2011 NFL Playoff Schedule Announced; Jets Vs. Colts, Packers Vs. Eagles Highlight Wild Card Weekend

We can now add the Seahawks to the official NFL playoff schedule.

And that means the NFL playoff bracket is fully set, stocked with the matchups that will decide what teams play for the 2011 Super Bowl.

The 2011 NFL playoff bracket is complete, even though the Seattle Seahawks certainly don’t seem like a playoff team.

The Seahawks won a brutal 16-6 game over the St. Louis Rams at Qwest Field and claimed the NFC West with the victory. With the win, Seattle moved to 7-9 on the season and earned the first NFL playoff berth ever given to a losing team in a season that was not strike-shortened.

And now we have an official NFL playoff schedule directly from the league.

Here’s the TV schedule for the NFL’s Wild Card Weekend and divisional round, as provided by the NFL itself (all times Eastern):

According to one veteran observer of the NFL’s scheduling, the NFL’s Wild Card Weekend is already all scheduled out by its broadcast partners.

JP Kirby of The 506 tweets that these are the matchups’ television times:

To earn a playoff berth, the Giants needed to take care of the Redskins in Week 17, then hope the Bears would take care of the Packers.

Their half worked out, but they’ll still be staying home.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Packers got what they wanted: a playoff berth.

After the Packers harassed Jay Cutler all day, Nick Collins intercepted a Cutler pass with less than a minute remaining to seal the Packers’ 10-3 win over the Bears and secure Green Bay’s second straight playoff berth.

We’ve almost got an official NFL playoffs schedule.

With Week 17 wins by the Packers and Colts, only one playoff spot remains up for grabs, and it will be decided when the Rams and Seahawks clash in Seattle for the NFC West.

Entering Week 17, the Saints had a chance to earn the NFC’s No. 1 seed and the NFC South title.

That didn’t happen.

The Buccaneers are in the NFL playoffs. For now.

With a win over the Saints early Sunday afternoon, the Bucs have temporarily moved into the NFC’s sixth seed. They’ll need losses by the Packers and Giants to claim a spot in the NFC playoffs, but Tampa Bay did all it could in Week 17.

The Ravens had to win and hope the Steelers lost on Sunday to improve their playoff seeding.

The former worked out for them. The latter, not so much.

All the Steelers had to do in Week 17 to win the AFC North and earn the AFC’s No. 2 see and a first round bye was beat the Browns.

That proved a fairly simple task.

Entering Week 17, the Packers and Giants are still alive in the NFL playoff picture. But now both teams must win to stay in the running to play in the 2011 Super Bowl.

The Buccaneers’ 23-13 win over the Saints means that both Green Bay and New York must win to clinch the NFC’s No. 6 seed, and keeps the Bucs alive in the NFC playoff picture.