Revisiting our bold predictions for the NFL playoffs – did we get anything correct?

We like to have some fun with predictions here and use them as a way to look at some big-picture stories rather than dive deep into the nitty-gritty of NFL football. So, let's take a look at how we got on with our predictions from the playoffs!

Joe Flacco has been playing some of the best football of his career in recent weeks, including a 368-yard and three-TD game against the Texans on Christmas Eve. Flacco’s hot run has to end at some point and we’re predicting it does in the rematch against Houston on Saturday.

Flacco did his best against the Texans in the first round of the NFL playoffs but was ultimately unstuck by the up-and-coming Texans. We're going to take the wins where we can get them, and this is certainly one.

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The Eagles’ season has collapsed in spectacular fashion over the past couple of months, bad play, bad vibes, and an all-time awful defense give us little confidence in them making waves in the playoffs, however, their Wildcard matchup against the Bucs sees them as favorites. We think they win in Tampa and are molly-whopped by the Niners in the Divisional round.

The Eagles certainly did get blown out, but it was the Bucs who put Philadelphia out of its misery early, with the final score of 32-9 showing just how far the Eagles fell in the second half of the season. We'll give ourselves some credit, but this is mostly wrong.

The Dolphins have played well all year and deserve their spot in the playoffs, but now they travel to the -4-degree Arrowhead Stadium to play the Chiefs. Questions will start to arise around Tua’s ability to put a team on his back in the big moments after they lose in a low-scoring affair.

We are not for a moment suggesting Tua is a bad player, because he isn't, but he does have some serious flaws to his game that could make the Dolphins reticent to give him a monster contract this offseason. As DJ Dunson of Deadspin.com puts it, "[Tua] is a boot on Miami’s offense, preventing them from reaching their full potential," which is maybe a little too far, but the questions are starting to be asked.

The rumors are circling that Nick Siranni’s time as the Eagles head coach could be coming to an end, our view is, that as soon as Philly loses, Sirianni is out the door. Our bold prediction is: If the Cowboys fail to advance beyond the Wildcard round, Mike McCarthy could well be looking for new employers too.

We thought, given how talented the rosters in Dallas and Philadelphia were, if they failed to make a deep run in the playoffs, Mike McCarthy and Nick Sirianni would be looking for employment elsewhere. Instead, McCarthy has been retained for another year and Sirianni, after deliberations with back office staff has stayed on with a reworked coaching staff around him. Will the Eagles and Cowboys live to regret their decisions?

The Bills have been the ‘Nearly-Men’ in recent years, never quite able to make it to the Super Bowl. We predicted in the preseason this was their year, and we’re stubbornly, obstinately, doubling down on that opinion now.

The Bills seem destined to be the 'nearly-men' of the current NFL, always competing but unable to get over the final hurdle. It looks like this must be a mental thing at this point given how much talent is on their roster still.

The Rams started the season with low expectations, and are now looking like one of the hottest teams in the NFL. One fantastic draft class has turned this franchise around and shaved years off their rebuild, we can see them comfortably beating the Lions and maybe finding themselves in a shock NFC Championship game.

The Rams came oh so close to upsetting the Lions in the Wildcard round but were unable to pull off the win. In an alternate universe the Rams win that game and become a team no one would want to face, but alas, another incorrect prediction.

We also did a round of predictions for the Divisional Round games, so let's take a look at those and see if we got any correct!

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Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen have ascended into the elite of the elites in the NFL and have already had some incredible duels in their relatively young careers. Now the Bills host the Chiefs in the Divisional Round and we are expecting it to be another barnburner, our bold prediction is both sides will score more than 34 points despite the weather.

Described by The Guardian as a "playoff thriller," The Chiefs eventually overcame the Bills 27-24 but not before both Allen and Mahomes showed out on one of the biggest stages in sports. Allen used his athletic ability and incredible arm to keep the Bills in the contest but Mahomes proved too good in the end connecting with Travis Kelce for two scores that ultimately proved the difference.

We have had a sneaky feeling all year that if one of the Kelce brothers wins the Super Bowl, they both call time on their careers. Now, with the Eagles crashing out embarrassingly, only Travis is left. We expect him to ball out against the Bills and look like the best TE in history again as a way to avenge the Kelce name.

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Kelce has looked back to his best during the playoffs, hauling in 262 yards and three TDs as he has once again helped the Chiefs reach the Super Bowl, as SportsNet put it, "Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were at their magnificent best." Kelce is one of the best ever and seemingly only gets better as the pressure mounts.

The Packers’ story is incredible, going into Dallas with the youngest roster in football and a burgeoning star at QB and stomping all over the Cowboys, but now they head to San Fran to face the rested Niners and we don’t expect it to be close.

We thought the Niners would stomp all over the Packers in the Divisional Round, instead, it looked like Green Bay was going to win for most of the game, with the Niners pulling off a late comeback to secure the win,  Pro Football Focus went as far as saying, "the Packers actually outplayed the hosts [49ers] for most of the game".

At times, we have certainly been guilty of underrating Brock Purdy, he has become a very effective NFL QB, however, we can see a scenario where he crumbles against a Packers’ D that is growing week by week. What the Niners can do is rely on his teammates to pick him when he falls, expect a huge Deebo Samuel game and Christian McCaffery to get used heavily.

Purdy was not at his best in the Divisional Round, with rain falling, the 49ers' QB threw errant passes all game, per Pro Football Focus, "The Niners quarterback finished 23-of-39 for 252 yards and an excellent touchdown pass to George Kittle, but he also recorded two turnover-worthy plays and missed several key throws." It was by far from his best game, but ultimately he did enough to get the win.

C.J. Stroud has been one of the stars of the season in his rookie year, putting up crazy numbers in an offense that most expected to be a complete dud. Now, against probably the best team in football, he will need to ball out to keep his team in contention, and we fully expect him, going for over 300 yards in the air and at least two TDs.

As DAZN succinctly puts it, "the Ravens' defense limited C.J. Stroud to 175 yards passing," which is not the 300 yards we predicted. The Texans were one of the best stories of 2023, but this game showed there is still a long way to go before they are amongst the elite.

We continue to believe that the Ravens are the best team in football and that no teams can compete with them. Suggesting they beat the Texans is certainly not a bold prediction, but them blowing out the Texans and showcasing exactly how good they are to the whole league certainly is.

The Ravens won 34-10, another correct prediction in a series of mostly wrong ones, we'll take it!

The Bucs aren’t an especially good team, but they have some spunk, some seriously talented players, and an incredibly aggressive defense that could cause even the Lions some problems. We can see this game remaining close through four quarters, with the Bucs kicking a late FG to take it to OT.

For a while, overtime looked very much on the cards with the game going back and forth throughout, but, as the Buccaneers website puts it, "a late-game interception and miscues throughout sealed the club's fate in Motown." We were wrong here, but the sentiment was in the right ball park so we'll take a bit of credit...

The Lions are a very good team, but they are beatable, and a fired-up Bucs team coming off a demolition of the Eagles will not be an easy win for Detroit. Once the game goes to OT, the Lions get stuffed early, punting it away to the Bucs who march down the field and win it with a FG. Bake Mayfield will be heading to the NFC Championship game.

After patting ourselves on the back for the previous prediction, now we have to recognize that we were, in fact, very wrong. We saw the Bucs as a Cinderella story ready to upset the Lions, another Cinderella story but ultimately Detroit proved too strong.

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