Key Takeaways
- The 2025 NFL playoffs will feature 14 teams competing for a chance to play in Super Bowl 60.
- The playoff bracket looks different from previous years, with three teams (Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, and New England Patriots) going from worst to first in their divisions.
- The reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles could make a deep run in the playoffs, but will face tough competition from other teams.
- The NFL’s wild-card weekend will feature six games, with the first two on Saturday and the next three on Sunday, followed by a stand-alone "Monday Night Football" game.
- The Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks earned first-round byes as the No. 1 seeds in their respective conferences.
Introduction to the 2025 NFL Playoffs
The 2025 NFL playoffs are about to begin, and 14 teams will have a chance to compete for the right to play in Super Bowl 60. The 2025 playoff bracket looks a lot different from what many anticipated at the start of the season. Three teams – the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, and New England Patriots – went worst-to-first in their respective divisions, while perennial Super Bowl favorites like the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens failed to make the playoffs. This shake-up of the league’s typical playoff picture could make for a fun and unpredictable postseason.
NFL Wild-Card Weekend Schedule
The NFL’s first six playoff games will be played during the league’s wild-card weekend. The games are as follows, by conference: AFC wild-card games and NFC wild-card games. The Chicago Bears will face the Green Bay Packers, the Philadelphia Eagles will face the San Francisco 49ers, and the Carolina Panthers will face the Los Angeles Rams. The NFL wild-card games will be spread out over three days, with the first two games on Saturday and the next three on Sunday, followed by a stand-alone "Monday Night Football" game.
Updated NFL Playoff Bracket
The only two teams that won’t play on wild-card weekend are the No. 1 seeds, the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, who each earned first-round byes after posting 14-win seasons. The NFL playoff bracket isn’t fixed, which means that the No. 1 seeds will face the lowest remaining seed in the divisional round, while the remaining two teams will do battle. The full NFL playoff bracket for 2025 is updated for the wild-card round results, with the AFC playoff bracket featuring the Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, Jacksonville Jaguars, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Houston Texans, and the NFC playoff bracket featuring the Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers, and Los Angeles Rams.
How the NFL Playoff Bracket Works
The NFL playoffs feature 14 total teams, with the top seeds in each conference getting a first-round bye while the remaining 12 teams square off against one another in wild-card matchups. The NFL uses a dynamic bracket in its postseason format, which means the bracket changes as the playoffs progress. The postseason tournament re-seeds after each round, with the No. 1 seed facing the lowest-remaining seed after the wild-card round, and the two remaining teams in each conference facing off against one another. If the No. 1 seed is upset on either side of the bracket, the top remaining seed would get home-field advantage in their conference championship game.
Determining Divisional Opponents
The NFC side of the bracket will be set in full by the end of Sunday’s Philadelphia Eagles vs. San Francisco 49ers game, while the AFC bracket won’t be fully formed until the Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers finish their "Monday Night Football" matchup. However, it’s possible that fans will know some of the matchups before those games wrap up. For example, if the No. 7 seed Packers upset the No. 2 seed Bears in their Saturday night matchup, Green Bay would be guaranteed a date with Seattle in the divisional round.
Full NFL Playoffs Schedule
The full NFL playoffs schedule is as follows: the wild-card round will take place on January 10-12, with the divisional round taking place on January 17-18, and the NFL conference championship round taking place on January 25. Super Bowl 60 will be played on February 8, 2026, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The schedule is subject to change, but for now, it provides a clear outline of the road to the Super Bowl.