The Green Bay Packers will not be continuing in the NFL Playoffs after falling to the Chicago Bears 31-27 in the Wild Card round. The game, which was played in Chicago, actually had seen the Bears enter play as underdogs against the Packers. However, thanks to outscoring Green Bay 25-6 in the fourth quarter, Chicago is the team advancing to the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs.
Similarly, former Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his Pittsburgh Steelers were eliminated from the postseason Monday night, falling to the Houston Texans by a score of 30-6.
Now that the Wild Card round is over, the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs is set, and there could be three underdogs who come out on top and make it to the Conference Championship games.
NFL Divisional Round matchups
While the Packers and Rodgers are out of the NFL Playoffs, Green Bay fans will still be able to watch form All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams, whose Los Angeles Rams are taking on the Chicago Bears. Prediction market apps highlight three of the four Divisional Round games that could result in an upset.
1. Los Angeles Rams at Chicago Bears
The Bears, who knocked Green Bay out of the NFL Playoffs, are hosting Adams and the Rams on Sunday afternoon. Chicago is favored -2.5 according to ESPN, but could very well see their season come to an end.
As was seen Saturday, and often throughout the season, Chicago has a tendency to fall behind early in games and then uses late comebacks to secure their wins. Despite Los Angeles quarterback Matthew Stafford having a sprained index finger on his throwing hand, the Rams offense has everything it needs to keep the ball on sustained drives and out of the Bears’ hands.
If Adams and Los Angeles can control the time of possession and avoid turnovers, they could very well upset Chicago.
2. Houston Texans at New England Patriots
After watching how convincingly the Texans defense dominated Rodgers and the Steelers on Monday night, they will most undoubtedly be a popular underdog bet when they take on the New England Patriots in the AFC Divisional Round.
Currently, ESPN has the Texans listed as three-point underdogs as they will have to go on the road to play Drake Maye and the Patriots.
To be fair, New England has a better offensive line and more weapons on offense than Pittsburgh, so Houston may not have as dominant a performance against them. That being said, this is a Texans defense that gave up the fewest yards per game this season and generated the second-most turnovers in the league.
One obvious hurdle will be the possible loss of wide receiver Nico Collins, who suffered a concussion in the win over the Steelers.
3. Buffalo Bills at Denver Broncos
This game is picked to be the closest of all the Divisional Round games, with the Buffalo Bills being a 1.5-point underdog as they travel to Denver to take on the Broncos.
The clear reason why Buffalo can win this game lies in the fact that they have the best quarterback left in the NFL Playoffs, Josh Allen, who has been able to will his team to victory time and time again this season.
A physical quarterback himself, Allen can match the physical play of Broncos defenders and will not be so easy a target to bring down. If Buffalo can keep Allen relatively clean, they can beat just about anyone, and the Broncos are no exception.
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