NFL Playoff Picture 2017: Updated Scenarios and Bracket Before Divisional Round

The NFL playoffs will hopefully provide some entertaining games the rest of the way after four lackluster matchups put football fans to sleep last weekend.

Below you'll find the NFL playoff bracket and some scenarios and predictions for the remainder of the postseason.

NFL Playoff Bracket

AFC Divisional Round Predictions and Scenarios

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It's hard to entertain any scenario where the Houston Texans can go on the road and beat the New England Patriots on Saturday night.

The Pats defeated the Texans 27-0 in Week 3 with rookie third-string quarterback Jacoby Brissett. What will happen with Tom Brady at the helm now?

New England is one of the biggest betting favorites in postseason history, according to Matt Bonesteel of the Washington Post.

Wild NFL upsets have occurred before, namely the New York Jets' Super Bowl III win over the Baltimore Colts, but Texans quarterback Brock Osweiler isn't topping Brady.

On the opposite side of the AFC bracket, the Pittsburgh Steelers visit the Kansas City Chiefs. This game could go either way.

It's possible the Chiefs control the time of possession with dink-and-dunk passes down the field from quarterback Alex Smith and tough rushing from running back Spencer Ware, leading to a lower-scoring Chiefs win.

It's also possible the Steelers' hot streak (eight straight wins) continues and their explosive offense drops 30.

Give the edge to the home team and dynamite Chiefs playmakers Tyreek Hill and Eric Berry, who have won games nearly by themselves with fantastic performances this year.

NFC Divisional Round Predictions and Scenarios

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Dallas and Green Bay may be two of the best three teams in football right now (the other being New England). The Packers have won seven straight and just walloped the New York Giants, who finished 11-5 and had the second-best scoring defense in football, 38-13.

Two scenarios could develop in this matchup.

First, Dallas could come out and control the clock from start to finish thanks to running back Ezekiel Elliott (who ran for 157 yards the last time these teams played, a 30-16 Cowboys win in Week 6) and short passes downfield (and runs) from quarterback Dak Prescott.

That would enable Dallas to keep Packers quarterback (and hottest player in football) Aaron Rodgers on the sidelines. At this point, a good offense is the best defense against him.

However, Rodgers can also go out and sling the ball left and right to his receivers as he did against the Giants. The Cowboys don't have a great defense, finishing a mediocre 14th in yards allowed per game, so it's hard to see Rodgers having much trouble with them when he just shredded New York.

That being said, the Packers' chances take a hit with No. 1 wide receiver Jordy Nelson's status being in serious doubt, as Ian Rapaport of NFL Network reported:

The former scenario is more likely than the latter, with the Cowboys' win at Green Bay this season offering proof of that notion. In Jerry's World, it'll be tough to stop Zeke.

In Atlanta, here are the two most likely scenarios.

First, the Falcons can take advantage of safety Earl Thomas' absence and throw deep early and often to Julio Jones, who is primed for a breakout game.

He caught seven passes for 139 yards and a touchdown at Seattle with Thomas on the field in a 26-24 loss to the Seahawks in Week 6, so what do you think he can do at home in the Georgia Dome without Thomas covering him?

Second, the Seahawks can play the Falcons' game and engage in a shootout. Quarterback Russell Wilson is already dangerous, and the same goes for wide receiver Doug Baldwin and tight end Jimmy Graham, but wideout Paul Richardson, who put his name on the map with a ridiculous one-handed grab against Detroit on Wild Card Weekend, is emerging at just the right time in place of the injured Tyler Lockett.

The Falcons have allowed 406 points this season, one of the worst marks of any NFL team, so they are liable to give up quite a few Seattle scores.

Ultimately, the edge goes to Atlanta, if only because Seattle's offensive line has struggled all season, and this may be the game where the house of cards falls down. As Evan Silva of Rotoworld noted:

It's hard, but not impossible, to see Seattle winning this one away from the friendly confines of CenturyLink Field. 

