Have a good meal! The NFL Regular Season 2025/26 is defeated.
Recap week 18
It was an uneventful last day of play.
NFC
Die Falcons have that with their choked 19-17 win over the Saints Playoff ticket awarded to the Carolina Panthersbut contrary to recent rumors, they cannot save the job of their sports management team: GM Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris had to go, and Fontenot in particular not only deserved to be fired, but also deserved to be tarred and feathered.
Die Panthers go as one of the weakest playoff teams ever in the postseason, which… doesn’t always mean something: Carolina has the fourth weakest point ratio of all playoff teams in NFL history – but the three weaker ones have all won a playoff game each:
- 2010 Seattle in the “Beastquake” game against New Orleans
- 2004 Rams gegen Seattle
- 2011 Broncos in the “John 3:16 Game” against Pittsburgh
All three were then shot down without a chance in the divisional playoff. By the way, Carolina won the regular season game against this year’s wild card opponent, the Rams.
Race for the #2 seed – Eagles und Bears lost their games in each case, although I find it interesting that Philadelphia missed a good chance because they started with a QB backup.
Die Rams On the other hand, unusual for Sean McVay, they actually went through with the starters and secured the ##5 seed.
The NFC Playoff-Feld This looks like this:
#1 Seahawks (14-3)
#2 Bears (11-6)
#3 Eagles (11-6)
#4 Panthers (8-9)
#5 Rams (12-5)
#6 49ers (12-5)
#7 Packers (9-7-1)
AFC
Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore…what can I say? Two teams tried really hard to lose the playoff to win the AFC North. The second half was just one Bug Festivalin which it soon no longer mattered who would have the ball last – but who would score the last, decisive shot.
Komplette Coverage-Busts with receivers 30m alone in a wide area.
Cornerbacks slipping on touchdowns leading to lead changes.
Kicker miss Chip-Shots.
Massive Kickreturns against open coverage.
PenaltiesPenaltys, Penaltys.
Kickoff out of bounds.
Steelers kicker misses the extra point.
Ravens exploit the 4th down and kneel then in a 45-yd range the ball was released with three timeouts in store and even lost space!
Ravens kicker places the 44-yard kick to the right.
Admittedly, the decisive scene was phenomenally commented on by NBC Mike Tirico and a terrific testament to why US broadcasts remain the gold standard:
But you get crazy on TV when you see catastrophes like this Kneeling from John Harbaughwho should actually know better after almost 20 years at the NFL helm. I’m not prone to overreacting, BUT GET HARBAUGH THE HELL OFF MY SCREEN, that’s a decision that screams “Fire! Fire!” screams.
In the end, the game probability chart ran amok, ere Pittsburghs 26-24 Sieg in dry towels was…
…and the Steelers are in the playoffs once againalthough they can’t do much more offensively than Screen, Dump off to the running backand the moment the defense comes forward deep shotand then immediately back to the Small pass weightswhich is so boring that even the 40-minute version will make you fall asleep at the laptop screen.
Next week it’s against them Houston-Texans-Defenseand even if Aaron Rodgers then get rid of the ball in 0.5 seconds just to avoid getting any hits, I don’t think Pittsburgh will have the slightest chance.
To be honest: I don’t know if they Ravens would have been a better playoff team. They are a pretty broken team, no consistency in the offense, a few big plays, but no rhythm, Lamar Jackson not fit enough to be a threat as a runner, as a thrower he was never as complete as he was last year, and on defense he fell to safety yesterday Kyle Hamilton once again a key player. Oh, and: Passrush you searched desperately all season long – and never found it.
Race for the #1 seed: Another brilliant Broncos win against an opponent with a backup QB. Denver is made for you one and done Team.
AFC South: Die Jaguars left no doubt from the start that they had Tennessee under control. Shortly after the start of the game, Houston was only concerned with fixing the #5 seed – which they ultimately managed more poorly than well against the Colts backups.
The AFC-Playoff-Feld looks like this:
#1 Broncos (14-3)
# 2 Patriots (14-3)
#3 Jaguars (13-4)
#4 Steelers (10-7)
#5 Texans (12-5)
#6 Bills (12-5)
#7 Chargers (11-6)
NFL Draft 2026: The Raiders have secured the #1 pick in the long-distance duel against the Giants. The order is now fixed:
#1 Raiders
#2 Jets
#3 Cardinals
#4 Titans
#5 Giants
#6 Browns
#7 Commanders
#8 Saints
#9 Chiefs
#10 Bengals
NFL Wildcard-Weekend 2025/26
Even if at least four matchups sound good: I like it in three days torn apart Wildcard weekend not. Anyway, let’s take a look at the game plan:
Sa 22h30 Carolina Panthers – Los Angeles Rams
On/So 2h Chicago Bears – Green Bay Packers
So 19h Jacksonville Jaguars – Buffalo Bills
So 22h30 Philadelphia Eagles – San Francisco 49ers
So/You 2h New England Patriots – Los Angeles Chargers
Mon/Tue 2h15 Pittsburgh Steelers – Houston Texans
Die Rams are the bookmakers’ clearest favorites with 9.5 points. The Panthers won the regular-season game because they won the turnover duel 3-0 in the pouring rain (including pick six) and went 3/3 on 4th downs (including two 4th-down touchdowns).
