The best weekend of the NFL season is set – the Divisional round, which will kick off next weekend on Saturday, January 18, and Sunday, January 19.
The AFC Wildcard is officially in the books as the Buffalo Bills (13-4) knock off the Denver Broncos (10-7), 31-7 on Sunday afternoon. The Bills will move on to host the Baltimore Ravens (12-5), who took care of business Saturday night, defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7) 28-14.
Next weekend will be a rematch between the Bills and Ravens from their Week 4 matchup when Baltimore pounded the Buffalo 35-10 on September 29. The winner of that game will play either Kansas City or Houston in the AFC Championship on Sunday, January 26.
The Kansas City Chiefs (15-2), who are en route to a three-peat, will host the Houston Texans (10-7) in the Divisional round. Houston defeated the Los Angeles Chargers (11-6) 32-12, on Saturday afternoon to advance to the next round. Kansas City and Houston last played on December 21, when the Chiefs defeated the Texans 27-19.
Next weekend will be the third all-time postseason meeting between the Chiefs and Texans. The last time these two clubs met in the playoffs, was in the Divisional round of the 2019 AFC playoffs when Kansas City came back from a 24-0 deficit to beat Houston 51-31.
This postseason will be the first time quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and C.J. Stroud will face one another in a playoff game. In the regular season, Mahomes connected on 67.5% of his passes for 3,928 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 11 picks. While Stroud completed 63.2% of his throws for 3,727 yards and 20 touchdowns to just 12 interceptions.
Many consider the Divisional round the best weekend of the NFL because many of the most historic and marquee matchups have been played during that portion of the postseason. This year includes two great matchups between four great teams that all look to advance a game closer to representing the conference in Super Bowl LIX.
