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The Chiefs will be plenty rested heading into their Divisional Round matchup with the Texans, a team they just prepared for not too long ago. In fact, several Chiefs starters played that Week 16 game against Houston, faced the Steelers four days later on Christmas and then have been off since. RB Isiah Pacheco and RT Jawaan Taylor should be good to go. DT Chris Jones, who last played in Week 16, should be back. Even CB Jaylen Watson, who has been out since Week 7, might be on track to be activated for the game. Patrick Mahomes had his best performance of the season vs. Houston, but that same Texans defense is fresh off a four-pick effort against Justin Herbert. If Kansas City's pass protection is in sync, it's going to take a heroic effort from C.J. Stroud and Co. to pull off the upset. Mahomes is 6-0 in the Divisional Round and has a chance to make his seventh AFC Championship Game before turning 30.

Now the anxiety sets in. Last January, the Lions were playing with house money. They were the NFL's darlings, rolling on pure momentum and emotion, earning new fans by the minute. Now, they're expected to win, even with a frightening young Commanders team coming to town this week. In just one year's time, both these teams' roles have flipped completely -- it's just the temperamental nature of this league. But with both Lions coordinators, Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, earning head-coaching interviews, Dan Campbell has to know that the time to win a title with his core group in place is NOW. Campbell has expressed optimism that RB David Montgomery can play, and the vibes seem to be improving with CB Terrion Arnold and RG Kevin Zeitler, too. Those might be all the reinforcements the Lions receive, however, and that defense will have its hands full defending Jayden Daniels. Just another stiff test for the D everyone loves to doubt.

The Bills quickly fell behind 7-0 to the Broncos, and the worry meter went up a notch or two, as questions about the viability of Buffalo's defense had been rising prior to the playoffs. But the offense found its groove, patiently sticking with the run game early and getting Josh Allen some more favorable looks. It's not often you see a team throw more with the lead and control of the game, but this is the trust level Allen has earned this season. Meanwhile, Buffalo's defense promptly tightened up after Denver's opening touchdown, forcing seven straight empty possessions to close out the game. This Sunday presents an entirely different challenge in the Ravens. Baltimore scored touchdowns on its first three possessions against Buffalo in Week 4 and took advantage of the Bills' second-half mistakes to put that game away. Sean McDermott's defense can't let Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry get rolling early, or the Bills might lose at home for the third straight year in the Divisional Round.

Remember all those defensive issues? I sure don't. The Ravens were viewed with suspicion as true contenders earlier in the season, with Baltimore's defense most often cited as the reason this team would come up short again. All that's happened over the past eight games is that Baltimore has allowed opponents an average of 264 yards per game -- compared to the 367.9-yard average allowed in the first 10 games. Credit to first-year coordinator Zachary Orr; it's hard to shave off 100-plus yards per game. The Ravens' offense is still humming at an elite level, as you'd expect from a unit featuring Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry. Baltimore ran for 164 yards in the first half against Pittsburgh, 135 in the second. This Ravens team is absolutely capable of a title run the way it's playing now.

The Packers spent much of this past Sunday doing everything possible to hand the game to the Eagles, turning the ball over four times (including on the first play of the game) and missing a chip-shot field-goal try, while additionally suffering injuries left and right. Yet Philadelphia only held a six-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Dallas Goedert gave the offense some juice with his double-stiff-arm touchdown, but offensive penalties really bogged the Eagles down. Jalen Hurts also took a few bad sacks and missed some throws, including one on the clever play-action fake out of the "Tush Push" formation. A.J. Brown was even getting in some light reading on the bench. It was just an underwhelming performance offensively, but the defense mostly dominated. The last time the Eagles and Rams met, it was the Saquon Barkley show -- 302 total yards with two long-bomb touchdown runs. Philly might need another heroic display from the All-Pro back to fend off this feisty L.A. team on Sunday.

The against the Bucs was just the latest in a season of wild ones for the Cardiac Commanders, who have come to expect the unexpected from their precocious rookie quarterback, Jayden Daniels. Once again, the 24-year-old was cool in crunch time, notching the go-ahead touchdown on fourth down and then driving the Commanders down the field for the game-winning field goal, ultimately recording the franchise's first playoff victory since the 2005 season. The fact that Sunday night's game-ender clanged off the upright was poetic justice for a team that has labored through a small army's worth of kickers this season. It was also fitting that wideout Dyami Brown was the latest to step up for a team whose synergy has been one of its defining characteristics. Now the Commanders march into the Divisional Round with nothing to lose in a road game at Detroit. The miracle season rolls on.

The lesson to remember: We can pretty much ignore anything the Rams do early in the season -- or, at the very least, there's no reason to panic if they start slowly. Having climbed out of 3-6 and 1-4 holes over the past two campaigns to ultimately make the playoffs, Sean McVay has coached his tail off. This culminated in a statement victory over the 14-win Vikings (whose only other losses came against Detroit) in Glendale, Arizona. The fact that the game was moved out of Los Angeles because of the devastating wildfires only made the victory more emotional. The Rams' defense played an absolutely inspired game, harassing Sam Darnold with nine sacks, forcing a fumble (that was returned for a touchdown) and an interception and never letting him get his feet set. The only bummers: the rash of Rams penalties and Tyler Higbee's chest injury after he started out the game on fire as a pass catcher. Count on the Rams marching into Philly as a team prepared to give the Eagles a much better game the second time around.

