NFL Playoff Picture 2022: NFC, AFC Bracket, Schedule For First-Round Games

The 2022 NFL playoff picture was shaken up with a few unexpected results in Week 18. The Las Vegas Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers climbed into the final postseason bracket. The Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots and Cincinnati Bengals fell in the standings, setting the stage for several rematches on the Wild-Card Weekend schedule.

The playoffs get underway Saturday at 4:30 p.m. EST when Cincinnati hosts Las Vegas in a first-round matchup. The New England Patriots will visit the Buffalo Bills at 8:15 p.m. EST in the third meeting of the season between the AFC East rivals.

The NFC playoffs start Sunday as the Philadelphia Eagles visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 1 p.m. EST. The Dallas Cowboys host the San Francisco 49ers at 4:30 p.m. EST in the only first-round matchup between teams that didn’t face off in the regular season.

The Kansas City Chiefs host the Pittsburgh Steelers at 8:15 p.m. EST Sunday. Pittsburgh snuck into the playoffs because the Indianapolis Colts were upset as two-touchdown favorites in the regular-season finale.

For the first time ever, the first-round schedule concludes with a Monday night game. The Arizona Cardinals visit Los Angeles in a battle of the NFC West’s top two teams.

The Cardinals and Rams split their regular-season matchups. The Patriots and Bills also went 1-1 against each other.

The Bengals defeated the Raiders 32-13 in Week 11. In Week 6, Tampa Bay held off Philadelphia 28-22 in a Thursday night game.

The Chiefs blew out the Steelers 36-10 in Week 16. Because Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are the No. 7 seeds in the AFC and NFC, respectively, neither team can play a home playoff game, no matter what happens this postseason.

The top-seeded Tennessee Titans and Green Bay Packers have first-round byes and automatically advance to the second round of the playoffs. They will each host the lowest-seeded team remaining on their side of the bracket.