It will take a medium-sized miracle if they want to repeat this coup. I wouldn’t bet a cent on it.
Bears und Packers split their regular-season duels: Green Bay won the “first leg” more confidently than the final score suggested (28-21), but then imploded in the final phase of the second leg with a TD, onside kick and Caleb Williams bomb.
Like a year ago, Green Bay goes into the playoffs with relatively bad vibes after key players like DT Wyatt and EDGE Parsons were injured. The run defense is definitely a bad matchup against the Bears, but they are overrated with an 11-6 win record.
For a long time, Chicago was predestined for a clear regression in the season finale – but somehow the Bears managed to get through: a nicely designed offense Ben Johnsona bit of playmaking by Caleb Williams and countless defensive turnovers hide the fact that this team can neither defend nor run a regular passing offense.
Green Bay is favored by the bookmakers with 1.5 points away. If they were fit, the Packers would clearly be the better team. But they are not fit – on the contrary: they are pretty ripped.
Jaguars – Bills. Not a well-known duel – but still totally attractive, and with Trevor Lawrence vs. Josh Allen perhaps the best quarterback matchup. Jacksonville is not entirely dissimilar to the Chicago Bears: offense well designed, defense opportunistic, record a little better than the basics would suggest.
Nevertheless, I think that the Jaguars have found themselves better over the season than Chicago and are more dangerous overall – probably also because they have the better QB. Since the bye week, they have dominated bad teams and beaten good ones – the sign of a very good team overall.
Buffalo is struggling with a defense that can’t get pressure and an offensive playcalling that constantly tends to become too conservative. But the Bills have the best or second-best QB in the playoffs in Allen – if he gets hot, that alone could be enough to win.
Eagles – 49ers: Favorite status of 3.5 points for the Eagles. The Eagles offense plays according to the motto “go out and shoot”. The 49ers offense is trying to get the most out of itself and its quarterback through a scheme.
The crucial matchup comes when the 49ers front has to defend the Eagles running game: If they can do that, the Niners have a chance. But San Francisco’s defense is hardly NFL-ready individually, which is still the case against them individually best busy NFL offense (minus quarterback) can go wrong very quickly.
One possible opportunity for the 49ers is that Philly will be only too happy to stop playing if the team is confident of their success. However, if the Eagles pull this off, the game could be decided before we philosophize about anything else.
San Francisco’s offense faces a defense that is no weaker than the one it saw no land against on Saturday: The Eagles can pass rush with four men, they have a shutdown #1 corner, an excellent slot corner, a very good playmaker at linebacker. Without a fit one LT Trent Williams and TE George Kittle Everyone could be in top form Kyle Shanahan-Spells are free.
Only if things are going perfectly and Brock Purdy the way the QB plays, which the 49ers beat has hyped him to be for years, and the Eagles opt out too early, I see a 49ers upset.
Patriots – Chargers: “Best quarterback matchup” I wrote at Jaguars – Bills? Hell, meet here Drake Maye and Justin Herbert each other, perhaps the two best quarterbacks of the NFL season.
Maye will likely be voted NFL MVP, Herbert should be chosen. Along with Allen and Mahomes, they are the most central quarterbacks for the success of their offense.
Despite some big plays, the Pats don’t have much relief through the running game, their defense is mediocre, and their record is pimped by one of the simplest schedules. The Chargers play a rock-solid, fast dime defense, but offensively they get the lid on any halfway solid pass rush because they have second-rate offensive tackles, weak guards and ignorant playcalling.
Herbert hides what he can hide – but football is too much of a team sport that even the best QB can fix it alone.
Nevertheless, it is an attractive duel. The bookmakers have set the spread at 3.5 points favorite status for New England.
Steelers – Texans. Unspeakable what the Texans front will do to the Steelers if Aaron Rodgers keeps the ball longer here. Ergo: This will be a game in which the ball is out to Rodgers before the receivers have finished running even the shortest routes.
I see Screen and Swingpass Festival come, except that Houston’s defense won’t allow a bar of big plays. DK Metcalfs Return should help Pittsburgh a little, but the only way the Steelers can win this thing is to make the game a mess and completely shut down Houston’s offense, then steal the game with fumble recoveries and special teams returns.
Houston is favored by 3 points.
