And then there were 14.
The NFL playoff field was finally set Sunday night, the Steelers winning the 272nd and final game of the 2025 regular season and claiming the last spot in the tournament that will feed into Super Bowl 60 on Feb. 8.
‘It just takes a little belief at this point in the season,’ said Pittsburgh quarterback Aaron Rodgers following the victory, the four-time league MVP back in the postseason for the first time in four years and in pursuit of his first championship since he led the Packers to victory in Super Bowl 45.
‘It’s good to be part of the 14 after so many years. … (N)ice to be back in this position.’
Yet how good is the positioning of the Steelers and the 13 other playoff qualifiers in what’s seemingly shaping up as a wide-open road to the Lombardi Trophy? We’ve ranked all of them, from worst to best, in terms of their championship viability:
14. Carolina Panthers
Congratulations are certainly in order for a team that’s reached postseason for the first time in eight years by supplanting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers atop the NFC South. Now, let’s get real. The Panthers have won once since their Week 14 bye and lost to the Bucs on Saturday. Carolina was then literally backed into the field Sunday by the Atlanta Falcons, their four-game heater to end the season creating a three-way tie atop the division – a deadlock that conferred the decisive tiebreaker to the Panthers. Carolina (8-9) became just the fifth team in league history to win a division title despite a losing record; none of the previous ones got past the divisional round. And while QB Bryce Young will occasionally explode with an eye-popping performance, those are basically one-offs – the third-year passer throwing for as many as 200 yards just four times this season. Simply put, virtually impossible to envision a scenario where this club goes on a three- or four-game run against the league’s best competition.
13. Los Angeles Chargers
They’re physical. They play tough defense. They’ve statistically got the most accurate kicker – by far – in league history in Cameron Dicker. And they’re coached by Jim Harbaugh, who has championship experience – and piloted the 49ers to Super Bowl 47 in his second year in San Francisco. But the Bolts would have to win three times on the road in order to reach Super Bowl 60. QB Justin Herbert has endured two unsightly losses in his two previous playoff appearances and could be subject to another one playing behind an offensive line that’s been patchworked with bubble gum and baling wire for months. Even Dicker’s gone relatively cold, missing a field goal and extra point in the team’s four-point loss to Houston in Week 17, the one that relegated L.A. to its wild-card route. It also seems folly to trust a franchise – one that’s never won a Super Bowl – which lost by at least 14 points in four of its six defeats this season.
12. Green Bay Packers
Absent from the Super Sunday stage since Rodgers last took them, the Pack enter postseason as a No. 7 seed – meaning, like the Chargers, they’ll need to be road warriors tasked with facing the conference’s top seeds if they continue to advance – for the third straight year under current QB1 Jordan Love. And while he led Green Bay on a lovely run two years ago, falling just shy of the NFC championship game, this edition seems more akin to the battered crew that went one-and-done in the 2024 postseason. It’s hard to look much further than DE Micah Parsons, supposedly the missing piece who’d bring another title to Titletown – and he might yet. But, obviously, he won’t do it this season after tearing his ACL on Dec. 14. The Packers haven’t won since he went down, currently on a four-game skid that’s seen Love get concussed while the defense has effectively disintegrated. Better luck in 2026, fellas.
11. Pittsburgh Steelers
Maybe you’d heard they haven’t won a playoff game in nine years? Maybe you’d heard that they’ve fallen into (at least) a 21-point hole in each their six postseason losses over that duration? Maybe you’d heard Rodgers has lost four of his last six playoff starts. Would it be a shock if Pittsburgh, which will get WR DK Metcalf back from his suspension this week, beats the Texans by the confluence of the Three Rivers on Monday night? Not really. The Steelers are a team laden with accomplished veterans who showed again in Sunday night’s thrilling victory over the archrival Baltimore Ravens that they shouldn’t be taken lightly. But a lot of those vets are graybeards on the back ends of their careers, very few of them with actual Super Bowl experience – and none likely to get any now.
10. Buffalo Bills
Did you know they haven’t won a playoff game on the road … since the 1992 playoffs? That alone should stir skepticism of a team that’s reached the past seven postseasons. But more concerning than ancient history is recent history – namely the foot injury QB Josh Allen suffered in Week 16. He hasn’t looked the same since despite his claims to the contrary. Maybe effectively taking Week 18 off will be a major benefit, but no team is more reliant on one player than Buffalo is on Allen. The Bills already had ample issues – no alpha receiver, kicking game inconsistencies and an inability to stop the run. But if Allen isn’t close to 100%, everything else is moot.