For the second year in a row, DeMeco Ryans' Texans delivered an upset on Wild Card Weekend, prevailing with another fine defensive showing. Houston's D played admirably on Saturday, buoying the team early while the offense got its footing. It's strange that a muffed shotgun snap deep in the Texans' own territory on third-and-16 would be the play that jarred them out of their offensive slumber. But after that ad-libbed 34-yard gain, C.J. Stroud was about as good as he'd been for the past month (or longer). If he can perform at that same level this Saturday against the Chiefs, Houston will have a chance. The last time the Texans were coming off a truly dominant defensive performance, against the Dolphins in Week 15, they were humbled the following Saturday in Kansas City. So it's not just Stroud who needs to show up at Arrowhead and carry over the momentum.

The Sam Darnold conversation has changed many times over the past six months, but particularly in the past two weeks. Darnold had played well enough during the nine-game winning streak that it was beginning to feel like the Vikings would NEED to work him into their future plans. But the lights were brighter in the losses to the Lions and Rams, and Darnold didn't have it in either one. Plenty of blame to go around for Monday's humiliating wild-card loss; the blocking was atrocious, and it might have been Kevin O'Connell's worst-called game of his otherwise-brilliant campaign. But Darnold's season ended with his arrow pointing down, and now we're kind of back (closer to) square one with the QB conversation. A potentially historic season strangely fizzled away so quickly, and the future has become puzzling just as fast.

The Bucs made resilience one of their hallmarks this season, after being forced out of town because of Hurricane Milton, enduring a four-game losing streak and suffering several key injuries along the way. They forged their way into a home playoff game after it looked nigh impossible. Baker Mayfield enjoyed one of his finest campaigns, Mike Evans continued his brilliant career with a strong finish and Bucky Irving emerged as a force in the backfield. But old bugaboos reared their ugly heads in the wild-card loss to the Commanders, as the Bucs committed some rough penalties, suffered coverage breakdowns and coughed up the ball early in the fourth quarter on a momentum-changing turnover. Todd Bowles also had some mistakes he'll have to think about, nearly misplaying the final possession of the first half and then letting Washington drain down the clock before the game-winning field goal.

Given the way the Packers finished 2023, they were rightfully portrayed as contenders, but the pieces never quite added up this season. Jordan Love seemingly regressed, injuries took their toll and Green Bay just couldn't beat the best teams on the schedule, with two losses each to the Eagles, Lions and Vikings. The blocking in Sunday's loss at Philly wasn't good, and the Packers were down their top three receivers for most of the second half. But Love wasn't very good, either, underthrowing his first deep ball for his first interception and all but handing the ball to the Eagles' Zack Baun for his second pick. Matt LaFleur didn't sugarcoat the performance, saying "there's going to be a lot of learning" for Love and his offense over the next many months. This is one of the youngest teams in the NFL, so there's plenty of hope for the future, but this season -- especially late -- was a tough pill to swallow.

Well, at least the first drive was fun. History will remember this as a 24-point playoff loss, but honestly, the Broncos were very much in the game for longer than most will remember, trailing 13-7 with just over 18 minutes to play. If they stop the Bills on fourth-and-1, they get the ball back with a chance to take the lead going into the fourth quarter. But Denver's defense just didn't have it on Sunday, giving up a touchdown on the play and then a two-point conversion, plus 10 more points in Buffalo's next two possessions. The Bills moved the ball virtually every possession and kept ramming it down the Broncos' throats. The pass rush was there when Josh Allen dropped back, but the coverage was disappointing. Even first-team All-Pro CB Patrick Surtain II had a tough day at the office. Sean Payton has unquestionably turned this Denver team in the right direction, and the future looks bright, but the Broncos remain several parts shy of being able to challenge the NFL's sluggers in January.

I feted the Chargers as the road team most likely to win a wild-card game, and I was treated with a miserable showing against a Texans outfit that hadn't looked right for much of this season. Justin Herbert committed rhetorical seppuku after the 32-12 loss at Houston, shouldering most of the blame, and his play certainly was a big part of the problem. But Los Angeles also wilted defensively, had special teams breakdowns, suffered some huge drops and couldn't run the football at all. Generally speaking, these Chargers were highly motivated and far more well-coached than past editions from recent years, and bully to them for exploiting a softer schedule. But the offensive play-calling was a morass against the Texans, as it was in a few other big losses. Some of that was because of the poor interior blocking, as well as the lack of intermediate pass targets and burst in the backfield. The Bolts absolutely must upgrade the offensive talent, but there are also defensive areas of need that can't be ignored.

Are the Steelers headed for a seismic offseason? Right now, their top two quarterbacks (Russell Wilson and Justin Fields) are impending free agents, and head coach Mike Tomlin is facing tough questions about his recent lack of playoff success. The of Tomlin still feels a bit too far-fetched, to be real, especially for a Steelers franchise that has defined patience for many decades, and it was just over a month ago that we were extolling this team's virtues quite a bit at 10-3. But we also can't rule out something dramatic happening in the next few months. This franchise hasn't won a playoff game in eight years now. Even the vaunted defense lost its footing down the stretch. There's a lot that needs to be evaluated with this team, or it might be stuck in wild-card perpetuity (or worse).