And then there were eight.
The fourth version of NFL “Super Wild Card Weekend” is in the books, and boy was it sure adventurous! Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers became the first No. 7 seed ever to win a playoff game — handing Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys another humiliating postseason defeat.
Oh, and the Detroit Lions just won their first playoff game in 32 years. The drought is over, and now they’re just two victories away from the franchise’s first-ever Super Bowl. Of course, seven other teams share that same goal. Eight remain, but there’s only room for one winner.
So with that all said, let’s dive into our Divisional Round edition of the 2023 NFL power rankings!
8. Green Bay Packers (14)
The future is now, alright.
Jordan Love was almost perfect in his NFL playoff debut, doing his best Aaron Rodgers impression by carving up the Dallas Cowboys like turkey in Sunday’s 48-32 victory at AT&T Stadium.
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Don’t let the final score fool you. This game was over once the Pack went up 27-0 in the first half. Love and Aaron Jones were unstoppable all game long, and the Green Bay D only gave up points to Dak Prescott when they were essentially in prevent formation. Big deal.
While the Cowboys are mulling over another humiliating playoff collapse, the Packers are rolling into the Divisional Round – where they’ll meet the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers.
Christian McCaffrey and company are mega favorites here, but bet against Matt LaFleur’s group at your own risk. Love is playing at, ahem, an Aaron Rodgers-like level if you will — and Joe Barry’s D has been at its best when their season’s on the line.
Rodgers lost all four of his career playoff games to the 49ers. How fitting would it be if Love did what Rodgers could never do this weekend?
The Packers-49ers epic playoff rivalry is back on. Now let’s see if Love can keep the Cinderella run going by pulling off an even bigger upset in San Fran.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (13)
The Baker Mayfield train just keeps on rolling!
The first overall pick of 2018 continued the dream season by leading the Bucs to a blowout win over the self-destructing Philadelphia Eagles. Blame Matt Patricia, Nick Sirianni, the Eagles D or Jalen Hurts all you want — the Bucs earned that W against a deeper and more talented Philly team.
Some of you are still dismissing the Bucs and already crowning the Lions as victors for the Divisional Round. We say hold your horses.
Baker is playing the best football of his career. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are both playing as good as ever, and Rachaad White’s breakout year in the backfield has been a significant difference-maker.
Much of that championship pedigree from 2020 remains on defense, too: Lavonte David, Vita Vea, Shaq Barrett, Devin White, Antoine Winfield Jr., Carlton Davis and Jamel Dean. So don’t you think for a minute that these Bucs will be fazed by the pressure and raucous crowd in Detroit.
Tampa lost Tom Brady to retirement and had more than $80 million in dead money on the books this year. Making the playoffs was one thing. Winning the NFC South was already gravy — but now they can order extra turkey with a bonus “elite eight” appearance on the board.
The Lions’ secondary struggled mightily against Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams on Wild Card Weekend — so Tampa has the blueprint to win on the offensive side of the ball. But this game might ultimately come down to how their fierce front seven does against arguably football’s best offensive line.
There’s a lot to like about the Bucs-Lions matchup. A showdown of two former first overall picks in Baker and Jared Goff. Get your popcorn ready.
6. Houston Texans (11)
How fitting.
Two years ago, the Cleveland Browns gave up the farm to the Texans for Deshaun Watson, believing he was the final piece to help them get to the mountaintop.
This year, the Browns’ latest bid at a Super Bowl was busted by none other than CJ Stroud and the Texans. And Watson wasn’t even playing in that game, as he watched Joe Flacco take it on the chin over and over again in a disheartening 45-14 loss.
Houston’s package from Cleveland in the Watson trade led to them getting Stroud, Will Anderson Jr. and Tank Dell. And while the Browns are regretting that Watson trade, the Texans are celebrating the first of many playoff wins in the Stroud-DeMeco Ryans era.
Stroud threw for 274 yards, three touchdowns and no picks while taking zero sacks against a stingy Browns defense. Not sure why, but something tells us the kid is built for the big moments.
And now the Texans, with nothing to lose, travel to Baltimore to take on likely MVP winner Lamar Jackson and the top-seeded Ravens. We know Baltimore handled Houston with relative ease back in Week 1, but Stroud and the Texans have come a long way since that loss.
Houston had the No. 6-ranked run D in the regular season, so they’re well-suited to give this Ravens offense some issues. Few people will give the Texans a chance, but you saw the way they dismantled a surging Cleveland team.
Why can’t they continue the momentum and take down the Ravens? Count them out as you like. Stroud’s squad wouldn’t have it any other way.
5. Kansas City Chiefs (7)
The freezing conditions at Arrowhead Stadium greatly benefitted the Chiefs, who had no problem putting away Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins on Wild Card Weekend with a 26-7 victory.
Tyreek Hill’s return to Arrowhead as a visitor was a hot storyline, but the game itself was only exciting for those who enjoy field goals and punts. It wasn’t KC’s best outing on offense, but as has been the case all year, the defense flexed its muscles and put the clamps down in a slugfest of a victory.
KC’s big win sends Patrick Mahomes on the road to the postseason for the first time in his career — and it’ll come against none other than Josh Allen and the red-hot Buffalo Bills.
Nothing more needs to be said about their rivalry that hasn’t already been said. While Allen and Buffalo have won their last three regular season contests at Arrowhead, Mahomes and the Chiefs were victorious in the 2020 AFC Championship and 2021 Divisional Round games.
Finally, the Bills get home advantage against Mahomes’ squad.
