NFL WILD CARD WEEKEND HOT & NOT
The NFL regular season came to a close on Sunday to finalize the 12-team field for this year’s playoffs. Six teams from each conference will now take aim at earning a trip to Atlanta for Super Bowl LIII on Feb. 3. The New Orleans Saints earned the top seed in the NFC at 13-3 and the 12-4 Kansas City Chiefs are the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
The NFC’s Los Angeles Rams are also 13-3 and they will have this weekend off as the second seed. The defending AFC Champion New England Patriots ended the regular season 11-5 to also earn a bye this week as the No. 2 seed. The other eight playoff teams will be in action on Saturday and Sunday in the opening Wild Card Round.
The first game on Saturday’s slate is an AFC South clash between the 10-6 Indianapolis Colts and the 11-5 Houston Texans in a 4:35 p.m. start on ESPN. The Texans are favored by 2.5 points at home with the total set at 47.5 points. These two division rivals split the season series straight-up and against the spread. The Colts are 5-1 SU in their last six road games against Houston.
Later Saturday night in an 8:15 p.m. kickoff on FOX, the 10-6 Seattle Seahawks square off against the 10-6 Dallas Cowboys. Online sports bet has opened the Cowboys as 2.5-point home favorites and the total has been set at 43 points. The Seahawks have covered in four of their last five road games and they are 4-1 SU in their last five games against Dallas.
Sunday’s NFL playoff action gets underway with the other AFC tilt between the 12-4 Los Angeles Chargers and the 10-6 Baltimore Ravens. The Chargers are set as 2.5-point road underdogs for this 1:05 p.m. kickoff on CBS after losing to Baltimore 22-10 two weeks ago as four-point home favorites. The total stayed UNDER 42.5 points in that game and it has been set at 41.5 points this time around.
The defending Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles needed a win and some help on Sunday just to get into this year’s field. At 9-7, they will go on the road as six-point underdogs to face the 12-4 Chicago Bears. Game time on NBC from Soldier Field has been set for 4:40 p.m. on Sunday and nfl-wild-card-weekend-hot-not/ has set the total at 41. Philly has won six of its last eight road games playing the Bears.
