{"id":404198,"date":"2026-01-12T07:39:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T07:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/404198\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T07:39:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T07:39:19","slug":"nfl-divisional-round-preview-4-marquee-matchups-including-no-1-seeds-broncos-and-seahawks-joining-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/404198\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL divisional round preview: 4 marquee matchups including No. 1 seeds Broncos and Seahawks joining in"},"content":{"rendered":"

It will be hard for the NFL to top the drama we saw in wild-card weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There were great games and exciting finishes, but the divisional round often delivers fantastic football as well. We have the top seed in each conference added to the fun, and the six teams that were good enough to survive a tense first round.<\/p>\n

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Here is a first look at the divisional round matchups (the fourth matchup will be added after the Texans-Steelers game on Monday night):<\/p>\n

NFC(6) San Francisco 49ers at (1) Seattle Seahawks (Saturday, Jan. 17)Why the 49ers can win<\/p>\n

Head coach Kyle Shanahan and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh have had phenomenal seasons. It makes no sense how the 49ers have gotten as far as they have given all the injuries to star players, but they keep winning. They won in Philadelphia on wild-card weekend<\/a> after losing George Kittle to a torn Achilles tendon<\/a>. It\u2019s hard to see how the 49ers will produce that much offense without Kittle, considering they struggled mightily against Seattle\u2019s defense in Week 18, but Shanahan gives San Francisco a chance. If Saleh\u2019s defense can create some big turnovers from Sam Darnold, maybe they\u2019ll pull off another surprise.<\/p>\n

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Why the Seahawks can win<\/p>\n

Seattle\u2019s success in the regular season was no fluke. The Seahawks went 14-3 and the three losses were by nine combined points. A defense that led the NFL in points allowed is the foundation. Seattle\u2019s defensive performance in Week 18, holding the 49ers to three points and just 173 yards, was magnificent. The 49ers will adjust for the rematch, but it will be hard to find a solution for a complex defense. Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald is a defensive guru and the team clicked with his scheme this season. Seattle\u2019s offense isn\u2019t bad, either, finishing third in points scored and eighth in yards gained. As long as quarterback Sam Darnold doesn\u2019t make mistakes \u2014 that will be a key storyline all postseason \u2014 the Seahawks will be tough to beat.<\/p>\n

Who has the juice going in<\/p>\n

The George Kittle loss might be deflating for most teams, but this 49ers team is used to dealing with adversity. Still, losing a player as important as Kittle will hurt. The Seahawks\u2019 Week 18 stonewalling of the 49ers has to give Seattle confidence, but it allows the 49ers to learn from it and make changes. Seattle has a great home-field advantage with a loud crowd, and that will factor in. The 49ers will be ready, but it will be a daunting task to win at Seattle.<\/p>\n

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(5) Los Angeles Rams at (2) Chicago Bears (Sunday, Jan. 18)Why the Rams can win<\/p>\n

Is it possible Matthew Stafford will win MVP and isn\u2019t unquestionably the best player on his team? Puka Nacua has been on a great run whenever he has been healthy this season, and that continued in the wild-card round with 111 yards against the Panthers. The combination of Stafford and Nacua is probably the best still remaining in the playoffs. And the Rams have plenty more around them, whether it\u2019s Davante Adams, Kyren Williams leading the run game, productive tight ends or a defense that gets a lot of disruption from the front seven. They\u2019re also very well coached by Sean McVay. The Rams are the rare wild-card team that is clearly a viable Super Bowl contender.<\/p>\n

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Why the Bears can win<\/p>\n

The Bears are one of those teams that finds different, and usually dramatic, ways to win. They certainly know how to win close games. They had eight wins in one-score games, including a wild comeback to beat the Packers in the wild-card round<\/a>. Caleb Williams continues to make incredible highlight throws and often does it in critical situations. The offense as a whole has continued to improve under Ben Johnson\u2019s watch, and continued improvements from a pair of rookies, tight end Colston Loveland and receiver Luther Burden III, have been big factors. Chicago can get big plays against the Rams\u2019 secondary, which is their most obvious weakness. The Bears don\u2019t blow many teams out, but 12 times this season they\u2019ve come up with a win.<\/p>\n

\"Caleb<\/p>\n

Caleb Williams celebrates after the Bears knocked off the Packers in a wild-card playoff game. (Photo by Todd Rosenberg\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

(Todd Rosenberg via Getty Images)Who has the juice going in<\/p>\n

The Rams might be the better team, but the Bears have to feel like they are a team of destiny after that Packers victory. They trailed by 18 at halftime and somehow came back to beat their biggest rival. The Rams came back, too, but barely beating a Carolina team that went 8-9 in the regular season wasn\u2019t impressive. The Rams had a bit of a slump late in the season and nearly losing to the Panthers shouldn\u2019t convince anyone they\u2019ve snapped out of it.<\/p>\n

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AFC(6) Buffalo Bills at (1) Denver Broncos (Saturday, Jan. 17)Why the Bills can win<\/p>\n

Pretty simple: They have Josh Allen. Allen covers up a lot of the Bills\u2019 issues, and we saw that happen again in a dramatic comeback win over the Jaguars in the wild-card round. Allen put together a game-winning drive after the Jaguars took a lead with a little more than four minutes remaining<\/a>. His flat-footed throw downfield to Brandin Cooks for a 36-yard gain, with the Jaguars\u2019 rush about to sack him, was a key play on Buffalo\u2019s winning drive and not one that many quarterbacks can make. If you believe in the idea that having the best quarterback is a major edge in any playoff game, you have to like Buffalo\u2019s chances.<\/p>\n

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Why the Broncos can win<\/p>\n

The Broncos aren\u2019t the first team to be a playoff threat with an uneven offense and a fierce defense. The defense, and the pass rush in particular, carried the Broncos. Denver had a league-best 68 sacks, 11 more than any other team. The offense has its moments too, but it often waits until late in games to start making plays. Bo Nix has been fine after a strong rookie season, but he has been inconsistent. The Broncos have a fantastic coach in Sean Payton and that helps in the many close games they find themselves in. And those reps in close games will help in the postseason.<\/p>\n

Who has the juice going in<\/p>\n

You\u2019d think a 14-3 team coming in off the bye would be feeling great, but it\u2019s hard to be comfortable given how the offense has disappeared for long stretches. That includes a poor performance in Week 18 when the offense didn\u2019t score a touchdown in a 19-3 win over a Chargers team that was resting starters. The Bills got a reminder of what they are in wild-card weekend: a flawed team that has a superstar quarterback that can dig it out of plenty of jams. Josh Allen is a special player, and that gives the Bills all the juice they need most weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It will be hard for the NFL to top the drama we saw in wild-card weekend. There were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[13278,2215,73344,1748,49,1755,48,8822,1735,19250,18078,1743,29896,11286,2212,31838,28607,1749,7254,3150,514,22438,12105,8821,1518,18079,31837,1756,5886,1739,82,2341],"class_list":["post-404198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-49ers","tag-bo-nix","tag-brandin-cooks","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-ca","tag-caleb-williams","tag-canada","tag-chargers","tag-chicago-bears","tag-colston-loveland","tag-davante-adams","tag-denver-broncos","tag-george-kittle","tag-jaguars","tag-josh-allen","tag-kyle-shanahan","tag-kyren-williams","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-luther-burden-iii","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-nfl","tag-offense","tag-packers","tag-panthers","tag-philadelphia","tag-puka-nacua","tag-robert-saleh","tag-sam-darnold","tag-san-francisco","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-sports","tag-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}