Highlighting the NFL’s 2 Saturday Wild Card Matchups

Playoff football has arrived! After 18 consecutive weeks of the regular season, it is now “Wild Card Weekend,” and it kicks off with two Saturday NFC games.

This postseason has been hyped up for the endless possibilities. Fans, reasonably so, have grown pretty damn tired of “Chiefs vs. Eagles/49ers,” and with Patrick Mahomes’ team out of the playoffs, we’re guaranteed a new AFC champ.

On the NFC side, both Philly and San Francisco are in the race, though one will be eliminated tomorrow as they face off against each other, and plenty of fresh faces exist elsewhere in the bracket.

This is exemplified by the two games today. First, Matthew Stafford’s Rams will travel to the “Queen City” of Charlotte in the Panthers’ first playoff game since their Super Bowl run.

Then, at night, we get treated to one of the most infamous matchups in the league’s history with the Packers and Bears squaring off for their third matchup.

Here, I’ll cover both games so you can be fully prepared to sit back, relax, and watch the NFC take shape today.

Los Angeles Rams (12-5, 5 Seed) @ Carolina Panthers (8-9, 4 Seed)

3:30 CST Kick Off – LAR Favorites By 10 Points — 46.5 O/U

It is going to be more electric than you can probably imagine in Charlotte, North Carolina, today. The Panthers fan base has waited for another run at the playoffs since they fell to the Broncos in Super Bowl 50, and that chance has arrived.

Cam Newton will be there to bang the “Keep Pounding” drum before kickoff, and Bryce Young will have the most eyes on him since his Alabama days.

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/2009020125719245133

On the Rams’ side, this is a ridiculously talented unit, from the coaching staff to the players, that poses a gigantic threat to the Panthers’ Cinderella run to the postseason. I mean, the records themselves tell the story: 12-5 vs 8-9.

That is why Los Angeles is the biggest favorite of the weekend, but do not forget, in Week 13, those feisty cats pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the entire regular season. They beat the Rams 31-28 in Charlotte.

This is a true rematch between two teams with everything on the line: yes, LA has the upper hand, but you should not be shocked if the Panthers post yet another upset victory.

Green Bay Packers (9-7-1, 7 Seed) @ Chicago Bears (11-6, 2 Seed)

7:00 CST Kick Off – GB Favorites By 1.5 Points — 46.5 O/U

The NFC North has been building to this moment for weeks.

We’ve known for a while that this third matchup between the Packers and Bears was a strong possibility, but it didn’t get clinched until Week 18. Now, the time has arrived for the “rubber match” between two bitter rivals.

Green Bay enters this game as a road favorite with one win and one loss against Chicago this season. They are badly banged up, most notably missing All-Pro Micah Parsons from an ACL tear, but this group has some dog in them.