WhatIfSports NFL Playoff Predictions

NFL Playoff Predictions

Playoff Odds (plus boxscores from every Wild Card game)

By Paul Bessire, WhatIfSports.com

Dec. 30, 2008

Each Tuesday morning during the season, we will preview every NFL game of the upcoming week. For our playoff preview, we have simulated all the way through the playoffs 10,001 times, giving us odds for every team winning in each round. Those odds as well as boxscores for the four upcoming Wild Card round games are below.

All of our NFL content, including our most recent power rankings and weekly fantasy projections, is located here.

The inputs to the 10,001 simulations of each upcoming game are based on a rigorous analysis of each team that considers strength-of-schedule-adjusted team and player ratings and then makes modifications for injuries and depth at each position.

NFL Playoffs (Winning Percentages from 10,001 simulations)

Team	WC Win%	DIV Win%	CC Win%	SB Win%
Tennessee Titans	-	57	32	19
Carolina Panthers	-	73	38	18
New York Giants	-	63	36	18
Pittsburgh Steelers	-	62	29	16
Baltimore Ravens	70	36	21	12
Philadelphia Eagles	61	27	14	6
Indianapolis Colts	59	26	11	6
Minnesota Vikings	39	12	5	2
San Diego Chargers	41	11	4	1
Atlanta Falcons	63	17	5	1
Miami Dolphins	30	9	3	0.6
Arizona Cardinals	37	7	2	0.4

Boxscores for Every NFL Wild Card Game

Matchup	Home Win%	Avg Score
Indianapolis @ San Diego	41.3	24-23	Boxscore
Philadelphia @ Minnesota	39	21-19	Boxscore
Atlanta @ Arizona	36.8	29-26	Boxscore
Baltimore @ Miami	29.8	21-16	Boxscore

Paul Bessire is the Senior Quantitative Analyst and Content Manager for WhatIfSports.com and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America. With any comments, questions or topic suggestions, Paul can be reached at [e-mail]. Thanks!