The 2016 postseason kicks off on Saturday, as eight teams look to take the first of four necessary steps to win the Super Bowl.
It's tough for teams to come out of the opening round to ultimately win it all, but we've seen it happen before, and you never know who the next team will be to go on a magical run through the postseason.
Wild Card Weekend Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Chiefs (-3) at Texans (40.5) (Saturday, 4:35 p.m. ET)
Steelers (-3) at Bengals (46) (Saturday, 8:15 p.m. ET)
Seahawks (-5) at Vikings (42) (Sunday, 1:05 p.m. ET)
Packers (PK) at Redskins (46.5) (Sunday, 4:40 p.m. ET)
It's a strange week of football for sure, knowing that three of the four road teams are favorites, while the fourth of those road teams is set at a pick 'em and could reasonably close as a favorite when push comes to shove.
Over the course of the last two postseasons, only two teams have been lined as road favorites. The 49ers did beat the Packers at Lambeau Field on Wild Card weekend, but they didn't cover at -3.5. In fact, the last time a team was a road favorite and covered the spread in the playoffs was back in the 2013 NFC Championship Game when the Niners beat the Falcons 28-24 as 3.5-point chalks.
The Seahawks are the biggest favorites at -5 against Minnesota. The last time a team was favored by more than 3.5 on the road in a postseason game was in the 2012 playoffs when the Steelers were upset by Tim Tebow's Broncos in overtime at Mile High at -7.5. The year before, the Saints were -10 in Seattle and were beaten 41-36 in the game which gave Marshawn Lynch the "Beast Mode" moniker.
Totals are relatively low for Wild Card weekend as well, but perhaps that shouldn't be shocking after the under posted a 3-1 mark in the playoffs last year and the year prior.
As far as the games on the field go, three of the four matchups feature rematches from the regular season.
Kansas City and Houston met in Week 1 in a game which was nowhere near as close as a 27-20 final score suggests. Alex Smith did whatever he wanted against the Texans defense en route to a 27-9 first half. The Chiefs were short one-point favorites on that day and have since improved to -3 in their return to NRG Stadium. The total amazingly sits just a half-point off of the closing number from Week 1 at 40.5.
The Seahawks were -2.5 on the road against the Vikings five weeks ago, romping to a 38-7 victory. The Vikings didn't score an offensive touchdown that day and were held to 125 total yards of offense. Theoretically, that was supposed to be the end of Minnesota as a playoff team, and Green Bay was supposed to romp to the NFC North title from there. About that… Seattle's demolition of Arizona in the desert in Week 17 has certainly proved the point that it's ready to rock and roll in the second season. Considering the fact that the Seahawks have reached at least the NFC Championship Game in three straight seasons, it's tough to bet against them.
The Steelers feel like they're playing divisional rivals in the playoffs all the time. This time around, they draw Cincinnati at Paul Brown Stadium, a place where they picked up what turned out to be a vital 33-20 win over the Bengals. Pittsburgh was +1 on the day where Andy Dalton broke his thumb. It's still unknown whether it'll be Dalton or A.J. McCarron under center for the Bengals. If it's Dalton, we suspect Cincinnati will come closer to being a favorite.
The one game in Wild Card weekend which isn't a rematch pits Green Bay against Washington. Had you tabbed this as a playoff game at the start of the year, we would've called you crazy, and it would've been even more ludicrous to think that the Packers could be underdogs. However, the Skins have won and covered their last four games, averaging over 30 points per game along the way, while the Packers bumbled their way to consecutive losses to end the regular season to cost themselves the NFC North title.
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