9. San Francisco 49ers
Had they beaten Seattle on Saturday night, then the Niners wouldn’t have taken another road trip for the rest of this season – a California Gold Rush opportunity to get home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and potentially host Super Bowl 60 in their own building, Levi’s Stadium. Instead, a team that had averaged 35.7 points during its six-game win streak was nearly shut out by the victorious Seahawks. Worse, the 49ers, already decimated by injuries this season, were physically manhandled by Seattle and will be less than fresh physically as they embark on a cross-country trip to face the reigning Super Bowl champion Eagles. RB Christian McCaffrey, in particular, seems to be wearing down after handling a league-high and career-high 413 touches – a huge burden but probably a necessary one to keep this team afloat. This is a battle-tested team, one that’s played in four conference championships and two Super Bowls under coach Kyle Shanahan. It’s also one that could be out of gas – problematic, given a short-handed defense, since the Niners would probably continue needing to win shootouts in order to stave off elimination.
8. New England Patriots
Admittedly, this seems low for a team seeded second in the AFC. What’s not to like, you ask, about a team that wouldn’t have to hit the road any earlier than the conference title round? After all, if second-year QB Drake Maye isn’t the league MVP, then he’ll almost certainly be the runner-up. Mike Vrabel, who won three Super Bowl rings with the Pats as an All-Pro linebacker and was a member of the club that went 16-0 in the 2007 regular season, not only knows what success looks like in January, he’s a brilliant tactician as a head coach – one generally beloved by his players. Yet it’s just hard to shake the notion that Maye doesn’t have a premier weapon; he’s not always adequately protected himself; and the defense doesn’t generate all that much pressure or explosive plays in general. And it must be reiterated that, while the Patriots won 14 games, only one was against an opponent that finished the season above .500. Equally worrisome – purely in a football context here – is the possibility that the legal issues which have caught up to WR Stefon Diggs and DT Christian Barmore will not only serve as continued distractions for the team at large, but could take one or both players off the field at some point in the coming weeks.
7. Chicago Bears
They’ve been fueled by a fiery, hotshot rookie head coach (Ben Johnson) and a quarterback drafted No. 1 overall (Caleb Williams) … if one who’d recently faced questions about unfulfilled (unreasonable?) expectations. They’re committed to the run but get plenty of big plays from their passing game and special teams. And how about that defense and all the turnovers it generates? Also doesn’t hurt to know you’re guaranteed at least two home playoff games as long as you’re alive. But the Bears have been something of a high-wire act all season and don’t exactly carry momentum into the playoffs – losing their past two games and last winning one in regulation on Dec. 14. Williams is a playmaker who tends to rise to the occasion – engineering a league-best six fourth-quarter comebacks this season. But not yet through his second NFL season, he still isn’t a volume passer or one who’s known for a high completion rate (58.1% in 2025). The Bears generally seem way ahead of schedule under Johnson … but it’s expecting a lot to hope a team so reliant on big plays and good fortune is the one that will win the organization’s first Super Bowl in 40 years.
6. Jacksonville Jaguars
They’ve been fueled by a fiery, hotshot rookie head coach (Liam Coen) and a quarterback drafted No. 1 overall (Trevor Lawrence) … if one who’d recently faced questions about unfulfilled (unreasonable?) expectations. They’re committed to the run but get plenty of big plays from their passing game and special teams. And how about that defense and all the turnovers it generates? Also doesn’t hurt to know you’re guaranteed at least one home playoff game as long as you’re alive. Winners of eight in a row, there’s every reason to believe the Jags will continue hanging around for a while. And if winning league MVP honors was predicated on post-Thanksgiving performance (by the way, it’s not), then Lawrence would be a shoo-in. His surge has coincided with WR Jakobi Meyers, a midseason acquisition, getting comfortable in the offense. And good luck to Bills RB James Cook, the newly crowned rushing champ about to face the league’s top-ranked run defense. The Jags generally seem way ahead of schedule under Coen … and the stars may just be aligning in a way that this team could be the one to win the organization’s first Super Bowl … ever.’
5. Denver Broncos
Are they the fifth-best team in the field? Maybe? Maybe not? I’d argue – am I actually arguing with myself here?!?! – that perhaps it’s a bit too lofty for the AFC West champions, who had one impressive win in the season’s second half. But this is a discussion about Lombardi viability – and what’s inarguable about the Broncos is that they have home-field advantage and need only win two more games to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in a decade. To be clear, no shade intended toward a team that just won 14 games and dislodged the Kansas City Chiefs from their long-held divisional throne. Yet the Broncos are still a young crew – one that was thoroughly outclassed during its playoff return at Buffalo a year ago. Denver can hang its hat on an intimidating defense, an outstanding offensive line and a championship-caliber coach in Sean Payton. Yet the offense consistently has to dig out of second-half holes – maybe because second-year QB Bo Nix seems to have plateaued after a strong rookie season, maybe because he just doesn’t have elite playmakers around him, maybe it’s a combination thereof. Given the kind of year it’s been league-wide, it certainly wouldn’t be a shock if the Broncos win it all. But it would be far less surprising if they’re one and done.
