NFL Playoffs 2025: Where the Wild Card losers go from here

There’s still one more game left to play in the Wild Card round, but for the most part we have our divisional round matchups set. We have a titan battle between two MVP caliber QBs, and both No. 1 seeds enter the battle like Super Smash Bros. However, before we look forward to the Divisional Round, we have to look back in memory of the playoff teams lost.

For the losers, they enter an offseason where they were close, but not close enough to make it further. This memoriam will be a look back at how each team performed in their game, and where they go from here, adding the loser of Minnesota Vikings-Los Angeles Rams here after the game goes final.

I think the Chargers are ahead of schedule, but their 32-12 loss to the Houston Texans on Saturday truly showed what their ceiling was this year.

Let’s get the obvious out the way first: it was a bad day for QB Justin Herbert to play his worst game of his career. After only throwing three interceptions all season, he threw four in one game, from odd tip drill INTs to just baffling interceptions that Herbert normally never makes. The Texans found the weakest point of the Chargers’ offensive line (the guards) and HAMMERED them. Constant five-man pressures, forcing them to both sort it out and play in one-on-one situations. That was an advantage for the Texans, who absolutely harassed Herbert:

I thought their defense played fine, but as the game went on and the offense kept going three and out, they wore themselves down. For a unit that massively outperformed expectations this season, the wheels were always bound to come off soon.

I’m optimistic about the Chargers’ future, though. They’ll have the sixth-most effective cap space in the NFL according to OverTheCap, and that’s not even accounting for whatever happens with EDGE Joey Bosa in the offseason. They have some important free agents coming up (keeping RB JK Dobbins and DT Poona Ford around should be priorities this offseason), but for a team that gutted themselves in Jim Harbaugh’s first season, they’re ahead of schedule. I would love to see them add another impactful receiver or tight end in the offseason (Michigan TE Colston Loveland is a first-round caliber talent and was coached by Harbaugh so ... there’s your dots being connected), and to add another impact cornerback opposite Tarheeb Still. Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter is a gem, I’m not sure if he gets a head coaching job this cycle but I think the Chargers have a hire ready in DBs coach Steve Clinksdale if it happens. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman, however ... might need to get off of that narcotic, Harbaugh.

As a Miami Heat fan, I can’t help but see my favorite basketball team when I see the Pittsburgh Steelers. “The Standard is the Standard” is the NFL version of “Heat Culture” and they have an innate ability to turn every game into a rock fight. But the Steelers problem is that they don’t have enough to contend against the mutant QBs in the playoffs, and it was the cause of their exit on Saturday.

QB Lamar Jackson and RB Derrick Henry were forces of nature, leveling the Steelers’ defense as the Pittsburgh offense trudged and grunted their way to 14 points. I know many Steelers fans want to fire coach Mike Tomlin, and to that I say: I get it. This team has felt stagnant, always making the playoffs but never being able to beat the best QBs, which makes it hard to get a top QB of your own.

However, I think the biggest issue with the Steelers is that they have no new ideas in the room. GM Omar Khan was a promotion, Tomlin has been in the organization for years. They’ve insulated themselves like the mafia from new ideas outside of Pittsburgh, and they haven’t been able to grow as the NFL has grown around them. Tomlin is probably going to stay around, but I would love for them to add someone from outside of the organization in an advisory front office role to aid their team building.

Speaking of team-building, I think it’s time for Pittsburgh to undergo a roster reset. They don’t have any consistent impact players on offense; their most explosive pass catcher is the most volatile player in the league, and RBs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren are both upcoming free agents. I’m not sure how the Steelers go about doing business with any of them, but I’m not optimistic about their prospects for retaining Harris and Warren. Defensively, they just don’t have the guys to play as much man coverage as they did. They need more juice in the secondary, and being in the top half for effective cap space in the NFL is good for their prospects of adding guys. LB Patrick Queen was up and down in his debut season, but man they needed more from him in pivotal games. I am curious what happens to their defense in this potential rebuild. EDGE TJ Watt is a free agent after the 2025 season...

