NFL Playoff Bracket 2017: Picks and Predictions for AFC, NFC Wild Card

There is still one week remaining in the 2016 NFL regular season, but plenty of football fans, players and coaches are already looking ahead to the following week of action.

This is, at least in part, because a large contingent of playoff participants are already booked. An even larger group of teams possess no chance of reaching the postseason at all. While we’re going to emphasize that there is still a lot of football to be played before Wild Card Weekend, we’re here today to look ahead to the playoffs, too.

Not only are we going to try projecting what teams make it into the opening round, we’re going to make some bold predictions for that week as well. First, though, let’s examine exactly what the playoff picture looks like.

Week 17 Playoff Picture

Bold Predictions

Chiefs Reclaim AFC West, Earn First-Round Bye

If the Kansas City Chiefs manage to get past the San Diego Chargers in Week 17, they’ll have a shot at earning the AFC West title. Seeing as how the Chargers are the team that finally allowed the Cleveland Browns to win a game, we’ll assume Kansas City can get the job done.

The other half of the equation, though, is that the Oakland Raiders must lose to the Denver Broncos on Sunday. This would leave both the Chiefs and Raiders at 12-4. Since Kansas City has already bested Oakland twice, the Chiefs get to slip on the division crown.

Whichever team wins the AFC West is also going to win a first-round bye, so the potential spoils here are double.

Our friends over at OddsShark.com have Denver as a one-point favorite over the Raiders (as of Dec. 30), even though Oakland earned a 10-point victory the last time the two teams met.

This is due to the fact that starting quarterback Derek Carr is out for the year, replaced for now by Matt McGloin.

However, the presence of McGloin isn’t the reason we believe the Broncos can get their revenge in Week 17. Oakland utilized a run-heavy attack (218 yards rushing) to beat Denver the last time and will likely utilize the same strategy again.

The Broncos, though, should be fired up and ready to relish in the spoiler role. They are playing at home and fielding a defense that is still rated second overall by Pro Football Focus. The trick will be the Broncos getting enough offense to win.

The Broncos haven’t scored more than 10 points in any of their last three games.

According to Mike Klis of Denver 9 News, the Broncos plan to play both starting quarterback …

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