4. Houston Texans
Home or away, rain or shine, defense travels. And whether you’re looking at the tape, the stat sheet – the Texans rank No. 1 overall defensively and second in points allowed – or watching it get off the bus, this is as daunting a unit as there is in the league. At the vanguard, DEs Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, the only duo in the league with at least a dozen sacks apiece in 2025. Did we mention no team is hotter, Houston carrying a nine-game winning streak into the postseason? Relatively speaking, on the other side of the ball, a middling offense hasn’t been nearly as good. Still, QB C.J. Stroud, the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2023, has generally rebounded from something of a sophomore slump in 2024. Nico Collins, who took Week 18 off, is one of the league’s standout wideouts. Also, middling is just fine on offense if the defense is in its typical form – the Texans needing 23 points or fewer in half of their 12 wins. Another franchise in pursuit of its first championship – and first appearance in the AFC championship game – this could certainly be the year the Texans break through. And lest you’ve forgotten, Houston isn’t some ramshackle, Johnny-come-lately outfit emerging from the (previously) lowly AFC South. This is a seasoned squad under coach DeMeco Ryans, one that’s reached the divisional round two years running and gave the dynastic Chiefs pretty much all they could handle at Arrowhead last January.
3. Philadelphia Eagles
Off the top, this team isn’t as good as the one that cruised past Kansas City in Super Bowl 59. Philly can’t even count on the ‘Tush Push’ anymore. So what. Despite the drama that’s followed the Eagles all season – doesn’t it always? – they’ve played much better over the past month and regained confidence. The run game has improved, QB Jalen Hurts is back to his winning less-is-more formula, DT Jalen Carter returned from shoulder surgery, and OL Lane Johnson and Landon Dickerson likely will play Sunday against the 49ers. And criticize coach Nick Sirianni all you want, but resting his starters in Week 18 a year ago was a strategy that paid off. Special teams could be an Achilles. Otherwise, a team that’s played in two of the past three Super Bowls appears as well positioned as any to reach another.
2. Los Angeles Rams
Their 38-37 overtime loss to the Seahawks in Week 16 effectively cost them the No. 1 seed and took wind out of the collective sails late in the season, the Rams seemingly sleepwalking through a good chunk of their Week 17 loss at Atlanta, too. But coach Sean McVay got a much sharper performance from his troops Sunday against Arizona. More importantly, LT Alaric Jackson rejoined the lineup, and WR Davante Adams and DB Quentin Lake will follow suit for Saturday’s game in Charlotte – and so might RG Kevin Dotson. As the injuries resolve, so too should the performance of a team that’s routinely been overwhelming on both sides of the ball. And though it’s a small sample size, the troubled special teams have stabilized – and excelled in spots – since veteran assistant Ben Kotwica was promoted to coordinate them following the unit’s debacle in Seattle. L.A. lost to the Panthers in Week 13, the run defense too frequently gashed. But the Rams are the decidedly superior team – the only one that put a scare into an elite Eagles juggernaut in last season’s playoffs – and one very well equipped to go all the way this time around. Oh yeah, QB Matthew Stafford was the league’s premier player in 2025 … and WR Puka Nacua wasn’t far behind.
1. Seattle Seahawks
They roll into their well-deserved bye week after racking up victories in their past seven games, the lengthiest active winning streak in the NFC. Seattle is similar to Houston – physically and schematically dominant on defense and more than adequate on offense. But this may also be the time to give Seattle more credit on that side of the ball. It’s not always pretty, but QB Sam Darnold was deserving of his second Pro Bowl nod in as many years. Yep, he’s prone to making a costly turnover. But he’s also shown he’s not just along for the ride and is more than capable of winning big games with his arm. He’s certainly got the trust and respect of his teammates. He’s also got Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the NFL’s most productive receiver this season with 1,793 receiving yards. Newly extended LT Charles Cross will also be back for the divisional round after missing three games with a bum hamstring. But what might terrify Seattle’s opponents even more than boisterous Lumen Field, where the Seahawks have won 10 of their last 11 playoff games, is a surging rushing attack that’s exceeded 160 yards each of the past three weeks and has averaged better than 140 over the last nine games. Good luck finding a better group of special teamers – especially after the midseason addition of WR Rashid Shaheed, a dynamic returner. And oh that defense, the league’s stingiest in terms of points allowed and one that can relentlessly send waves of fresh pass rushers and defensive backs at opposing quarterbacks. A rubber match with the Rams in the NFC title game sure would be fun – and, similar to the Broncos but unlike the Rams, the Seahawks would only need one win to reach that stage.