And then comes the QB problem. Both QBs Russell Wilson and Justin Fields are free agents, and neither guy are good enough to get this team over the hump. I think Pittsburgh needs to find their version of what the Bucs found in QB Baker Mayfield. Someone who is good enough to keep games competitive against the top guys and possibly win with the right roster, but not one of the mutant QBs.

I feel the worst about the Steelers than any other Wild Card team by FAR, and their long-term outlook is potentially hinging on this offseason.

The Broncos had the unfortunate task of going up against the Uruk-Hai in Buffalo, and got ran right out of the playoffs.

Defensively, Denver’s weaknesses defending power and gap-based runs reared their ugly head on Sunday. Having EDGE defenders that weigh 240-250 pounds is very fun and cool, until they have to hit LT Dion Dawkins repeatedly in the cold. Buffalo gave them a lot of fits up front with the run, which opened up a lot of the passing game. Offensively, the Broncos kind of turtled in this game. They couldn’t get anything going on the ground (-0.25 EPA per play), which put QB Bo Nix into a lot of third and longs (four of their nine third downs were over six yards to gain). Nix was fine on Sunday, but this game was called like there was no trust in the rookie QB and unproven receivers, which made sense given how the game panned out.

Again, I feel pretty good about where the Broncos are headed. To get this level of play from the defense and find something to make the offense sustainable is super impressive in the first year of the Bo Nix era. As someone who was ... skeptical about where Nix was headed this season, Sean Payton did a great job of building this offense out of what Nix is good at, minimizing what he has to do. Nix’s next step of growth has to be from within the pocket, managing his footwork and getting his eyes in the right place.

As far as team-building goes, Denver has an opportunity to really add some impact players at critical positions. They need a tight end to kind of tie that offense together, as well as a running back who they can rely on consistently in that offense (cough cough Kaleb Johnson). They have a foundation here with an offensive line that absolutely hauled ASS this season, just need to add some more impact players. Defensively, if they can add another safety that can play in that defense will be huge for them. PJ Locke and Brandon Jones are bit too volatile and limited in pass coverage, so finding someone to replace them would be really nice. Also: an EDGE player over 250 pounds.

Eagles-Packers was a bit ... odd. Philadelphia had a 34% Success Rate and a 33% Success Rate on the ground, but still managed to win 22-10 over the Packers l argely because the Green Bay’s offense fell apart.

I was worried that the Packers’ offense would turtle without the vertical threat of WR Christian Watson, and that’s exactly what happened. Packers’ QB Jordan Love couldn’t get anything to fall downfield, which is basically the entire M.O. of the offense. It wastes a really good defensive performance by the Packers, one that saw the Eagles’ offense get booed at points of this game.

However, one thing stood out about the Packers today: they’re the youngest team in the NFL, and it shows. Repeated unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, drops throughout the season and a coach that looked like he was ready to throw a tablet through a brick wall. They made too many stupid mistakes, and when you do that and turn the ball over 3+ times in the playoffs, you’re asking to lose playoff football games. The other thing is the lack of pass rush, which is the most alarming to me. They’ve spent the second-most of any team on their interior defensive line and have poured picks into this pass rush group, just for their best pass rusher to be an off-ball linebacker. The fact that they’ve gotten so little out of the group is a problem come playoff time, and it might be time for Green Bay to evaluate some different body types at the position, to try and bring something different into the room.

I’m still rather optimistic about the Packers’ outlook, though. As we said at the top, they’re the youngest team in the NFL again and have made the playoffs again. If they can get the requisite growth that they need from their QB (who just finished his second year as the full-time starter) and those receivers, they should be fine. They’ll have some cap space to work with, so I’d like to see them go after an impactful wideout who can make everyone else’s job a little bit easier.

The Bucs can never play a normal game, and their penchant for making every game a classic came back to bite them at the end, losing 23-20 to the Washington Commanders on Sunday night. Quite frankly, the reason I think they lost is pretty simple: they shot themselves in the foot far too much for a team with this much experience. People are going to point to head coach Todd Bowles’ clock mismanagement (which was one of the problems), but the Buccaneers are never in that situation if they simply execute on any of the final three plays their offense gets.

