NFL playoffs 2018: Bracket, schedule, scores, and more

The road to the Super Bowl begins with the Wild Card round, Jan. 6-7.

Thirty-two teams began the 2017 season. Only a dozen will continue in the playoffs. The NFL regular season is coming to a close, and now the league’s best teams have been dropped into the lose-and-go-home forge that creates Super Bowl champions.

The defending champion Patriots are back for their ninth straight playoff appearance (and 14th in the past 15 years). They hold down the AFC’s top seed, which means like last winter, the road to the conference title runs through Foxborough, Mass. The Steelers, who suffered a painful defeat at home against New England earlier this season, have the conference’s other first-round bye. Those familiar stalwarts will face a threat from a surprising Jaguars team whose top-ranked defense has pushed the franchise to its first postseason bid since 2007.

A Chiefs team that rose to the top of the league through its first five games, then backslid into mediocrity with a 1-6 record, is the AFC West champion once it regained its rhythm. After running away from the Patriots on the road in Week 1, the Chiefs have proven to be a dangerous threat who can run out of Wild Card Weekend and to the Super Bowl. The Ravens and Titans stand to round out the conference’s postseason hopefuls, though the Bills and Chargers are still in the running.

The NFC side of the bracket nearly went without defending champion Atlanta, but the Falcons rallied for a Week 17 victory that slotted them into a Wild Card slot / doesn’t feature last season’s champion, as a Week 17 defeat squashed the Falcons hopes of a title defense. A bird of a different color is the new favorite to escape the bracket and fly to the Twin Cites; the Eagles. Philadelphia surrounded second-year quarterback Carson Wentz with talent, then watched that strategy pay dividends as the young passer developed into an MVP candidate in the team’s 11-2 start.

But Wentz was lost to the season due to a torn ACL, and now the Vikings will have a tremendous opportunity to be the first team to ever play a Super Bowl on their home field. Behind them, a resurgent Rams team with its own impressive sophomore quarterback (Jared Goff) and a punishing defense will push for its first playoff win since 2004. The NFC South, 2017’s toughest division, gave us a season-long war between the Saints and Panthers that won’t be decided until Week 17 concludes.

Super Bowl 52 kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 4 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

Wild Card Round

AFC byes: New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers

NFC byes: Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings

Saturday, Jan. 6

GAME 1: AFC Wild Card, 4:35 p.m., ESPN/ABC

GAME 2: NFC Wild Card, 8:15 p.m., NBC

Sunday, Jan. 7

GAME 3: AFC Wild Card, 1:05 p.m., CBS

GAME 4: NFC Wild Card, 4:40 p.m., FOX

Divisional Round

Saturday, Jan. 13

GAME 5: AFC Divisional, 4:35 p.m., CBS

GAME 6: NFC Divisional, 8:15 p.m., NBC

Sunday, Jan. 14

GAME 7: AFC Divisional, 4:40 p.m., CBS

GAME 8: NFC Divisional, 8:20 p.m., FOX

Championship Round

Sunday, Jan. 21

AFC Championship: Game 5 winner vs. Game 7 winner, 3 p.m., CBS

NFC Championship: Game 6 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 6:30 p.m., FOX

Super Bowl 52

Sunday, Feb. 4

AFC Champion vs. NFC Champion, 6:30 p.m., NBC

All times are Eastern.