NFL Playoff First Thought Predictions, Lines, Bracket, Super Bowl Pick
The first predictions, early lines, and quick analysis on all of the 2022 NFL playoff games from the Wild Card through the Super Bowl.
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We’re here after a wild and fun regular season – and an all-timer of a finish – with the most wide open NFL playoffs in a long, long time.
Who’s going to win, how will the bracket go, and who’ll win the Super Bowl?
As we do for the college side, we go with the first-guess picks and then work from there. The idea is to go with the first answer, and then adjust from there once we do the game previews and predictions.
– 2022 NFL Draft First 16 Picks Mock Draft
2022 NFL Playoffs Wild Card Round: Saturday
AFC: 5 Las Vegas Raiders at 4 Cincinnati Bengals
Saturday, January 15
NBC/Peacock, 4:30 pm
Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, OH
Knee-Jerk Instant Analysis: Really? You’re going to go against this Las Vegas team that keeps on fighting through the adversity to play with the ultimate Raider swagger?
Yeah, and not just because Cincinnati rolled 32-13 when the two played in Week 11.
The Bengal star power got a week off to get everyone as right as can be, and Las Vegas had the emotional Sunday night game – that extra time will matter just enough. It won’t be the wipeout of earlier in the season, and the Bengals will press way too much, but Joe Burrow will get his first NFL playoff win.
Knee-Jerk No Research Prediction: Cincinnati 30, Las Vegas 23
Early Line No-Look Guess: Cincinnati -7.5
Actual Line: COMING, o/u: COMING
AFC: 6 New England Patriots at 3 Buffalo Bills
Saturday, January 15
CBS/Paramount+, 8:15 pm
Highmark Stadium, Orchard Park, NY
Knee-Jerk Instant Analysis: It stinks that these two are playing in the Wild Card round. Either one could go on a run and either one would do some damage if they didn’t have to play each other.
Can New England get everything back up to speed? They’ve now lost three of their last four game after the problems against Miami, and before that was the crazy weather game against Buffalo.
You never want to go against Bill Belichick – especially since this is the third time they’ve played in seven weeks – but at home, in front of that crowd, the Buffalo team that’s past the midseason doldrums will rise up against the run. The Patriot defense, placekicking, and coaching will be better.
Knee-Jerk No Research Prediction: New England 19, Buffalo 17
Early Line No-Look Guess: Buffalo -3.5
Actual Line: COMING, o/u: COMING
NFL Playoff First Thought Predictions
– Wild Card: Saturday | Wild Card: Sunday
– Divisional Round: NFC | AFC
– Conference Championships
– Super Bowl Prediction
NEXT: 2022 NFL Playoffs Wild Card Round: Sunday, Monday
2022 NFL Playoffs Wild Card Round: Sunday, Monday
NFC: 7 Philadelphia Eagles at 2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Sunday, January 16
FOX, 1:15 pm
Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL
Knee-Jerk Instant Analysis: Seriously, how healthy is Tampa Bay? The team might be on a streak of seven wins in the last eight games, and the offense figured it out against Carolina to close things out and move up to the two spot, but there are a whole lot of banged up parts. Here’s the thing though … the run defense.
Philadelphia has to run to win, it was held to 100 yards in the 28-22 home loss back in Week 6, and it’s not about to go off against the best run D in the NFL. That, and Tom Brady isn’t getting bounced out in the first round.
Knee-Jerk No Research Prediction: Tampa Bay 34, Philadelphia 20
Early Line No-Look Guess: Tampa Bay -9.5
Actual Line: COMING, o/u: COMING
NFC: 6 San Francisco 49ers at 3 Dallas Cowboys
Sunday, January 16
CBS/Paramount+/AmazonPrime/Nickelodeon, 4:40 pm
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX
Knee-Jerk Instant Analysis: Can Dallas stay hot? The offense leads the NFL in yards and points, it was breathtaking against both Philadelphia and Washington over the last three weeks – hanging 56 and 51, respectively – and now the pressure is on against a San Francisco team that has a way of never losing its head.
The 49ers make this very, very tough with a as quiet a downfield passing game as any in the league – Deebo Samuel makes a lot of noise, though – to go along with a defense that has a way of holding up when absolutely needed. It held up well against the high-powered Bengal, Ram, and Viking offenses over the second part of the season, but the Cowboys will barely survive with their own D making up for a shaky day from the O.
