NFL Playoff Bracket 2016: Picks and Predictions for AFC, NFC Wild Card

It gets said every year how unpredictable the NFL is, but this season has lived up to that statement more than any in recent memory heading into the playoffs.

If you were told before the regular season began that Peyton Manning would lead the NFL in interceptions despite playing just nine games, it would be safe to assume the Denver Broncos fell apart. Yet they enter Week 17 with a chance to be the AFC's No. 1 seed. 

That is just one of the many unusual storylines to make this season so compelling. The final slate of games will determine the last two playoff spots up for grabs and settle the divisional races along the way. 

Here's how the playoff bracket looks heading into Sunday, as well as predictions for the wild-card races in both conferences. 

AFC Prediction

Brad Penner/Associated Press

The loser of the AFC West, which based on records at this point is the Kansas City Chiefs, has already secured one of the two wild-card spots. That leaves the New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers vying for the final spot. 

The Jets' path to the postseason is simple. They are in with a win over the Buffalo Bills. The Steelers need to defeat the Cleveland Browns on the road and hope the Jets lose to get in. 

Even though a win over the Browns would seem like a given for the Steelers, they laid an egg last week on the road against the Baltimore Ravens.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has done a lot of superb things this season, throwing for 3,584 yards in 11 games, but he's also thrown 14 interceptions, tossing at least two in three of the last five games. 

According to ESPN's John Buccigross during last week's game against the Ravens, Roethlisberger has been particularly careless when trying to make big plays:

Having big-play threats like Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant make taking chances appealing, but those jump balls are often 50-50 propositions. 

Despite those reservations, the Steelers have to feel a sense of urgency and should knock off a three-win Cleveland team that has lost nine of its last 10 games and owns the AFC's worst point differential (minus-138). 

That puts all the pressure on the Jets to take care of business. They have put together a five-game winning streak, including last week's overtime victory against the New England Patriots, to reach this point. 

Even though Ryan Fitzpatrick doesn't immediately jump out as a good starting quarterback, he's found something that works in New York. 

If superstition is something you believe in, SportsNation tweeted out when the difference in Fitzpatrick's game started:

The suddenly high-powered Jets offense is going against a disappointing Buffalo defense that is tied for the ninth-most passing touchdowns allowed and 10th-most passing yards.  

The Bills did defeat the Jets 22-17 in Week 10, but have since lost four of their last six games, with their two victories coming against Houston and Dallas with Brian Hoyer and Kellen Moore starting at quarterback, respectively. 

According to ESPN.com's Mike Rodak, Bills head coach Rex Ryan is pessimistic star running back LeSean McCoy will be able to play Sunday with a sprained MCL. 

Also from Rodak, Ryan admitted in a conference call with reporters the Bills "failed miserably" this season.

With gray skies hovering over the Bills right now, the Jets have all the momentum in their favor. However, they are playing this game in Buffalo, and the Jets are just 4-3 away from MetLife Stadium this season. 

Ryan will have his team motivated to play, hoping to keep his former team out of the postseason, but the Jets have hit their stride and will secure their first playoff berth since 2010. 

Wild-Card Teams: Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets

NFC Prediction

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

Drama has been sapped out of the NFC playoff race for Week 17 because all six teams are locked in. The Seattle Seahawks are locked into one of the two wild-card spots and are able to move into the No. 5 seed with a win over the Arizona Cardinals and a Minnesota Vikings loss against the Green Bay Packers. 

The Vikings-Packers contest is the other NFC game with wild-card implications, as the winner will take the NFC North crown and the loser gets the second wild-card spot. 

In the first game between the two NFC North rivals in Week 11, it seemed like the Packers turned their season around with an impressive 30-13 win to end their three-game losing streak. They have gone 3-2 in five games since, while the Vikings have won their last two games to force this tiebreaker scenario. 

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has dominated Minnesota's defense in his career with 33 touchdowns, four interceptions and 3,702 yards in 15 regular-season games. 

If that Rodgers shows up at Lambeau Field on Sunday, the Packers will celebrate their fifth straight division title.

The problem is Rodgers hasn't been his usual MVP self since Green Bay's 6-0 start, as Ryan Lund of Fox Sports Wisconsin wrote:

"

Rodgers ranks ninth in the league in touchdown passes at 30, but his touchdown numbers are an outlier when looking at the full picture. Meanwhile, the 11th-year pro ranks 17th in the league in passing yards at 3,530, and has fallen to 27th in the league in completion rate at 60.4 percent.

"

Green Bay's offensive line isn't helping matters, as Rodgers has been sacked 41 times this season, but the reigning NFL MVP isn't making adjustments to get rid of the ball quicker. 

Yet even with those struggles for Rodgers and the Packers, the Vikings remain one of the hardest teams to read because of their problems against quality competition, according to Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com. 

"Indeed, the Vikings' 10 victories includes only one against a playoff-bound team, in Week 6 against a Kansas City Chiefs team that was engulfed in a 1-5 start," Seifert wrote.

In Minnesota's 30-13 loss to Green Bay six weeks ago, Rodgers was hardly playing up to his usual standards with a 47.1 completion percentage and just 212 yards on 34 attempts. 

The Vikings need their best playmaker to show up in Week 17. Adrian Peterson had just 45 yards in the first game against Green Bay. In the same scenario three years ago, with Minnesota needing a win over the Packers in the last week of the season, he ran for 199 yards in a 37-34 victory. 

Peterson has been inconsistent since that midseason game against the Packers, only breaking the 100-yard barrier twice in the last six weeks. He has to come up big for the Vikings to have a shot on the road in this game. 

Despite all the problems with the Packers over the last 10 weeks, they still have a game at home to win the division. Confidence in Rodgers may be at its lowest level since his first season as a starting quarterback in 2008, but it's hard to bet against him versus a team that hasn't proved it can match blows with playoff-caliber teams.

Wild-Card Teams: Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings

Stats via ESPN.com and Pro-Football-Reference.com.