Super Bowl 2015: Predictions and Odds Before Wild Card Weekend

A dozen NFL teams harvest Super Bowl hopes as the playoffs commence this weekend. For a few, they're slim, but the top dogs are on their way to orchestrating more postseason magic.

The NFL playoffs revolve around the promise that anything can happen with teams afforded no margin for error. One play can flush a full season's work down the toilet, making a dominant 16-game body of work meaningless.

While football's single-elimination format often spawns the most unpredictable postseason product, last year proved the favorites are favored for a reason. Don't be surprised to see any potential underdog tales quickly squashed again this winter.

Playoff Picture

Super Bowl Odds

Team	Odds
Seattle Seahawks	12-5
New England Patriots	3-1
Green Bay Packers	6-1
Denver Broncos	13-2
Dallas Cowboys	15-2
Pittsburgh Steelers	14-1
Indianapolis Colts	28-1
Carolina Panthers	33-1
Cincinnati Bengals	40-1
Baltimore Ravens	40-1
Detroit Lions	40-1
Arizona Cardinals	66-1

Playoff Predictions

Let's just get the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers out of the way. One will advance to the divisional round, but neither will trek any deeper down the gauntlet.

Carolina is currently the hot team, riding a four-game winning streak during which it has allowed 43 combined points while getting excellent rushing from Jonathan Stewart. Here comes the "momentum" narrative propelling Ron Rivera's seven-win club to a title push.

Nope. Not happening. The Panthers defeated four teams—including their three NFC South foes—with a combined 22-42 record. Congratulations on being the best in the worst division, but now they'll have to face real football teams.

At home against Arizona's second-worst rushing offense, third-worst passing defense and injured quarterbacks, the Panthers will keep their dream alive for another week. After that, they go bye-bye.

The question is, will the Seattle Seahawks or Green Bay Packers get gifted that shuttle to the NFC Championship Game? That boils down to the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions, the first-round's most lopsided affair.

While Ndamukong Suh somehow won his suspension appeal with an excuse that numbs the mind supposedly as much as his foot, Detroit will still play without its other star defensive tackle, Nick Fairley.

According to DetroitLions.com's Tim Twentyman, head coach Jim Caldwell lists him as a severe long shot to suit up this weekend:

"

Caldwell said it would be "a miracle" if Nick Fairley was ready to play Sunday.

— Tim Twentyman (@ttwentyman) December 29, 2014"

That's a major problem, because Detroit's premier rushing defense containing leading rusher DeMarco Murray is the only way it can survive. Weaken that strength, and the Lions aren't claiming their first road win against a winning team with Matthew Stafford under center.

Dallas against Green Bay. Now that's interesting. While Dallas has the offensive firepower to match wits with the NFC North champion, its No. 26 secondary won't hold up against Aaron Rodgers, who is unstoppable inside Lambeau Field. As noted by the Green Bay Press-Gazette's Ryan Wood:

Boring, but the top two seeds will meet. In a rematch from 2014's season opener, the Seahawks will once again impose their will through the ground, pounding their way to their second straight Super Bowl.

Now to the AFC, a conference with no true weak link. The 10-6 Baltimore Ravens sport the league's sixth-best point differential and are battle-tested, but they're also 1-6 against winning teams. 

They could catch a break by avoiding Le'Veon Bell, but the star running back reported positive progress to NFL.com's Aditi Kinkhabwala:

Neither AFC North squad is the defensive dynamo from earlier years, but Baltimore's No. 23 passing defense is especially vulnerable against Pittsburgh's No. 2 aerial assault. With Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown rolling on all cylinders, the Steelers are incredibly dangerous.

While the Cincinnati Bengals have become impossible to predict, let's go out on a limb and say they won't jump from three consecutive first-round exits to a Super Bowl. No running back and an ordinary defense will also prevent the Indianapolis Colts from going the distance.

Either way, the New England Patriots handle the winner at home. Since Tom Brady's career ended on Sept. 29, the Pats are 10-2, losing a toss-up at Green Bay and a Week 17 game to the Buffalo Bills with no playoff implications for anyone involved.

Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

A healthy Bell could propel Pittsburgh to knock off the Denver Broncos. His questionable status, however, makes Denver the safer best, surprisingly due to its No. 3 defense more so than Peyton Manning.

Have Brady and Manning ever faced off in an AFC Championship Game? Playing the Colts and Broncos would mimic last year's playoff trajectory, only this time New England gets home-field advantage. It also finished 2014 first in point differential (plus-155) and second behind Seattle in Football Outsiders' weighted defensive-adjusted value over average (DVOA).

So now both conferences have played out according to plan, with the top seeds meeting for the second straight year. It's incredible to imagine the lasting legacy Seattle's Legion of Boom would manufacture by besting Manning and Brady in sequential years, but the well-balanced Patriots will instead hoist their first Lombardi Trophy in a decade.