AFC Championship Scenarios

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The only two fathomable conference championship matchups are New England vs. Kansas City and New England vs. Pittsburgh.

The former doesn't seem like it would be too competitive, perhaps playing out much like these two teams' postseason matchup last year when the Pats jumped out to an early lead and the Chiefs were forced to play catch-up all game in an eventual 27-20 loss.

The Patriots are going to score their points. They averaged 27.5 per game this season, and in four of those games, Brady was suspended.

It's a tall task for the Chiefs, who are built to conduct patient offensive football (their pace of play was fourth-slowest this season, per Football Outsiders), to hurry things to catch up to the Patriots and match them point for point. If this matchup occurs, which I predict it will, expect the Patriots to win comfortably.

Patriots vs. Steelers, however, could be a classic.

These two teams faced off in the regular season in Week 7, with the Pats winning 27-16, but the Steelers were missing quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

The Steelers can go toe-to-toe with the Pats all game offensively, and their defense has been playing well lately. In six of their last eight games (all wins), they have held their opponents to 20 or fewer points.

Still, take the Patriots at home against Pittsburgh. The Pats are just head and shoulders above the rest of the league this season. To put their dominance in perspective, they have outscored their opponents by 191 points this year. The next-closest team? The Atlanta Falcons' plus-137, a full 54-point difference.

NFC Championship Scenarios

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If Atlanta plays at Dallas in the conference championship, the Falcons will be hard-pressed to pull off the upset. Per Football Outsiders DVOA, they ranked a woeful 29th against the run, while Dallas ranked second rushing the ball, behind only Buffalo. Elliott would run wild against the Falcons all day.

It's also difficult to see Seattle coming into Dallas and pulling off the upset as well, simply because the Seahawks have not played well on the road this year, going 3-4-1 compared to 8-1 at home.

However, if Green Bay upsets Dallas, the conference championship promises to be much more competitive.

A Green Bay-Seattle matchup would take place in the Pacific Northwest, a rematch of the wild conference championship two years ago won by Seattle. That game would be a toss-up, with Seattle enjoying a massive home-field advantage and Green Bay playing the hottest offensive football in the league.

Green Bay-Atlanta would be a rematch of the Falcons' 33-32 win over the Packers in Week 8. If that game comes to fruition, expect those two high-powered offenses to put up a similar score in the Georgia Dome.

The prediction here is that Dallas wins by a field goal over Green Bay and a touchdown over Atlanta to move to Super Bowl LI.

Super Bowl LI Scenarios

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Per OddsShark, New England is a massive minus-180 favorite to make the Super Bowl, so the most realistic scenario discussion has to start with the Pats in the mix.

On the other side, any of the four remaining NFC teams have a feasible shot at landing in Houston, so let's take a quick look at how each of them would fare against New England.

New England-Dallas looks like a mismatch on paper. The experience the Patriots would have over Dallas would be too much. Dak and Zeke were eight and six years old, respectively, when the Brady-Bill Belichick duo won Super Bowl XXXVI.

The same goes for New England-Atlanta. Somewhat quietly, the Patriots had the top scoring defense in football, allowing only 250 points this season. Atlanta allowed 406, as mentioned earlier. The Falcons wouldn't be able to slow New England down at all, leading to a potential offensive onslaught.

New England-Seattle could be a great matchup, but the issues on the Seahawks offensive line, coupled with the hole left by Thomas, would be too much for the Hawks to overcome against the Pats.

That leaves the matchup we've somehow never gotten in the Brady era—New England vs. Green Bay—as the best potential Super Bowl if the Pats hold serve and win the AFC.

Green Bay can go toe-to-toe with New England on offense, as Rodgers has now made a habit of leading the Packers offense to score 38 points every other game.

New England shouldn't have much trouble scoring either, leading to a fun shootout in Houston.

That all being said, expect Dallas to find its way to the Super Bowl before bowing out to the Patriots by two touchdowns.