NFL playoff divisional round watchability rankings: Which are best matchups?
No league enjoys touting the amount of one-score games that took place over a given weekend more than the NFL does. Tight finishes typically means better ratings. And high ratings means money. But close games also make for a more fun viewing experience for the fans at home.
From a "watchability" perspective, then, five of the six games during "Super Wild Card Weekend" did not satisfy the primary criteria. The weekend of blowouts contained sufficient entertainment, peaking with the Detroit Lions fending off the Los Angeles Rams for their first postseason win in 32 years.
With four games – two Saturday, two Sunday – in the divisional round, here’s how the matchups shake out by "watchability."
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Detroit Lions (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, NBC)
Two feel-good stories, but as we learned last weekend, storylines do not necessarily translate to the best of games. Detroit is certainly the better team on both sides of the ball.
The Lions occupied the top spot in the wild-card round’s watchability rankings, and their matchup delivered. Hopefully they can help their next matchup overperform. But that one of either Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield or Lions QB Jared Goff will advance to the NFC championship game provides a fun underdog angle regardless of outcome. If the Lions do advance, it will be their first time playing for the conference title since the 1991 season.
3. Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, FOX)
As 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan joked this week, the team began preparing for the Packers in the first half of Green Bay’s demolition of the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. The Packers’ upset stunned the football world. Pulling off another road victory might be too tall a task for the young Green Bay squad, though.
The intrigue begins with Packers head coach Matt LaFleur coming from Shanahan’s coaching tree and both offenses utilizing similar concepts. Since the midpoint of the season, the Niners and Packers ranked first and second, respectively, in expected points added (EPA). But the Niners offer a multidimensional approach much different than what Dallas displayed, and the Packers’ feel-good story on defense may not last beyond a week. Blowout potential exists.
2. Houston Texans vs. Baltimore Ravens (Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
The rookie QB, C.J. Stroud, against the (soon-to-be) two-time MVP QB, Lamar Jackson. The Ravens’ signal-caller has a chance to erase the bad memory of the 2019 postseason, when Baltimore faltered in the divisional round as the No. 1 seed. A win would mark Jackson’s first trip to the AFC title game. The Ravens have been the NFL’s best team wire-to-wire and watching them test their dominance in the postseason should be a treat.
On the other side, head coach DeMeco Ryans has made the Texans the feel-good story of the playoffs. Stroud’s performances in back-to-back weeks, the regular-season finale against Indianapolis and the wild-card rout against the Cleveland Browns, have shown why he was more than worthy of the No. 2 selection in last year’s draft.
1. Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills (Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET, CBS)
Josh Allen vs. Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs? Yes, please. It’s also music to the ears of executives at CBS (and the NFL). They are on their way to becoming the late-millennial version of Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady in the AFC postseason. While each has a long way to go to catch up to those two in the greatness department, a third playoff matchup in four seasons makes the comparison to that rivalry all the more applicable.
This game was the easiest call of the week. The drama-filled postseason past – 13 seconds left on the clock still gives Buffalo supporters nightmares – makes it spicy. Mahomes’ in-game and postgame freakout the last time they played – yeah, that was the Kadarius Toney offsides game – makes it spicier. They have split their six total meetings. Allen is 0-2 against Mahomes in the playoffs, but Sunday marks the first time the Bills host the Chiefs in January.
Taylor Swift has seen plenty of Chiefs football this year, but she’s never seen anything like a “Bills Mafia” tailgate to date.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL playoff divisional round matchup rankings: Which are best?
