Wild Card Round for the 2025/26 NFL season is complete, so we’re casting an eye over every game, identifying the big takeaways and digging into the markets.
The Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams laid the platform for a thrilling Wild Card Round in the first game of the weekend. Despite entering as heavy favourites, the Rams found themselves behind late in the 4th quarter.
Carolina justified their spot in the playoffs by pushing a genuine Super Bowl contender to the brink of defeat. Puka Nacua dominated early for the Rams to cruise through the first quarter, but it took a cool and calm Matthew Stafford to ice the game late after the Panthers rallied back.
MVP-type stuff from Matthew Stafford. pic.twitter.com/lTH2bUpcgD
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 11, 2026
The thrills continued, but came at the expense of Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers in the next game. They blew a 21-6 lead in the fourth quarter to the Chicago Bears, continuing a trend that had developed all season. Green Bay became the first team since 1970 to lose three games when leading by 10+ points with less than five minutes remaining, including playoffs.
A lot of the commentary surrounds LaFleur and the horror show he produced in the 4th quarter. He refused to shorten the game, running only three times, and used two timeouts on the brink of a delay of game flag. Caleb Williams is the highlight, though.
The game hangs in the balance and this is what Caleb Williams does. pic.twitter.com/AuUs0CduPo
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 11, 2026
Williams puts himself under pressure as you’d expect from any young quarterback. However, he’s better prepared than most to make something happen under pressure. In his first year under Ben Johnson, Williams now has seven fourth-quarter comebacks this season, the most by any quarterback under 25 years old in NFL history.
The comebacks continued as the Buffalo Bills upset the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Josh Allen’s 0-4 record on the road in playoff games had been grossly overstated all week, and he set the record straight with 273 yards at 7.8 yards per attempt, for a touchdown and 108.7 passer rating. With 11 carries for 33 yards and two rushing touchdowns, Allen left little doubt over the better quarterback on the day.
Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars have impressed of late, but Allen and the playoffs are a different proposition. While the Jaguars running game looked unstoppable for periods, two Lawrence interceptions released pressure and eventually cost them the game.
Kyle Shannahan is running out of players to send out onto the field in a San Francisco 49ers uniform and will have to spend the week finding a few more following their 23-19 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
George Kittle failed to finish the game and won’t feature in the Divisional Round. The superstar tight end is the latest in a long list of high-profile 49ers injuries this season. Still, they keep finding ways to win, and Brock Purdy played a leading role yet again.
Brock Purdy just won and did it without all the fixings at the skill positions.
PUT SOME RESPECT ON HIS NAME.
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) January 12, 2026
Already without weapons, the offensive scheme changed again during the game when Kittle went down; Purdy kept throwing it. While Jalen Hurts looked unwilling to put the ball in the air with wind a factor, Purdy let it sing for 262 yards and two touchdowns.
Philadelphia haven’t looked like Super Bowl contenders all season. They were afforded some leeway as defending champions. However, with a gift of a game in front of them and while holding a lead, they crumbled and continued the trend of close Wild Card Round games.
This is the first time in NFL history there were 4 games decided by 4 points or fewer in a single postseason round.
Rams beat Panthers by 3
Bears beat Packers by 4
Bills beat Jaguars by 3
49ers beat Eagles by 4— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) January 12, 2026
The was no such jeopardy as the Houston Texans thrashed the Pittsburgh Steelers, though. A dominant Texans defence limited Steelers offence to only six points as Aaron Rodgers’ NFL career (likely) ended in a 143-yard whimper. While Houston’s offence hasn’t fired all year, they’re coming good at the right time to have scored 30 in this one on the back of 251 passing yards from C.J. Stroud and 112 yards on the ground through Jo’quavious Marks.
Early Divisional Round Odds
The banged up San Francisco 49ers are preparing to take on a rested and ready Seattle Seahawks as +7.50 and $3.80 underdogs to kickoff Divisional Round. Plenty ruled them out ahead of their Wild Card Round win over the Philadelphia Eagles. Few will rule them out again given what we’ve seen from the 49ers, and these NFL playoffs in general.
While the Denver Broncos finished the NFL regular season with the No. 1 seed, they’re early +1.5 and $1.98 outsiders to beat the Buffalo Bills this week. Josh Allen, as we know, can beat any team in the league on his own when at his best. Meanwhile, the Broncos haven’t always dominated despite their winning record.
The Los Angeles Rams didn’t look their best while beating the Carolina Panthers but will need to play out a complete 60 minutes if they’re to beat the Chicago Bears in the fashion their -3.5 line and $1.50 price suggests they should.
Finally, the New England Patriots take on the Houston Texans as -2.5 and $1.62 favourites. Much has been made of the Patriots schedule this season, but there is no question that they’re are facing one of the best defensive units in the NFL in this one.
Updated Super Bowl LX Odds
The Seattle Seahawks head into the Divisional Round as Super Bowl LX favourites at $3.75 ahead of the Los Angeles Rams at $4. Underdogs before Wild Card Round, the Buffalo Bills are on the third line of betting to win the big one at $6 on the back of their $3.30 to win the AFC Championship. The New England Patriots are alongside the Bills to win the conference at $3.30, but slightly behind the Bills to win the Super Bowl at $6.50.
While the Denver Broncos managed to earn the first week of the playoffs off, they’re on the fifth line of betting to turn that rest into a Vince Lombardi Trophy at $8, ahead of the Houston Texans at $8.50.
The Chicago Bears are never dead, but their $11 to win the Super Bowl suggest the mountain is too high to climb three more times. As expected, the injury-ravaged San Francisco 49ers are given little hope to win at $18.
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