NFL Playoff Odds 2017: AFC, NFC Postseason Picture and Wild-Card Predictions

The 2016-17 NFL regular season is over, folks. After 17 weeks, 256 games and countless hours of right, wrong and downright bizarre prediction-making, we have finally settled on a postseason tournament.

Remember when people were declaring the Green Bay Packers were done midway through the season? Well, those Packers will be hosting a playoff game on Wild Card Weekend. The same is true for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who once sat at 4-5 and with a less-than-healthy Ben Roethlisberger under center.

A lot has changed over the past couple months of NFL action, and a lot more is likely to change now that the real chase for Super Bowl LI is underway. The first leg of that race will commence this weekend, with four enticing matchups.

Four other teams—the New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons and Kansas City Chiefs—have earned themselves a first-round bye.

Today, we're going to examine the looming slate of games, along with the latest lines—courtesy of our friends at OddsShark.com. We'll also make out predictions for each game and examine some of the latest storylines coming out of Week 17.

(Betting lines current as of Jan. 2, 12 p.m. ET)

Wild Card Round

Day, Time (ET)	Game	Line	Prediction
Sat. 4:35 p.m.	Oakland at Houston	HOU -3	24-20 HOU
Sat. 8:15 p.m.	Detroit at Seattle	SEA -7.5	30-27 DET
Sun. 1:05 p.m.	Miami at Pittsburgh	PIT -10	31-21 PIT
Sun. 4:40 p.m.	NY Giants at Green Bay	GB -4	27-23 GB

Storylines to Follow

Aaron Rodgers, MVP?

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been the NFL MVP before. In fact, he's earned the award twice. However, the idea of him winning it this season seemed almost laughable a few months ago. 

Rodgers wasn't playing poorly earlier in the season, unless you're judging him by the ridiculous standards we've come to expect from him (Hint, we were). At one point, the Packers sat at 4-6, and Rodgers had tossed an uncharacteristic seven interceptions to go with 25 touchdowns.

Bleacher Report NFL Lead Scout Doug Farrar wrote the following of Packers coach Mike McCarthy and questions about the team's offense back in October:

"

McCarthy has been dealing with these questions for the better part of a year now, quite simply because his passing offense has regressed, and everybody knows it. Never did it regress more than last Sunday, when Green Bay’s formerly viciously efficient passing game looked like something out of the Three Stooges in a 30-16 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

"

If something was wrong with Rodgers and the Packers passing attack back then, it certainly isn't wrong now. Green Bay has ripped off six wins in a row, and Rodgers has tossed 15 touchdowns and zero interceptions in the process. He leads the NFL with 40 touchdown passes.

Given the way Rodgers has played overall—Pro Football Focus rates him third overall among quarterbacks—and the in-season comeback he has sparked, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him earn league MVP honors for his efforts.

If Rodgers can carry this MVP level of play through the postseason, the Packers are going to be one of the toughest outs in the entire NFC.

Absence of Earl Thomas

I've written extensively this season about the flaws of the Seattle Seahawks, from their road woes to their shaky offensive line—which is rated 31st in run blocking and 32nd in pass blocking by Pro Football Focus.

A bigger issue this week, though, might be the absence of star safety Earl Thomas, who was lost for the season back in Week 13. The Seahawks defense simply hasn't looked or acted the same with Thomas out of the lineup.

For the season, Seattle has allowed an average of 18.2 points per game, third-fewest in the NFL. In the four games since Thomas was lost, however, Seattle has allowed an average of 24.5 points per game.

As Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com recently explained, Seattle's vaunted secondary hasn't been so dangerous with Thomas out of the lineup, either.

"From Weeks 12 to 17 (a span in which Thomas played only one quarter), the defense has allowed opposing quarterbacks to average 7.73 yards per attempt (29th) and post a passer rating of 96.1 (25th)," Kapadia wrote.

Having weaknesses in pass defense could be problematic for the Seahawks against the Detroit Lions and quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Stafford—as you've heard plenty of times and will undoubtedly hear hundreds of more times leading up to the weekend—has engineered eight fourth-quarter comebacks this season. He has shown the ability and the resiliency to knife through even the most daunting of defenses.

Thomas' absence will likely be an issue throughout the postseason. If the Seahawks make it past the Lions, they'll have to visit Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys. Past that, it could be Rodgers or fellow MVP candidate Matt Ryan in the NFC title game.

Stafford's Finger Injury

A lot has been written about the rash of quarterback injuries that plagued potential playoff teams near the end of the regular season. The Oakland Raiders lost Derek Carr in Week 16, while an injury that same day to Marcus Mariota may have cost the Tennessee Titans a shot at the postseason.

Raiders backup Matt McGloin and Houston Texans quarterback Tom Savage were both injured this past Sunday, while the Miami Dolphins have been playing without Ryan Tannehill since Week 15.

What also should be discussed is the finger injury Stafford suffered a few weeks ago. Stafford suffered torn ligaments in the middle finger of his throwing hand roughly four weeks ago. As Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com pointed out recently, Stafford hasn't been as efficient since:

Stafford has been playing with a glove on his injured hand, which could also be part of the problem.

"This guy has thrown millions of balls without a glove on his hand or without an apparatus on his finger," Lions head coach Jim Caldwell explained, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. "It's naive for me to think that doesn't have some kind of an effect. It does. But does it keep us from winning? No."

Even if Caldwell doesn't believe so, the reality is that having Stafford at less than 100 percent does affect Detroit's chances of winning. The team has relied on his late-game heroics time and time again this season.

Unless Stafford's finger sees some major improvement in the coming week, he'll likely be at less than 100 percent in Seattle. This could prevent him from being able to truly expose the deficiencies currently in Seattle's pass defense.