The 2023 NFL playoff picture is officially set. After the Lions upset the Packers in dramatic fashion on Sunday night, knocking Green Bay out of postseason contention and elevating the Seahawks into the final wild card spot, the schedule for Super Wild Card Weekend is complete. Now, the real games can begin. The postseason is a fresh slate for 14 contenders, and only time will tell which ones are ready to make a run at the Lombardi. In the meantime, here’s how we’d rank them going in:
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Mike McDaniel deserves credit for guiding Miami to this point, and for unlocking quarterback Tua Tagovailoa early this year. Tyreek Hill is also always liable to shake up a game with his speed. But Tagovailoa is a total unknown from a medical standpoint recovering from his latest concussion, and even if his health weren’t at risk, neither he nor No. 2 Teddy Bridgewater possess the consistent deep-area accuracy to play shootout, which may well be required thanks to their vulnerable pass defense.
13. Seahawks (9-8)
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Gifted a ticket to the postseason via the Lions’ heroics, Seattle has the benefit of experience on the sidelines, where Pete Carroll has now led 10 different playoff runs in 13 years. Rookie Kenneth Walker III offer some pop as the old-school bell cow. And the once-porous defense has tightened up lately. Unfortunately, things have gone the wrong direction through the air, where a resurgent Geno Smith has elite targets in DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett but now has 10 turnovers in his last eight games.
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Doug Pederson probably deserves Coach of the Year consideration for the way he’s helped restore Trevor Lawrence as an ascending star under center, and his guys have played a scrappy brand of football during their five-game win streak to close the year; Pederson’s teams, dating to Philadelphia, have always gone out with a fight. But they’re a young group whose defensive holes have likely been masked a bit by going up against the Jets, Texans and
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