The 2024/25 NFL season is officially reaching its pointy end, with 14 of the 32 teams in the competition having secured a spot in the playoffs.
How do the NFL Playoffs work?
14 teams have advanced past the regular season and into the NFL playoffs. There are two conferences in the NFL: the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). The teams compete within these conferences until the Super Bowl, where the winner of the AFC plays the winner of the NFC.
The leading team in both conferences after the regular season – the Kansas City Chiefs (AFC) and the Detroit Lions(NFC) – will both automatically advance past the first round. The remaining 12 teams are left to battle it out this weekend for a spot in the Divisional Round.
The Divisional Round will be followed by the Championship Round to determine the AFC and NFC title holders for the season. Then, the winners of the Championship Round will meet in Super Bowl LIX. The 59th edition of the championship game will feature a half-time show headlined by rapper Kendrick Lamar.
Wild Card Round
The Wild Card Round will see six matchups this weekend. In the AFC, the Buffalo Bills (2) take on the Denver Broncos (7), the Baltimore Ravens (3) play the Pittsburgh Steelers (6), and the Houston Texans (4) are up against the Los Angeles Chargers (5). In the NFC, the Philadelphia Eagles (2) will play the Green Bay Packers (7), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3) play the Washington Commanders (6), and the Los Angeles Rams (4) will do battle against the Minnesota Vikings (5).
Favourites
After finishing atop their respective conferences, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions will begin their post-season campaigns in the Divisional Round, and are the two favourites to go all the way.
The Chiefs, led by superstars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, are seeking to become the first team in the history of the NFL to win three straight Super Bowls. They will play the winner of the Chargers and Texans.
The Lions are led by veteran quarterback Jared Goff and became the NFC’s number-one seed for the first time in their history. The Detroit-based team is seeking its first-ever Super Bowl appearance and victory, but first they’ll have to beat the winner of the Vikings and the Rams.
NFL MVP Award
In the final rounds of the regular season, the race for the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award has heated up between Buffalo Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Allen is the frontrunner for the award, after leading the underrated Bills to a fifth consecutive division title in the AFC East.
Jackson, already a two-time MVP , has had an outstanding year, becoming the first player ever to surpass 4,000 passing yards and 800 rushing yards in a single season.
The winner of the award will be announced the day before the Super Bowl.
