After seventeen grueling weeks on the gridiron, the NFL playoffs are finally upon us! The upcoming Wild Card Weekend officially kicks off the road to Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium. One of the most common themes in this year’s contenders are teams that started off very slow in September, but are now peaking at the right time. This year’s first round of postseason action provides no shortage of intriguing matchups, most of which feature the road team as the favorite to win.

Saturday, January 9th

Kansas City Chiefs(11-5) @ Houston Texans(9-7), 1:35p.m. PT on ABC/ESPN

The first game of Wild Card Weekend is a matchup of the two unlikeliest playoff teams, thinking back to around the midway point of the season. Kansas City, on one hand, proceeded to drop five in a row after winning their season opener. Meanwhile in south Texas, rumors of a firing of head coach Bill O’Brien were starting to swirl around, as the team began the year at a disappointing 2-5 mark. It would be quite an understatement to say that both clubs have picked it up since. The Texans wrapped their campaign by winning seven of their final nine games, and the Chiefs have yet to falter a single time since that dreadful stretch early in the year. Overall, defense has played an incredibly important in the resurgence of both teams. For Houston, superstar defensive end J.J. Watt, the NFL’s leader in sacks, has led the way for the league’s number three defense in terms of yards given up. In Kansas City, a persistent pass rush led by Justin Houston, Tamba Hali, and Dee Ford has wreaked havoc on opposing quarterbacks all year long, while rookie sensation and Oakland native Marcus Peters has anchored the secondary. In addition, the Chiefs are only giving up an average of 13.2 points since week five.

Prediction: Kansas City edges Houston in a relatively close one on the road, identical to their battle in week one. The Chiefs and quarterback Alex Smith will take care of the football, as they normally did all year with only 15 turnovers, and rely on their stout defense to force Houston QB Brian Hoyer into making mistakes and taking sacks in clutch situations. Texans star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins will be completely shut down by Peters and the offense will really have nowhere else to go, with a running game that is already very weak. Smith and the conservative Kansas City offense will score just enough points to get by, and it’s on to the Mile High for a showdown with the Broncos!

Pittsburgh Steelers(10-6) @ Cincinnati Bengals(12-4), 5:15p.m. PT on CBS

For the third time this season, these two AFC North rivals will square off, this time in a winner-takes-all postseason showdown. Injuries are a major theme in the outlook of this game and may prove to ultimately be the deciding factor. Both teams have overcome losing their starting quarterback for an extended amount of time this year, though Cincinnati will have go into this game without Andy Dalton under center. For Pittsburgh, running back stud Le’Veon Bell was lost for the year after damaging his MCL in week eight, and his replacement DeAngelo Williams, who’s rushed for over 900 yards in 10 starts, has now been ruled out after suffering a right foot injury last Sunday. Nonetheless, both sides possess a very strong receiving corps that will be heavily depended on throughout the night.

Prediction: The Bengals finally win a playoff game! Making only his fourth career start, Bengals quarterback and Alabama alum A.J. McCarron shows incredible confidence and poise in the pocket, targeting talented receivers A.J. Green, Marvin Jones, and Tyler Eifert all night long en route to a victory. For Pittsburgh, veteran quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the Steeler offense become incredibly one-dimensional, especially in the latter half of the contest, throwing the ball over 60 times in total. Cincinnati’s tenacious front four puts Roethlisberger on his back repeatedly, and the secondary does just enough to contain Steelers superstar WR Antonio Brown, as well as Martavis Bryant and Heath Miller. Most importantly, Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis avoids going one-and-done in the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year, and his team is headed to Foxborough to meet Tom Brady and Co.

Sunday, January 10th

Seattle Seahawks(10-6) @ Minnesota Vikings(11-5), 10:05a.m. PT on NBC

After grinding out a hard fought victory over Green Bay last Sunday night to win the NFC North, the Minnesota Vikings were rewarded with a clash against the surging, seemingly unstoppable Seattle Seahawks team, as opposed to facing the 9-7 Redskins. In their only meeting this season, just five Sundays ago, Seattle steamrolled the Vikings by a final of 38-7. Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is playing at a ridiculous level right now, having thrown 24 touchdowns and only one pick in his last seven games. There’s a good chance he’ll have running back Marshawn “Beastmode” Lynch, coming off a sports hernia, at his disposal for the first time since week 10. This is critical for the Seattle offense considering that temperatures are expected to hover right right around zero, making it very difficult to depend on moving the ball through the air. On the other side of the ball, the Seahawks boast the number two defense in the NFL, a unit that’s only giving up 11 points per game in the last five weeks. Nevertheless, they are up against the league’s leading rusher Adrian Peterson, who finished the regular season just shy of 1,500 rushing yards for Minnesota. The Vikings will benefit greatly from the return of some key defensive players from injury that were absent for the beatdown from Seattle in week 13.

Prediction: The Seahawks are well on their way to a long run deep into January after handling the Vikings on the road with relative ease. Minnesota quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is constantly under pressure from the combined force of defensive lineman Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett. Peterson, who managed a mere 18 yards the last time these foes faced off, doesn’t make a whole lot of an impact this time around, and Bridgewater is forced to try and rely on the likes of Stefon Diggs, Mike Wallace, and Kyle Rudolph through the air in a desperation effort. The frigid conditions and a consistent pass rush against the weak Seattle offensive line are the only things that keep Minnesota competitive in this game. Wilson and the Seahawk offense continue to do their thing, putting up around 20 points along the way, and roll into Charlotte riding high.

Green Bay Packers(10-6) @ Washington Redskins(9-7), 1:40p.m. PT on FOX

The final matchup of Wild Card Weekend pits two teams that are going in exact opposite directions. After beginning the year at an undefeated 6-0 mark, Green Bay has hobbled into the postseason by losing six of their final ten games. On the flip side, Washington is riding a four game winning streak into round one, with a unit that seems to be firing on all cylinders. The Packers have struggled mightily on offense all season, including quarterback Aaron Rodgers, largely due to a couple key injuries and a general lack of production from proven playmakers. They feature a defense that is middle of the pack in most major categories. In our nation’s capital, Redskins’ quarterback Kirk Cousins has been the talk of the town after experiencing quite the breakout season, finishing with over 4,000 passing yards, 34 total touchdowns, and the league’s best completion percentage. Cousins will lean heavily on his top weapon and tight end Jordan Reed in key situations, as well as the resurgent DeSean Jackson. Their running game is nothing too impressive, but it does just enough to give the offense that necessary balance. Much like Green Bay, the Redskin defense is relatively mediocre for the most part. Despite the lack of momentum for the Packers going into this game, both sides match up very well, so expect an exciting back and forth contest that goes down to the wire.

Prediction: The Washington Redskins are moving on to the Divisional round of the playoffs after defeating Green Bay by two possessions, pulling away on a late fourth quarter surge. Much like they’ve done all year, Cousins and the Redskin offense continually come through on third down, and Jackson provides a spark with a big play downfield. The dreadful Packers offensive line is miserable all afternoon, as the Redskins’ Ryan Kerrigan and Chris Baker have Rodgers on his back play after play. Well it’s all set and done, Cousins will be yelling, “You like that!”, all the way to Arizona.