NFL Playoffs – Who Will Eliminate Each NFC Team?

The nice thing about the college football postseason is that teams other than the national champion can go home a winner. But that is not the case with the NFL Playoffs.

It is a great accomplishment just to make the NFL playoffs. However, every team but one will end their season in defeat.

If the oddsmakers at DraftKings are to be believed, the AFC will win the Super Bowl again (winning conference—AFC -150, NFC +122). That means at some point in the next few weeks, every NFC team is going to be eliminated by someone.

So, the question is this—who is going to eliminate whom? Or will there be an NFC team left standing in the end?

It is easy to assume that the higher-seeded teams will win in the NFL Playoffs. But as fans saw last week in the wild card round, seeding does not matter. The only thing that does is who wants to win it more and who plays a better game.

Fans of the 3-seed Seattle Seahawks probably assumed their team would beat the 6-seed Los Angeles Rams. But the Rams played a much better game (and won, 30-20) than the Seahawks.

They earned the right to face off against the Green Bay Packers (the No. 1 seed in the NFC) in the divisional round.

As could be expected, the Packers are favored to beat the Rams this weekend (by 6.5 points; spread via 888sport). The possibility of not having Aaron Donald or Cooper Kupp available makes it harder to get behind the Rams pulling.

The uncertainty at quarterback does not help much, either.

But if the Rams are at full strength, they will not make it easy on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Do not count on the Rams making it past this week.

As for the Saints-Buccaneers game, the assumption is that it will be a close, hard-fought game. Oddsmakers have the Saints favored to win by three.

However, some fans will look at their two regular-season matchups and think there is no way this game is that close (Week One—34-23, Saints; Week Nine—38-3, Saints).

Yes, both games were convincing wins for the Saints. But the Buccaneers offense has come a long way since then. Tom Brady has had to learn the offense as he goes this season.

The offense did not look too shabby down the stretch. Tampa Bay averaged 37 points a game in their last four.

Tampa Bay will look a lot better than it did in their previous two meetings with the Saints. But the Saints are still the better team. With their defense and the weapons Drew Brees has on offense, it is not hard to see the Saints winning this game.

That means the NFC Championship will be between the Saints and the Packers. When they played back in Week Three, the Packers won by seven, 37-30. But heading into the fourth quarter, the game was tied at 27-27.

It will be a close game, but New Orleans will probably be the favorite with how the Saints defense is playing lately. But that does not mean they will win…

More than likely, the Rams injury issues will catch up to them this week when they face the Green Bay Packers (team to eliminate Rams—Green Bay -335; odds via 888sport).

As for the Buccaneers-Saints game, while that one could go either way, look for the Saints to come out ahead (team to eliminate Buccaneers—New Orleans -167).

The NFC Championship game between the Saints and Packers is going to be a close one. It would be hard to find fault with anyone picking one team over the other.

Green Bays’ odds of eliminating the Saints are +260; the Saints’ odds of eliminating Green Bay are +400.

Flip a coin or go with your gut; that one is a tough one to call. However, Green Bay’s odds of getting beat by the Chiefs (+525) are better than those of the Saints (+800).