{"id":2239,"date":"2026-01-16T23:38:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/nfl-playoff-brackets-an-advanced-model-reveals-the-picks-in-the-nfl-divisional-round\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T02:07:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T18:07:29","slug":"nfl-playoff-brackets-an-advanced-model-reveals-the-picks-in-the-nfl-divisional-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/nfl-playoff-brackets-an-advanced-model-reveals-the-picks-in-the-nfl-divisional-round\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL playoff brackets: An advanced model reveals the picks in the NFL Divisional Round"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div>\n<p>The 2026 NFL playoff bracket is down to just eight teams following a great first week of play. The NFL Divisional Round will consist of four games, with all eight teams fighting to get to Super Bowl LX. A new champion will be crowned after the San Francisco 49ers upset the Philadelphia Eagles, 23-19, on the road. Now, the 49ers will face familiar foes when they take on the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday at 8 pm ET. According to the latest NFL odds at DraftKings Sportsbook, the Seahawks are favored by seven points at home. Over\/under for 49ers vs. The Seahawks are 44.5 points. You can bet on the game here: <\/p>\n<p>Seven of the eight quarterbacks left in the NFL Divisional Round are seeking their first Super Bowl title. Only Matthew Stafford (Rams) has lifted the Lombardi Trophy as a starter. Stafford and the Rams will travel to face Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears, who are coming off their first home win since 2010, on Sunday at 6:30 pm ET. The Rams are favored by 3.5 points on the road, with an over\/under of 48.5. Here&#8217;s a breakdown of the complete 2026 NFL playoff bracket, along with full predictions for NFL results and NFL resources from our model:<\/p>\n<h2>NFL Divisional Round<\/h2>\n<h3>Debts vs. Broncos, Saturday, 4:30 pm ET<\/h3>\n<p>The Broncos are 13-1 in their last 14 games, while Denver has won nine of their last 10 at home. Meanwhile, the Bills are 6-1 in their last seven games, while Buffalo is coming off a thrilling road win against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Wild Card Weekend. According to the latest NFL odds, the Broncos are favored by 1.5 points at home, while the over\/under for total points scored is 45.5. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bills vs. Broncos score prediction: Broncos 24, Bills 23<\/li>\n<li>Debts vs. Broncos best bet: Over 45.5 points<\/li>\n<li>Debts vs. Broncos prop pick: Courtland Sutton, Under 48.5 receiving yards<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>49ers vs. Seahawks, Saturday, 8 pm ET<\/h3>\n<p>The fierce NFC West rivalry resumes when the Seattle Seahawks host the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday night. San Francisco has dominated this rivalry over the years, winning seven of the last nine meetings with Seattle. The 49ers are 7-1 in their last eight games and 5-0 against the spread in their last five road games. The Seahawks have won seven straight, including a 13-3 win over San Francisco in Week 18 that helped Seattle earn the No. 1 seed. 1 in NFC. This time, the Seahawks are favored by seven points at home, according to the latest NFL odds. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>49ers vs. Seahawks score prediction: Seahawks 28, 49ers 21<\/li>\n<li>49ers vs. Seahawks best bet: Over 44.5 points<\/li>\n<li>49ers vs. Seahawks prop pick: Christian McCaffrey, Over 56.5 yards rushing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Texans vs. Patriots, Sunday, 3pm ET<\/h3>\n<p>The two hottest teams in the NFL square off when the New England Patriots host the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon. The Texans, coming off a 30-6 road win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, have won 10 games in a row and are 5-1 over the stretch in their last six games against New England. The Patriots enter Sunday&#8217;s contest having won 14 of their last 15 games, while New England is 9-2 ATS in their last 11 games as a favorite. The Patriots are favored by three points, and the over\/under for the points scored is 40.5.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Texans vs. Patriots score prediction: Patriots 22, Texans 20 <\/li>\n<li>The best bet for Texans vs. Patriots: Texans +3<\/li>\n<li>Texans vs. Patriots prop pick: Drake Maye, Over 229.5 passing yards<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Rams vs. Bears, Sunday, 6:30 pm ET<\/h3>\n<p>Caleb Williams led the Chicago Bears to their first home playoff win since 2010 with a thrilling comeback against the Green Bay Packers. Williams threw for 361 yards and two touchdowns, while rookie tight end Colston Loveland hauled in eight receptions for 137 yards. Bears are now 7-1 in their last eight home games, while Chicago is 8-2 ATS in their last 10 home games against the Rams. Los Angeles is 10-3 in their last 13 games, while the Rams are 7-1 ATS in their last eight games played in January. Los Angeles is favored by 3.5 points on the road, and the over\/under is 48.5 points. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rams vs. Bears score prediction: Rams 27, Bears 24<\/li>\n<li>Rams vs. Bears best bet: Bears +3.5<\/li>\n<li>Rams vs. Bears prop pick: Matthew Stafford, Over 34.5 pass attempts <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Full NFL playoff schedule, NFL bracket<\/h2>\n<h3>The Division Cycle<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Saturday, Jan. 17<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>(6) Debts vs. (1) Broncos, 4:30 p.m. ET <\/li>\n<li>(6) 49ers vs. (1) Seahawks, 8 p.m. ET<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Sunday, Jan. 18<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>(5) Texans vs. (2) Patriots, 3 p.m. ET<\/li>\n<li>(5) Rams vs. (2) Bears, 6:30 pm ET<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>The Sunday of heroism<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sunday, Jan. 25<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>AFC Championship, 3pm ET (CBS)<\/li>\n<li>NFC Championship, 6:30 pm ET (Fox)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Super Bowl LX<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sunday, February 8<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>AFC Champion vs. NFC Champion at Levi&#8217;s Stadium (Santa Clara, California), 6:30 pm ET (NBC)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Looking for more NFL picks?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>You saw the best NFL betting model in the NFL Divisional Round. Now, compare the spread, value and moneyline selection for every game here, all from a model that simulates the entire game 10,000 times. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2026 NFL playoff bracket is down to just eight teams following a great first week of play. The NFL Divisional Round will consist of four games, with all eight teams fighting to get to Super Bowl LX. A new champion will be crowned after the San Francisco 49ers upset the Philadelphia Eagles, 23-19, on &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2241,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2239\/revisions\/2241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}