On first down, RB Bucky Irving cuts back to the inside, failing to get the first down and only picks up nine yards. On second down, QB Baker Mayfield and Irving mistime the handoff and Mayfield is forced to carry it for no gain. Third down comes, and there’s a sneak called, but Mayfield checks out of it into a run designed for Irving. However, center Graham Barton thinks the ball is being snapped on the first sound and not the second, and snaps it to Mayfield without anyone else moving. Mind you, the Bucs fumbled a snap inside their own 20 the drive before that led to points. You simply can’t put yourself behind the eight-ball that much if you’re going to win playoff football games. That is why they lost. Bowles as a coordinator had his moments, but late in downs the Bucs just couldn’t get off the field. CB Jamel Deal was poor before injury, thinning out a CB room that was already teetering on collapse and putting more strain on a linebacker group that missed a consistent coverage guy not named Lavonte David.

Where the Bucs go from here hinges on what you think of Bowles. If his clock management woes and inconsistent defense are too much for you, then you fire Bowles and promote offensive coordinator Liam Coen (who might get a job elsewhere). However, if you think this team just needs more talent defensively (which they do) and want to give Bowles another shot, I can also understand that. Some big names hit free agency that they need to re-sign, including WR Chris Godwin and David, but they really need to hammer the defensive side of the ball in the offseason. They’re not fast enough at the second level in the passing game and need more pass rush from guys not named Calijah Kancey and Yaya Diaby. Spending quality capital on more guys at the second and third levels of the defense could help unlock this defense--whether it be for Bowles, or someone else.

If you had to guess which team was 14-3 headed into this game based on the results, you more than likely would’ve been wrong.

An exciting and promising season ends in an uneventful thud, getting embarrassed by the Los Angeles Rams 27-9. If you want to know how this game was won by the Rams, it comes down to one stat:

At halftime, Vikings’ QB Sam Darnold had a 75% pressure to sack rate. What that means is that out of every four dropbacks Sam Darnold had in the first half, three of them were ending in sacks. Not great, not great at all!

Rams’ QB Matthew Stafford was excellent against the blitz, finding answers up and down the field and the Vikings couldn’t find any way to slow them down. That, quite frankly, was the biggest difference between these two teams. The offenses are similar (although McVay has changed and tweaked his offense to evolve lately), but the biggest differentiator was that Stafford knows where all of his answers are against pressure, while Darnold looked like a deer in headlights for most of the game. It’s an especially brutal way to end the season for Darnold, who has probably seen any shot at a long term extension go up in smoke. He finished the game having only thrown for 245 yards and one touchdown, while being intercepted once, fumbling a ball Rams’ rookie EDGE Jared Verse picked up and took into the endzone, and got sacked nine times. Darnold has come back to Earth lately, and I think it makes where the Vikings go from here very interesting.

The biggest question Minnesota has to answer is if they want to keep Darnold. It’s clear that you can win games with him, but it’s also clear that he has a ceiling and will fall apart in crucial moments. I think there’s an opportunity to franchise tag him or bring him in on a shorter deal just in case rookie QB JJ McCarthy isn’t ready by the beginning of the season in 2025, but I have the feeling that’s what Daniel Jones is for. I also get the suspicion that a desperate team is going to pay Sam Darnold to try and emulate what he’s done in Minnesota, making the Vikings’ decision much easier. Outside of the QB spot, they still have holes along the offensive line (specifically at guard) and in their secondary to fill out. I’m not sure how much longer you want to keep CBs Shaq Griffin and Stephon Gilmore out there, and an injection of youth is desperately needed. It doesn’t help that Pro Bowl CB Byron Murphy Jr. is slated to hit free agency, as is S Harrison Smith, RB Aaron Jones and S Cam Bynum. Oh yeah, and DC Brian Flores is getting a lot of head coaching interviews. Good luck with that.

As long as the core players on this roster are intact, they’ll still be competitive. However, the JJ McCarthy era began as soon as the clock hit zero in Arizona, so now it’s time to see what he’s got.