- Commissioner’s statement on Ventura, Marte
- Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion ‘felt so vulnerable’ in final
- Arron Fletcher Wins 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event ($140,224)
- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Kingery makes MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- New Zealand wrap up 2-0 after Bangladesh implosion
- Mathews, Pradeep, Gunathilaka to return to Sri Lanka
- Elliott hopes for rain for Poli
NFL Playoff Odds 2017: AFC, NFC Postseason Picture and Wild-Card Predictions
- Updated: January 2, 2017
The 2016-17 NFL regular season is over, folks. After 17 weeks, 256 games and countless hours of right, wrong and downright bizarre prediction-making, we have finally settled on a postseason tournament.
Remember when people were declaring the Green Bay Packers were done midway through the season? Well, those Packers will be hosting a playoff game on Wild Card Weekend. The same is true for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who once sat at 4-5 and with a less-than-healthy Ben Roethlisberger under center.
A lot has changed over the past couple months of NFL action, and a lot more is likely to change now that the real chase for Super Bowl LI is underway. The first leg of that race will commence this weekend, with four enticing matchups.
Four other teams—the New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons and Kansas City Chiefs—have earned themselves a first-round bye.
Today, we’re going to examine the looming slate of games, along with the latest lines—courtesy of our friends at OddsShark.com. We’ll also make out predictions for each game and examine some of the latest storylines coming out of Week 17.
(Betting lines current as of Jan. 2, 12 p.m. ET)
Wild Card Round
Storylines to Follow
Aaron Rodgers, MVP?
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been the NFL MVP before. In fact, he’s earned the award twice. However, the idea of him winning it this season seemed almost laughable a few months ago.
Rodgers wasn’t playing poorly earlier in the season, unless you’re judging him by the ridiculous standards we’ve come to expect from him (Hint, we were). At one point, the Packers sat at 4-6, and Rodgers had tossed an uncharacteristic seven interceptions to go with 25 touchdowns.
Bleacher Report NFL Lead Scout Doug Farrar wrote the following of Packers coach Mike McCarthy and questions about the team’s offense back in October:
McCarthy has been dealing with these questions for the better part of a year now, quite simply because his passing offense has regressed, and everybody knows it. Never did it regress more than last Sunday, when Green Bay’s formerly viciously efficient passing game looked like something out of the Three Stooges in a 30-16 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
If something was wrong with Rodgers and the …
