NFL Playoffs 2017: Schedule, Odds and Predictions for Final Divisional Games

Four teams with a combined 25 NFL or Super Bowl championships face off on Sunday in divisional-round matchups.

Below you will find the schedule, odds and some predictions for two games that have the potential to be classics. 

Sunday's Divisional-Round Matchups

Game	Time	TV	Total	Line
Green Bay Packers at Dallas Cowboys	4:40 p.m. ET	Fox	51.5	DAL -5.5
Pittsburgh Steelers at Kansas City Chiefs	8:20 p.m. ET	NBC	45	KC -1.5

Lines and totals according to OddsShark.

Green Bay at Dallas

Dylan Buell/Getty Images

The Green Bay Packers may be one of the hottest teams in football (seven straight wins), and Aaron Rodgers might be the hottest player in the game (22 touchdowns, no interceptions in his past eight games), but the Packers have a few significant disadvantages against the Dallas Cowboys.

First, No. 1 wide receiver Jordy Nelson has been ruled out with injured ribs he suffered after a hit from New York Giants cornerback Leon Hall in the Wild Card Round.

Rodgers has found success without Nelson—he nearly led the Packers to the NFC championship last year with the wide receiver sidelined all season with a torn ACL—but it's hard to replace a wideout who caught 97 passes for 1,257 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Second, the Cowboys have the capability to keep Rodgers off the field. Running back Ezekiel Elliott ran for 157 yards the last time these two teams played, and that game—a 30-16 Cowboys win—was at Lambeau Field.

Dallas is second in time of possession this season, per Football Outsiders, so a ball-control offense where Elliott carries the rock 30-plus times might be the Cowboys' best bet Sunday.

It's hard to imagine the Packers being uncompetitive, simply because of Rodgers and his offensive line's abilities, but Dallas' offense, which scored 30 points against Green Bay without wide receiver Dez Bryant on the field when the teams last met, should be able to do just a little more than the Packers to win this game.

Pick: Dallas 27, Green Bay 24

Pittsburgh at Kansas City

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We can more or less duplicate the section above for this game, except replace the Packers with the Pittsburgh Steelers and substitute a couple different reasons for why they have a few disadvantages heading into this contest.

Although Pittsburgh has won its last eight games, and although the Steelers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 43-14 when these two teams met in Week 4, there are a few different issues at play for the team looking for its seventh Super Bowl.

The Chiefs are getting pass-rusher Justin Houston, who sacked quarterbacks 22 times just two years ago, back in the fold. Houston missed 12 games this year, including the Pittsburgh contest, but still made an impact, accruing four sacks.

The special teams difference between these two teams is also a big problem for Pittsburgh. Chiefs return man Tyreek Hill has three return touchdowns, and he's the star on a special teams crew that ranked second in the NFL, per Football Outsiders.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh ranked 16th in the league, although what's most concerning with the Steelers is that they allowed, on average, the third-most kickoff return yards and tied for the seventh-most punt return yards.

Connect those two problems with the fact quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is not nearly as good on the road as he is at Heinz Field (check his home/road splits for every season this past decade), and signs point to a Chiefs win.

Pick: Kansas City 20, Pittsburgh 17