NFL Playoff Bracket 2019: Postseason Viewing Info, Odds and Matchup Scenarios

The NFL's 12-team field for the 2019 playoffs will be one-third slimmer by Sunday night.

Four Super Bowl dreams will be dashed over the upcoming slate, which features a rookie quarterback (Lamar Jackson), a 37-year-old potential Hall of Fame signal-caller (Philip Rivers) and everything in between.

Meanwhile, four powerhouses can sit this weekend out, perhaps sprinkling in some household chores, family time and cracking open a couple cold ones while waiting for their divisional round foes to surface.

But Wild Card Weekend comes first, so let's break that down with kickoff times, TV listings, odds for each matchup (courtesy of OddsShark) and brief previews.

2019 Wild-Card Schedule

Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans

When: Saturday, Jan. 5 at 4:35 p.m. ET

TV and Live Stream: ABC, ESPN and WatchESPN

Line, Over/Under: HOU -1, 48

Seattle Seahawks at Dallas Cowboys

When: Saturday, Jan. 5 at 8:15 p.m. ET

TV and Live Stream: Fox and Fox Sports Go

Line, Over/Under: DAL -2, 43

Los Angeles Chargers at Baltimore Ravens

When: Sunday, Jan. 6 at 1:05 p.m. ET

TV and Live Stream: CBS and CBS All Access

Line, Over/Under: BAL -3, 42

Philadelphia Eagles at Chicago Bears

When: Sunday, January 6 at 4:40 p.m. ET

TV and Live Stream: NBC and NBC Sports App

Line, Over/Under: CHI -6, 41

Colts at Texans

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Two regular-season matchups couldn't create any separation between these AFC South rivals. Each side recorded one victory, with the final tally showing 58 points for both clubs.

The similarities go beyond the results. Both started slow and finished fast. Both have high-level quarterbacks in Andrew Luck and Deshaun Watson, plus elite wide receivers at their disposal in T.Y. Hilton and DeAndre Hopkins, respectively.

The Colts were a little more successful on offense (27.1 points per game to 25.1), while the Texans held a slight advantage on defense (19.8 to 21.5).

While the Texans only lost once at home since September, that defeat came at hands of these Colts in Week 14. Coin flips feel easier to call than this.

The game could come down to whether Indy can get anything going on the ground against a Houston defense ranked first in yards per carry (3.4), or if the Texans can keep Watson upright after allowing a league-worst 62 sacks.

The outcome of this matchup will set the AFC portion of the divisional round schedule. With the top-seeded Chiefs drawing the lowest remaining seed, either Indy heads to Kansas City with a win or a victorious Houston team makes the trek north to New England.

Seahawks at Cowboys

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Leave it to the football gods to have the two red-hot clubs seemingly no one wants to face go head-to-head in the opening round.

The Seahawks emerged from a sleepy 4-5 start to close the campaign on a 6-1 tear. The Cowboys nearly did the same thing, only it was a 3-5 opening followed by a 7-1 finish. At the end of the day, though, both found their way to 10-6 on the strength of their stingy defenses and opportunistic attacks.

Seattle gets the experience boost thanks to Russell Wilson, who has 12 playoff outings and one Super Bowl title under his belt. But Dallas counters with perhaps the NFL's best wrecking ball in Ezekiel Elliott, who has a pair of rushing titles to show for his first three NFL seasons.

The Cowboys keys to victory include steady play from Dak Prescott and—on a directly related note—a big performance from Amari Cooper. The Seahawks, meanwhile, must have Chris Carson at his best and Bobby Wagner keeping Elliott relatively in check.

The winner of this game won't know its next opponent until after the Bears-Eagles collision. If Chicago wins, the Seahawks-Cowboys winner goes to New Orleans. But if Philly pulls off the upset, this victor is off to L.A.

Chargers at Ravens

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Lamar Jackson isn't scared of the moment. If that wasn't obvious while watching the fleet-footed freshman push the Ravens into the postseason with a 6-1 record as a starter, he's saying it for everyone to hear.

"I'm here to play football. I was 21 all year," Jackson told reporters. "So, it's another game for me."

With Jackson behind the wheel, Baltimore became a formidable force of suffocating defense and a running game that never quits. L.A. saw both elements on display in a Week 16 home loss to Baltimore, during which the Ravens rushed 35 times for 159 yards and limited the Chargers to just 198 yards of total offense.

L.A. has surely been itching for this rematch ever since, and it seemingly has the arsenal to orchestrate a different outcome. Philip Rivers matched his career high with a 105.5 quarterback rating this season, while Keenan Allen had 1,196 yards with six touchdowns and Melvin Gordon added 1,375 scrimmage yards with 14 total touchdowns.

Eagles at Bears

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You never want to count out any playoff participant, especially when said squad was the last to celebrate a Super Bowl win. But no one faces a steeper uphill climb in the opening round than the Eagles.

Chicago has the best point differential of any wild-card team at plus-138 (fourth overall). Philly has the second-lowest at plus-19 (12th, one spot back of a Pittsburgh team that missed the big dance).

The Bears tied for the third-best record in the league at 12-4. The Eagles tied for 13th at 9-7, making them the only postseason participant without double-digit victories.

Chicago's offense outscored Philadelphia's by 54 points (421-367). The Bears defense surrendered 65 fewer points than their counterpart (283-348). Chicago also had the edge in sacks (50-44), takeaways (36-17) and turnover differential (plus-15 to minus-6).

Oh, and Philly's quarterback Nick Foles—who would be backing up Carson Wentz if he was healthy—left the team's Week 17 contest early with a rib injury.

Maybe Mitchell Trubisky gets distracted by the bright lights of his first playoff appearance. Maybe Foles finds the same magic that propelled him to last year's miracle run. But Chicago is the weekend's heaviest favorite for a reason.

Statistics used courtesy of ESPN.com and NFL.com.