NFL Playoff Picks 2016: Schedule, Odds and Predictions for Wild Card Round

The Cincinnati Bengals have to be shaking their heads when they step away from the glare of the media.

Their playoff misfortune has been nonstop, and it may not come to an end on Saturday night when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers.

A number of things are going against the Bengals, and the biggest may lie with head coach Marvin Lewis. He has been coaching the Bengals since 2003 and has led them to consistent respectability. He has a 112-94-2 career regular-season record, and this year marks the seventh time he has led the Bengals to the postseason.

None of his six previous playoff teams won a single postseason game. Examining Lewis' playoff record reveals only one of those games was close, and that was a 19-13 loss to the Houston Texans following the 2012 season.

Strike 1.

There is nothing the Steelers like better than playing at Paul Brown Stadium. They have come out on the winning end of 13 of their last 15 games in Cincinnati, according to Odds Shark. It's no worse against the spread, as Pittsburgh is 12-2-1 in its last 15 trips to the Queen City. The Bengals often play competitively at Heinz Field but are the most congenial of hosts when head coach Mike Tomlin and Ben Roethlisberger come visiting. 

Strike 2.

Then there's the quarterback situation. Andy Dalton was in consideration for the MVP award earlier in the season but has been out since suffering a broken thumb in Week 14. AJ McCarron will almost certainly be making his first postseason start on Saturday, and Bengals quarterbacks have struggled in their playoff debuts going back to the days of Virgil Carter and Ken Anderson.

Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports pointed out that no Bengals quarterback has ever thrown a touchdown pass in his first playoff start. While it's not a guarantee McCarron will follow suit, he has not lit it up in Dalton's absence. McCarron is averaging 208 passing yards per contest in the last four games, which may not be enough against the explosive Steelers.

Strike 3.

The Steelers are three-point road favorites in the game, and while the Bengals may stay close for a half, look for Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant and Markus Wheaton to pull away in the final 30 minutes.

Pittsburgh will survive, advance and cover.

Game	Date, Time (ET)	TV	Line	Over/Under	Prediction
Kansas City at Houston	Jan. 9, 4:35 p.m.	ESPN	KC (-3)	40	KC, Under
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati	Jan. 9, 8:15 p.m.	CBS	Pit (-3)	45.5	Pit, Over
Seattle at Minnesota	Jan. 10, 1:05 p.m.	NBC	Sea (-5)	39.5	Sea, Under
Green Bay at Washington	Jan. 10, 4:40 p.m.	Fox	GB (-1)	45	Was, Over

Take the Under When Seahawks Visit Vikings

The Seattle Seahawks rolled to an easy 38-7 victory when they visited TCF Bank Stadium in December. Russell Wilson and the passing game torched a normally consistent Minnesota defense, and the matchup was never close.

Sunday's will be different, but not because the Vikings will turn it around. The teams are likely to play in bone-chilling, nearly zero-degree cold that will make it difficult to throw and catch the football with consistency, according to the Weather Channel.

It's going to be tough for either team to string first downs together and build long scoring drives. Defense is both teams' strength, and Mother Nature will likely punish both offenses.

Additionally, the running game is likely to play a key role for both teams, which means the clock will be moving throughout.

This is a field-position game, and great punts and long field goals may decide the outcome. The over/under looks to be an inviting 39.5 points, as the linemakers are hoping to get players to jump on the over. That's a mistake. If the total remains higher than 37.5, take the under in this game and watch the cash come rolling home.

Michael Ainsworth/Associated Press

Look for Surging Redskins to Get It Done vs. Packers

A little more than a month ago, the story of the NFC East was how bad the division was and that nobody wanted to win it.

The New York Giants were blowing fourth-quarter leads left and right, the Philadelphia Eagles had seemingly tuned out former head coach Chip Kelly and the Dallas Cowboys couldn't win without Tony Romo. As a result, the Washington Redskins were in contention for the title even with a 5-7 record.

Head coach Jay Gruden and the Redskins were not about to let their chance to make a statement slip through their grasp. They rolled to a 4-0 mark in the last quarter of the season, taking advantage of quarterback Kirk Cousins' sharp play. They clinched the division title when they beat the Eagles on the road in Week 16.

Cousins has had a memorable year since Gruden named him the starter in training camp. He has completed 379 of 543 passes for 4,166 yards with 29 TDs and 11 interceptions. Cousins became the first Washington quarterback to throw at least one TD pass in all 16 games.

Normally, the Redskins might be a bit anxious about hosting the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs. Any time Aaron Rodgers takes the field, the Packers offense expects to light it up.

This year, though, the Packers rank 25th in passing yards per game. The Green Bay offense is struggling to move the ball and score, averaging 11.0 points per game over the last three weeks while limping into the playoffs.

Green Bay is a one-point favorite on the road, but swallow hard and go with the Redskins in this one.