los Angeles Rams at Carolina Panthers, 4:30 p.m. ET, FOX
- Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears, 8 p.m. ET, Prime Video
Sunday, Jan. 11
- Buffalo Bills at Jacksonville Jaguars, 1 p.m. ET, CBS
- San Francisco 49ers at Philadelphia Eagles, 4:30 p.m. ET, FOX
- Los Angeles Chargers at New England Patriots, 8 p.m. ET, NBC
Monday, Jan. 12
- Houston Texans at Pittsburgh Steelers, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC
Divisional round
Saturday, Jan. 17
- AFC/NFC divisional game: 4:30 p.m.
- AFC/NFC division game: 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 18
- AFC/NFC divisional game: 3 p.m.
- AFC/NFC divisional game: 6:30 p.m.
NFL conference championship round
Sunday, Jan. 25
- AFC championship game: 3 p.m.
- NFC championship game: 6:30 p.m.
Super Bowl 60
- Date: Feb. 8, 2026
- Location: Levi’s Stadium (Santa Clara, California)
- Time: 6:30 p.m.
- TV: NBC
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