NFL Wild Card Schedule Revealed: Playoff Times, Matchups, and More

The 2026 NFL playoffs begin Saturday, Jan. 10, with a postseason field that looks nothing like what anyone predicted in September. The Kansas City Chiefs are home. Patrick Mahomes won’t be playing in January for the first time in eight years. And the Seattle Seahawks, not the 49ers, not the Lions, own the NFC’s top seed.

Wild Card Weekend spans three days, with six games spread across Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The final slate of matchups depends on tonight’s winner-take-all Ravens-Steelers showdown for the AFC North, but the bracket is otherwise locked.

NFL Wild Card Schedule Revealed

The league can’t finalize playoff matchups until every regular-season game is complete. Seeding, division titles, and even playoff berths often come down to the final week. This year, the Ravens-Steelers winner-take-all matchup will determine the AFC North champion — and the loser goes home entirely.

MORE: PFSN’s NFL Playoff Predictor

While one specific matchup awaits Week 18’s conclusion, the NFL has locked in the Wild Card Weekend schedule:

Saturday, Jan. 10
4:30 p.m. — (5) Los Angeles Rams at (4) Carolina Panthers (FOX, FOX Deportes)
8:00 p.m. — (7) Green Bay Packers at (2) Chicago Bears (Prime Video)

Sunday, Jan. 11
1:00 p.m. — (6) Buffalo Bills at (3) Jacksonville Jaguars (CBS, Paramount+)
4:30 p.m. — (6) San Francisco 49ers at (3) Philadelphia Eagles (FOX, FOX Deportes)
8:00 p.m. — (7) Los Angeles Chargers at (2) New England Patriots (NBC, Peacock, Universo)

Monday, Jan. 12
8:00 p.m. — (5) Houston Texans at (4) Pittsburgh Steelers (ESPN/ABC/ESPN+/ESPN Deportes; ManningCast-ESPN2/ESPN+)

The Divisional Playoffs schedule will be announced next weekend.

The NFL typically announces the Wild Card schedule on its official X (Twitter) account and NFL.com simultaneously with the Sunday Night Football broadcast. ESPN, CBS, Fox, and other broadcast partners also share the information immediately.

Wild Card games are spread across multiple networks: CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN/ABC, and Amazon Prime Video. One game will stream exclusively on Prime Video, though local-market broadcasts still apply. This marks the second year Prime Video has exclusive streaming rights to a playoff game.

Full Playoff Schedule

• Wild Card Round: January 10-12, 2026
• Divisional Round: January 17-18, 2026
• Conference Championships: January 25, 2026
• Super Bowl LX: February 8, 2026, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California

What Makes This Bracket Historic

This marks the first postseason since 2014 without the Chiefs. It’s also the first since 1998 not to feature Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, or Patrick Mahomes, an absence that underscores just how dramatically the AFC has reshuffled.

The Broncos, Patriots, and Jaguars occupying the top three seeds in the AFC would have seemed absurd in August. Denver’s defense has been historically dominant, Jacksonville rode Trevor Lawrence to an AFC South title, and New England’s rebuild under Drake Maye arrived two years ahead of schedule.

The NFC bracket features its own surprises. The Carolina Panthers (8-9) backed into the NFC South title when the Falcons beat the Saints on Sunday, earning the right to host the Rams in a matchup that could see Bryce Young play in his first playoff game. The 49ers, who began Week 18 with a chance at the No. 1 seed, instead fell to sixth and must travel to Philadelphia.

Seattle’s rise has been the conference’s defining story. Mike Macdonald’s defense finished the regular season as the NFL’s top scoring unit, allowing just 17.2 points per game, and Sam Darnold delivered when the Seahawks needed him most. The 14-3 record set a franchise best.

“I’m really proud of our team,” Macdonald said after Saturday’s win. “It’s an absolute honor to coach these guys.”

The Divisional Round is set for Jan. 17-18, followed by the Conference Championships on Jan. 25. Super Bowl LX takes place Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, a venue the 49ers hoped to call home for the postseason before their collapse against Seattle.