The NFL 2025 regular season is history, and the start of the playoffs is about to arrive. Wild Card Weekend, with six win-or-go-home games, kicks off on Saturday and if the results of the regular season are any indicator, NFL fans are in for some surprises.
This season was a campaign that saw the league’s recent history turned on its head. The Kansas City Chiefs, winners of three Super Bowls in the last six years and three straight AFC championships, missed the playoffs after a 10-year streak of getting to the postseason.
The Chicago Bears, after missing the postseason four straight years and 12 of the last 14, bounced back from a 5-12 season to finish at 11-6, winning the NFC North, something they had not done since 2010, which also was the last year they won a playoff game.
Over in the AFC, the three-time Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos finished at 14-3, their best record since 1998, the season of their second Super Bowl victory. And the six-time Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots returned to dominance in the AFC East after back-to-back four-win seasons, nailing down 14 wins this time to win their division.
To follow those three teams, and the other nine squads in action this weekend, will take some doing. The six games air over three days on five different channels and streaming services. Actually, the final game of the weekend on Monday night will be carried by three networks simultaneously — so seven different carriers will broadcast the six games, to be precise.
Two teams, the Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks, are the top seeds in the AFC and NFC respectively, meaning they get to take the week off and wait to find out who they will play in the Divisional Round the following weekend.
As for the playoff teams in action on Wild Card Weekend, here’s what you need to know to watch every game live.
Saturday Games, January 10
Los Angeles Rams at Carolina Panthers — 4:30 p.m. ET. The weekend gets underway with the 12-5 Rams, the team with the second-best odds to win the Super Bowl heading into the playoffs, traveling cross country to take on the 8-9 Carolina Panthers, who despite their losing record won the NFC South and return to the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
The Panthers get the higher seed and home field by virtue of their divisional title.
The game will air on the Fox Network, with announcers Joe Davis and Greg Olsen.
Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears — 8 p.m. ET. This traditional rivalry clash between original NFL franchises is available only to fans who subscribe to the Amazon Prime streaming service. Amazon uses its Thursday Night Football duo of Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit on the call. Note that fans in the home markets of the two teams can watch the Amazon stream simulcast on WGBA NBC 26 in Green Bay, WITI FOX 6 in Milwaukee, and WFLD FOX 32 in Chicago.
Sunday Games, January 11
Buffalo Bills at Jacksonville Jaguars — 1 p.m. ET. Knocked off their perch atop the AFC East that they had occupied for five years, the Bills travel to Jacksonville to face Trevor Lawrence and the AFC South champion Jaguars to open the biggest day of Wild Card Weekend. The game airs on CBS, with streaming on Paramount+. The CBS “A-team” of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo have the call.
San Francisco 49ers at Philadelphia Eagles — 4:30 p.m. ET. Fox is the only network with two games on Wild Card Weekend and this high-powered NFC matchup gets the network’s top-tier announcing team of Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady.
Los Angeles Chargers at New England Patriots — 8 p.m. ET. The Patriots’ return to the postseason will mark the fifth postseason meeting with the Chargers, fourth in the Super Bowl era. New England has won the last three in a row, while the Chargers defeated the then-Boston Patriots in the 1964 American Football League Championship game.
The game becomes a playoff edition of Sunday Night Football on NBC, also streaming on the Peacock platform, with the usual announcing team of Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth.
Monday Night Football, January 12
Houston Texans at Pittsburgh Steelers — 8 p.m. ET. ESPN and ABC will carry the final game of the weekend, which promises to be a defensive struggle won in the trenches. The announcers, as usual for MNF, will be Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.
ESPN2 will also carry the ManningCast version of the game, with running commentary by retired quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning, along with a lineup of guests. The featured guest this time is set to be retired Steelers quarterback and likely future Hall of Famer Ben Roethlisberger.
That’s it — the full lineup of Wild Card Weekend NFL football, which promises to be a memorable three days for fans, especially those rooting for any of the 12 teams in action.
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