Knee-Jerk No Research Prediction: Dallas 23, San Francisco 20
Early Line No-Look Guess: Dallas -5.5
Actual Line: COMING, o/u: COMING
AFC: 7 Pittsburgh vs 2 Kansas City
Sunday, January 16
NBC/Peacock, 8:15 pm
GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO
Knee-Jerk Instant Analysis: No one’s going to give the Steelers any prayer of hanging around considering they slipped in – more like the Colts choked their way out – and lost 36-10 in Arrowhead in Week 15.
And everyone will be right.
The Steelers will come out fired up, Kansas City will be a little sleepy to start, and it’ll seem like a shocker might be in the works after the first quarter, and then the Chief running game will settle things down and the Patrick Mahomes and the passing attack will follow.
Knee-Jerk No Research Prediction: Kansas City 34, Pittsburgh 16
Early Line No-Look Guess: Kansas City -11.5
Actual Line: COMING, o/u: COMING
NFC: 5 Arizona Cardinals at 4 Los Angeles Rams
Monday, January 17
ESPN/ESPN2/ABC/ESPN+, 8:15 pm
SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CA
Knee-Jerk Instant Analysis: Yeah, good luck trying to figure out the flakiest of the two flaky-great teams in this tournament.
It was Arizona’s world in a 7-0 start, but it couldn’t figure out how to win home games – it beat the Rams on the road in Week 4 and lost in Glendale in Week 13. It closed losing four of its last five.
The Rams were rolling with five straight wins, but they gagged away a halftime lead for the first time in the Sean McVay era in the overtime loss to San Francisco with the high-powered offense inexplicably stalling. That loss might be a plus, though – the LA defense is going to be plenty ticked after the way the 49er game ended.
Knee-Jerk No Research Prediction: Los Angeles Rams 26, Arizona 23
Early Line No-Look Guess: Los Angeles Rams -6.5
Actual Line: COMING, o/u: COMING
NFL Playoff First Thought Predictions
– Wild Card: Saturday | Wild Card: Sunday
– Divisional Round: NFC | AFC
– Conference Championships
– Super Bowl Prediction
NEXT: 2022 NFL Playoffs Divisional Round Early Predictions
2022 NFL Playoffs Divisional Round Early Predictions: NFC
All of these matchups are based on early, first-guess picks from the wild-card round. Again, these are predictions and projections and not the set matchups.
Remember, the bracket reseeds – the No. 1 team plays the lowest-seeded team remaining.
4 Los Angeles Rams at 1 Green Bay Packers
Knee-Jerk Instant Analysis: It’s hardly a given that the Rams will get by Arizona – which team will be flakier? – but assuming Matthew Stafford and company get the job done, will they be able to handle being chilly? We did this back Week 12 in a 36-28 Green Bay win helped by three takeaways, and it’s about to happen again.
The week off will mean everything. Green Bay will get even healthier and fresher on the offensive line, the secondary that doesn’t allow much of anything downfield will be solid, and … it’s Green Bay in January. The Rams will be cold.
Knee-Jerk No Research Prediction: Green Bay 34, Los Angeles Rams 20
Early Line Guess (if this matchup happens): Green Bay -8.5
3 Dallas Cowboys at 2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Knee-Jerk Instant Analysis: Oh yeah, we need this as a nation. We need a repeat of that fantastic Week 1 shootout with the two teams combining for well over 800 yards thanks to monster performances from Tom Brady and Dak Prescott. It’ll come down to this: Tampa Bay on third downs.
For all of its offense and pyrotechnics, Dallas takes things up a level with its third down defense. Tampa Bay is second in the NFL on third downs, but just like it’s a concern in the Wild Card round against Philadelphia, is Tampa Bay going to be healthy enough across the skill spots? 12 will be healthy enough, and the downfield big plays will follow.
Knee-Jerk No Research Prediction: Tampa Bay 30, Dallas 26
Early Line Guess (if this matchup happens): Tampa Bay -3.5
NFL Playoff First Thought Predictions
– Wild Card: Saturday | Wild Card: Sunday
– Divisional Round: NFC | AFC
– Conference Championships
– Super Bowl Prediction
NEXT: 2022 NFL Playoffs Divisional Round Early Predictions: AFC
2022 NFL Playoffs Divisional Round Early Predictions: AFC
6 New England Patriots at 1 Tennessee Titans
Knee-Jerk Instant Analysis: Tennessee painfully flamed out of the 2020 playoffs with a 20-13 loss to Baltimore, and this time around it’s going to be rested and potentially a whole lot more dangerous if Derrick Henry can go.
