NFL Playoff Bracket 2019: Predicting Super Bowl winner entering Week 14
If the NFL Playoffs began prior to Week 14 how would the bracket shake out? Way too early predictions for the postseason, including the Super Bowl winner.
The 2019 NFL Playoff bracket got shaken up quite a bit heading into Week 14. In Week 13, the seeding in both the AFC and NFC was moved around quite a bit given the result of some huge games. Most notably, the San Francisco 49ers losing to the Baltimore Ravens, the Houston Texans beating the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks topping the Minnesota Vikings really changed the makeup of the postseason as of now.
Baltimore is now the No. 1 seed in the AFC with New England dropping to No. 2. Meanwhile, the Seahawks have taken over as the NFC West leaders, moving up to the No. 2 seed in the conference while the Niners fall to No. 5.
Of course, the NFL Playoffs aren’t played after the conclusion of Week 13. With four weeks remaining in the regular season, things can still change dramatically, particularly with a litany of big games with postseason implications still remaining. Having said that, the NFL Playoff picture is becoming clearer with each passing week.
Subsequently, we’re going to take a look at the NFL Playoff bracket heading into Week 14 and make some premature predictions for how things will transpire in the playoffs. From the Wild Card Round to Super Bowl LIV, we’re predicting the postseason in its entirety.
Wild Card Round – No. 6 vs. No. 3 matchups
AFC Wild Card: 6 Pittsburgh Steelers at 3 Houston Texans
It’s honestly baffling that the Pittsburgh Steelers would make the playoffs if the season ended today. They are coming off of a win with third-string quarterback Devlin Hodges helming the offense and are now 7-5 on the season. It feels as if the Tennessee Titans might catch them and take the AFC’s final Wild Card spot but that hasn’t happened yet.
Regardless, Mike Tomlin’s club just doesn’t have the juice on offense to keep up with Deshaun Watson and the Texans. Pittsburgh has struggled to get to 20 points for about the past two months and, even if their defense is playing well, it’s hard to see that being enough against Houston at home in the postseason.
Winner: Texans
NFC Wild Card: 6 Minnesota Vikings at 3 Green Bay Packers
In truth, the Vikings and Packers are very much similar to one another as they come out of the NFC North. While both teams’ offenses, led by Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers, respectively, have been playing at an exceptionally high level and while the defenses have big-name players that can make splash plays, neither defense is playing to the level of the offense right now.
While that may be true, this game potentially being at Lambeau Field is the X-factor for me. Green Bay can feed off of the crowd, run for days with Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams out of the backfield on a shaky Minnesota run defense and throw as well. And let’s not forget that it’s still hard to trust Cousins, no matter how well he’s played in 2019.
Winner: Packers