NFL Playoff Bracket 2021: AFC, NFC Picture and Super Bowl Predictions

With the result of the matchup between the Washington Football Team (7-9) and the Philadelphia Eagles (4-11-1) on Sunday Night Football concluding the NFL regular season, we now know how the playoff picture shakes out. 

Sunday's Week 17 games held plenty of postseason implications. The Cleveland Browns (11-5), Baltimore Ravens (11-5) and Tennessee Titans (11-5) clinched playoff berths after Sunday's early games. Later, Washington slotted into the final NFC playoff spot and clinched the NFC East. 

The Browns and Ravens actively brought about their fate; Cleveland narrowly beat the Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4) 24-22 to clinch a wild card and will face them again next week during Super Wild Card Weekend. Baltimore routed the Cincinnati Bengals (4-11-1) 38-3 to clinch its playoff spot, racking up 525 total yards. 

The Titans, meanwhile, earned their playoff spot passively; the Miami Dolphins' (10-6) astonishing 56-26 loss to the Buffalo Bills (13-3) sealed the deal for Tennessee. 

That's not to say, however, Tennessee didn't put forth its best effort to improve its seeding. The Titans shocked the Houston Texans (4-11) with a late field goal to win 41-38 and bump the Indianapolis Colts from the No. 4 seed to the No. 7 seed. 

Derrick Henry's 250 rushing yards against the Houston Texans gained him access to some rarefied air. 

In the NFC, the Los Angeles Rams (10-6) didn't actually need to win to clinch a playoff spot—they just needed the Green Bay Packers (13-3) to defeat the Chicago Bears (8-8). But both teams won, and that cleared up a big chunk of the NFC playoff picture, as both the Rams and the Bears locked down a spot. The Rams will face division rival Seattle (12-4) on Super Wild Card Weekend. 

By defeating the Bears, the Packers officially clinched the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage in the NFC.

Let's take a closer look at the playoff picture in both the AFC and NFC with one game remaining on the regular season schedule. 

AFC Playoff Picture 

1. Kansas City Chiefs (14-1, clinched AFC West, clinched home-field advantage)

2. Buffalo Bills (13-3, clinched AFC East)

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4, clinched AFC North)

4. Tennessee Titans (10-5, clinched AFC South)

5. Baltimore Ravens (11-5)

6. Cleveland Browns (11-5)

7. Indianapolis Colts (11-5)

NFC Playoff Picture 

1. Green Bay Packers (13-3, clinched NFC North, clinched home-field advantage)

2. New Orleans Saints (12-4, clinched NFC South)

3. Seattle Seahawks (11-4, clinched NFC West)

4. Washington Football Team (7-9)

5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5)

6. Los Angeles Rams (10-6)

7. Chicago Bears (8-8)

Super Bowl Prediction

Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press

While we don't know what the matchups will look like on divisional weekend yet and therefore can't perfectly predict how the top seeds in the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints will fare, given how these teams have played this season, we can be reasonably comfortable two of the four will find themselves meeting in Super Bowl LV. 

It's almost impossible to pick against Patrick Mahomes and the defending champion Chiefs in the AFC. But have you seen how the Bills have been steamrolling people this season? Their latest exploit was dropping 56 on the hapless Dolphins, but it's not just piling up points that sets Buffalo apart.

Sure, the Chiefs outscored the Bills on the season 452 to 445, and their defense allowed fewer points (324) than Buffalo (349). On paper, it's hard to pick against Kansas City...but Buffalo is an opponent everyone hopes their favorite team doesn't have to play en route to the Super Bowl. 

In the NFC, meanwhile, Aaron Rodgers had essentially locked down the NFL MVP award, breaking records left and right (including his own). He broke his own franchise record for total touchdowns in a season, 45, set in 2011, with the four touchdowns he scored against Chicago Sunday, setting a new mark of 48. 

He joins Peyton Manning as the second player in NFL history with two-plus seasons with 45 or more touchdown passes. 

Rodgers has possibly the best wideout of his career in Davante Adams, has made a star out of previously unknown tight end Robert Tonyan (11 touchdowns on the season) and has a consistently explosive ground game to boot. His offensive line has suffered multiple injuries this season, most recently with left tackle David Bakhtiari lost for the season after tearing his ACL in practice, and yet it never seems to matter. 

In that sense, don't worry too much about which team is going to represent the AFC at Super Bowl LV. We already know who's going to win it all. 

Super Bowl: Packers 34, Chiefs 27