This will be more about the Titan defense. The offense will sputter on the ground against the New England defensive front, but other side will slow down the Patriot running game and force Mac Jones to try to pull this off – and he’ll do it.
The pressure will be intense on the Titans after last year, and dealing with this as the No. 1 seed will make this even more stressful. It won’t be the 36-13 Patriot win of Week 12, but …
Knee-Jerk No Research Prediction: New England 20, Tennessee 17
Early Line Guess (if this matchup happens): Tennessee -4
4 Cincinnati Bengals at 2 Kansas City Chiefs
Knee-Jerk Instant Analysis: You just knew in that Week 17 classic that we’d see these two again.
That was the JaMarr Chase playoff winner for every fantasy team that had him – hand raised – and Kansas City was still in the 34-31 loss even after allowing over 400 Joe Burrow passing yards.
We’re about to get Round Two of the firefight, but Patrick Mahomes and his guys will be on the right side of this one. Burrow will get his yards and the playmakers will show up, but one late Chief burst will get it done.
Knee-Jerk No Research Prediction: Kansas City 36, Cincinnati 30
Early Line Guess (if this matchup happens): Kansas City -3.5
NFL Playoff First Thought Predictions
– Wild Card: Saturday | Wild Card: Sunday
– Divisional Round: NFC | AFC
– Conference Championships
– Super Bowl Prediction
NEXT: 2022 NFL Playoffs Conference Championship Early Predictions
2022 NFL Playoffs Conference Championship Early Predictions
AFC: 6 New England Patriots at 2 Kansas City Chiefs
Knee-Jerk Instant Analysis: The Patriots won’t have the firepower.
The gameplan will work for close to a half. The running game will own the clock, Mac Jones will make his third down throws, and the defense will have Patrick Mahomes contained outside of one touchdown drive. Just when it seems like we have a shot at Belichick vs Brady in the Super Bowl …
Mahomes and the passing game will rally back with one home run touchdown. The momentum will shift, the Chief defense will get the stop it needs, and and Mahomes will strike again.
After all the drama, and all of the problems, and all of the inconsistencies, Kansas City will make it three Super Bowls appearances in a row.
Knee-Jerk No Research Prediction: Kansas City 26, New England 17
Early Line Guess (if this matchup happens): Kansas City -6.5
NFC: 2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 1 Green Bay Packers
Knee-Jerk Instant Analysis: Let’s do this again. Tom Brady and the Buccaneers were supposed to freeze up in Green Bay in the NFC Championship, and instead they overcame three turnovers and a big passing day from Aaron Rodgers to win 31-26 on the way to the Super Bowl.
It’ll be the same thing this time around, only the Packers will be on the right end of the fun. Brady will be great. Rodgers will be great. Rodgers will be just a wee bit better on the late game-winning drive.
Knee-Jerk No Research Prediction: Green Bay 27, Tampa Bay 24
Early Line Guess (if this matchup happens): Green Bay -2.5
NFL Playoff First Thought Predictions
– Wild Card: Saturday | Wild Card: Sunday
– Divisional Round: NFC | AFC
– Conference Championships
– Super Bowl Prediction
2022 NFL Playoffs Super Bowl Early Prediction
2 Kansas City Chiefs at 1 Green Bay Packers
Knee-Jerk Instant Analysis: We’re not getting Jordan Love this time around.
It was the matchup everyone was waiting for in Week 9, but Aaron Rodgers was naughty and was out, Kansas City couldn’t do much of anything, and it was a snoozer of a 13-7 Chief win against Love’s Packers.
It’ll be built up as Rodgers vs Mahomes in a showdown for the ages, but sort of like last year when it was Brady vs Mahomes, a defense will be the star.
The Green Bay running game will control the tempo, but it’ll be the Packer defense that takes over, especially against the run. Both quarterbacks will have their moments, but oddly enough, it’ll be the supporting cast that gets 12 his second ring.
Knee-Jerk No Research Prediction: Green Bay 30, Kansas City 21
Early Line Guess (if this matchup happens): Green Bay -5
NFL Playoff First Thought Predictions
– Wild Card: Saturday | Wild Card: Sunday
– Divisional Round: NFC | AFC
– Conference Championships
– Super Bowl Prediction