The Chiefs have already been there, done that, with three AFC banners and two Super Bowls. They don’t have much to lose coming into this game against the Bills, who are still awaiting their first true breakthrough moment under Allen and Sean McDermott.
Buffalo might be slightly better on paper, but Mahomes is the great equalizer. Buckle down and get ready for what quite literally might be the best NFL game since, well, the last Chiefs-Bills playoff game two years ago!
If you’re a KC fan, here’s hoping Kadarius Toney doesn’t line up offsides again.
4. Detroit Lions (5)
It happened, everyone. It finally happened.
Goodbye to the Lions “Rebuilding since 1957” jokes — for good. With Jared Goff leading Detroit to their first playoff win in 32 years, it’s clear that this IS NOT “the same old Lions.” It’s a brand new era of Detroit football.
It still hasn’t hit us that we’re talking about the Lions among the NFL’s “elite eight”, but here they are. Goff narrowly outdueled Matthew Stafford in a Wild Card Round showdown that completely lived up to the sky-high expectations — a nail biting 24-23 victory that sent Detroit to the Divisional Round.
There, they’ll meet Baker Mayfield and the red-hot Buccaneers. I guess the whole “Taylor Decker didn’t report eligible” fiasco worked out just fine for Detroit, seeing how they managed to go further in the playoffs than the Cowboys anyway.
So now Detroit is suddenly just one win away from reaching its first NFC Championship Game since the 1991 season. And just as we all predicted, it’s the Baker Mayfield-led Bucs standing in their way of the final four.
You thought Ford Field was rocking against the Rams? Just wait for the Divisional Round tilt. Detroit Fans will really put the “motor” in “Motor City” when the Lions take the field against the Bucs.
3. Buffalo Bills (3)
As expected, the Bills made relatively easy work of the Pittsburgh Steelers to punch a ticket to the Divisional Round for the fourth straight year.
And if you’re a neutral fan like us, you can’t be more fired up. The Chiefs against the Bills in the postseason for the third time in four years. Josh Allen vs. Patrick Mahomes is the closest we’ve gotten to the new Tom Brady-Peyton Manning QB rivalry, and it’s delivered in every aspect so far.
The Chiefs are the proven champions looking for one more Super Bowl to cement dynasty status. The Bills, on the other hand, have been building up a bit of a reputation as postseason underachievers.
This game for the Bills feels similar to the 2006 AFC Championship Game for Peyton’s Indianapolis Colts. The third time was a charm against Brady and the New England Patriots.
Had Manning lost that game, who knows how much different his legacy would look like today? It feels similar for Josh Allen. What if his archrival goes 3-0 against him in the playoffs — this time beating him on his own turf?
If Buffalo loses, there’s gonna be calls for changes — hello, Sean McDermott. If they win, this will be a defining moment for the Bills’ franchise — and it puts them one step closer to the Super Bowl.
Which one’s it gonna be? Stay tuned.
2. San Francisco 49ers (2)
What a fun week for the 49ers…we think?
They’re heads-and-shoulders above everybody else in the NFC, but if there was one team that could GIVE them a challenge? Maybe the star-studded Dallas Cowboys, who were throttled by the Packers on Wild Card Weekend.
So now the 49ers path to a Super Bowl is this: A win over Jordan Love’s Packers and, at worst, a shaky Jared Goff-led Detroit Lions squad with some question marks on defense. So yeah, anything less than a Super Bowl appearance will be considered a colossal disaster for Kyle Shanahan’s squad.
The 49ers have the edge across the board…in the words of Bill Belichick, “Offense, defense, special teams, coaching.”
Rushing champion Christian McCaffrey will face the fifth-worst rush defense of 2023 — one that allowed 128.3 yards per contest. Matt LaFleur’s D has never really had an answer for the 49ers’ potent rushing game, and Deebo Samuel seems to play his best ball against the Packers.
If there’s one concern for San Fran, it might be their pass D that ranked middle-of-the-pack. They’ll need their corners to win their one-on-one matchups against Green Bay’s young receiving corps that made a stingy Cowboys’ secondary look like Swiss Cheese.
A new chapter of the 49ers-Packers rivalry begins this weekend at Levi’s Stadium — with Jordan Love replacing Aaron Rodgers as the new leader of the Packers’ army. Giddy up.
1. Baltimore Ravens (1)
Depending on which Ravens fan you ask, some will say they’re relieved to have avoided the archrival Steelers in the Wild Card Round. Others will tell you they’d rather face Mason Rudolph than CJ Stroud.
Either way, Baltimore was always gonna be the considerable favorite for their Divisional Round tilt. Lo and behold, they get Stroud and the Texans. You’ll recall that back in Week 1, the Ravens defeated Houston 25-9 in Stroud’s NFL debut.
This matchup has a lot of similarities to the Ravens’ last home playoff game — a 2019 Divisional Round home loss to the Tennessee Titans. Those Titans, like this year’s Texans, only qualified for the playoffs on the final day of the season and entered the playoffs with nothing to lose.
Tennessee’s fierce front gave Jackson and the Ravens problems all day long in that shocking upset. The Texans can wreak havoc with the Anderson and Jonathan Greenard (GRUH-NARD)-led defense.
Surely, John Harbaugh’s squad knows they can’t take anything granted. One win at home gets the franchise to its first AFC Championship Game in 11 years — on their home turf no less.
If the Ravens can’t get it done, the whole “Lamar can’t win the big one” talk will grow louder. No pressure at all on football’s No. 1 team of the regular season!
Who do you think will win the four Divisional Round playoff matchups this weekend?
