The NFL playoffs for the 2024 season began on January 11, 2025, and concluded with Super Bowl LIX on February 9 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, when the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs 40–22 to win their second Super Bowl and fifth NFL championship in franchise history.
All playoff teams in both conferences won at least 10 games, the first time since 2012 and the first time since the NFL playoffs expanded to a 14-team format in 2020. This was the second time since their respective moves to Los Angeles where the Rams and Chargers both qualified for the playoffs, after 2018, and their first since sharing SoFi Stadium.
Participants
Bracket
Schedule The playoffs began with Wild Card Weekend on January 11–13, 2025. The Divisional round was played on January 18–19, with the winners of those games advancing to the Conference Championship games, which were played on January 26. Super Bowl LIX took place on February 9 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Round Away team Score Home team Date Kickoff(ET / UTC–5) National TV network(s) Streaming Viewers (millions) TV rating Wild-card round Los Angeles Chargers 12–32 Houston Texans January 11, 2025 4:30 p.m. CBS Paramount+ 26.6 12.5 Pittsburgh Steelers 14–28 Baltimore Ravens 8:00 p.m. Prime Video 22.1 9.7 Denver Broncos 7–31 Buffalo Bills January 12, 2025 1:00 p.m. CBS Paramount+ 31.2 15.7 Green Bay Packers 10–22 Philadelphia Eagles 4:30 p.m. Fox 35.9 16.7 Washington Commanders 23–20 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 8:00 p.m. NBC Peacock 29.0 13.5 Minnesota Vikings 9–27 Los Angeles Rams January 13, 2025 8:00 p.m. ESPN/ABC ESPN+ 25.4 13.3 Divisional round Houston Texans 14–23 Kansas City Chiefs January 18, 2025 4:30 p.m. 33.8 11.0 Washington Commanders 45–31 Detroit Lions 8:00 p.m. Fox 33.6 15.8 Los Angeles Rams 22–28 Philadelphia Eagles January 19, 2025 3:00 p.m. NBC Peacock 37.9 16.7 Baltimore Ravens 25–27 Buffalo Bills 6:30 p.m. CBS Paramount+ 43.1 20.0 Conference championships Washington Commanders 23–55 Philadelphia Eagles January 26, 2025 3:00 p.m. Fox 44.2 20.0 Buffalo Bills 29–32 Kansas City Chiefs January 26, 2025 6:30 p.m. CBS Paramount+ 57.7 25.9 Super Bowl LIXCaesars SuperdomeNew Orleans, Louisiana Kansas City Chiefs 22–40 Philadelphia Eagles February 9, 2025 6:30 p.m. Fox Tubi 127.7 41.7
Wild-card round
Saturday, January 11, 2025
AFC: Houston Texans 32, Los Angeles Chargers 12
This was the first playoff meeting between the Chargers and the Texans. Houston and Los Angeles did not meet in the regular season. The Texans have made eight appearances in the wild card round in their 23-year history, and they have been played at home in the Saturday, 4:30 p.m. slot each time.
The first half was a low-scoring affair, ending 10–6 to the Texans and highlighted by the two teams' quarterbacks—C. J. Stroud and Justin Herbert—throwing interceptions on back-to-back plays. The second half produced more points, as Herbert threw three more interceptions. In the fourth quarter, Texans cornerback D'Angelo Ross blocked an extra point attempt and returned it for a defensive two-point conversion, the first such score to occur in a postseason game since the play was added in 2015. This was the first NFL game to end with a 32–12 final score, known as a scorigami. Ladd McConkey finished the game with 9 catches for 192 receiving yards, breaking the playoff record for receiving yards by a rookie.
This game received significant online coverage as, during the Nickelodeon broadcast, Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh was "swallowed" by the SpongeBob SquarePants character "Dirty Bubble". After this scene, the Chargers were outscored 32–6, leading to some fans seeing it as an omen.
AFC: Baltimore Ravens 28, Pittsburgh Steelers 14
This was the fifth playoff meeting between the Steelers and the Ravens; the Steelers led 3–1 in previous postseason meetings between the two, all of which were previously played in Pittsburgh. Their most recent playoff meeting came in the 2014 AFC Wild Card round, when the Ravens beat the Steelers 30–17. The two teams split the regular season series, with the Steelers winning 18–16 in Pittsburgh in Week 11 and the Ravens winning 34–17 in Baltimore in Week 16. This was Amazon Prime Video's first exclusive NFL playoff game.
After forcing a punt on the Steelers' first offensive possession, the Ravens went 95 yards on their opening drive, culminating with Lamar Jackson hitting Rashod Bateman for a 15-yard touchdown to go up 7–0, a lead the Ravens never surrendered. Both teams exchanged punts on their next few possessions before Baltimore scored their second touchdown of the game on a 8-yard run from Derrick Henry. Before the half ended, the Ravens scored another touchdown on Jackson pass to Justice Hill, now leading 21–0. Despite the Steelers eventually pulling within two scores in the third quarter, the fourth quarter went scoreless and the Ravens held on to defeat the Steelers 28–14.
Jackson completed 16 of 21 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 81 yards. Derrick Henry set a Ravens franchise record for rushing yards in a postseason game by rushing for 186 yards and two touchdowns. The Ravens amassed 299 total rushing yards.
Sunday, January 12, 2025
AFC: Buffalo Bills 31, Denver Broncos 7
This was the second playoff meeting between Buffalo and Denver; the first was in the 1991 AFC Championship, when the Bills beat the Broncos 10–7 in Buffalo to reach Super Bowl XXVI. The Bills and the Broncos did not meet in the regular season. It was Denver's first postseason appearance since winning Super Bowl 50 nine years earlier.
On the opening possession of the game, rookie Bo Nix capped a five-play opening drive with a 43-yard touchdown pass to former college teammate Troy Franklin. The Bills responded with a field goal by Tyler Bass to cap a 12-play drive on their opening possession and then forced a quick three-and-out to get the ball back. James Cook added a touchdown on a 5-yard run early in the second quarter to give the Bills a 10–7 lead. Before the end of the first half, Broncos kicker Wil Lutz missed a 50-yard field goal that would have tied the game at 10–10.
After Bass knocked home a 27-yard field goal at the beginning of the third quarter, leading 13–7, Buffalo broke open the game with a Josh Allen touchdown pass to Ty Johnson on fourth down with 3:06 left in the third quarter. The score held up following a replay review, which showed Johnson's foot touching out of bounds but only after he secured the ball. Moments later, a two-point conversion was successful on an Allen pass to Keon Coleman. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Allen's 55-yard touchdown pass to Curtis Samuel effectively sealed the game for Buffalo. Bass closed out the scoring with his second field goal of the game as the Bills won 31–7. The Bills methodically wore down the Broncos in the game with a combined 210 yards rushing (120 yards from Cook, 46 from Allen, 44 from Johnson). Allen added 272 yards through the air, with two touchdowns.
NFC: Philadelphia Eagles 22, Green Bay Packers 10
This was the fourth playoff meeting between Philadelphia and Green Bay. The Eagles led the playoff series 2–1, including wins in the 1960 NFL Championship Game and the 2003 NFC Divisional Game, where the Eagles converted on 4th-and-26 on their game-tying drive late in the fourth quarter, although the Packers won the most recent playoff meeting, a 21–16 win in the 2010 NFC Wild Card Game in Philadelphia en route to their win in Super Bowl XLV. In the regular season, the Eagles defeated the Packers 34–29 in a neutral-site game in São Paulo, Brazil in Week 1.
The Eagles recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff and scored a touchdown to take an early 7–0 lead. At the end of the quarter, the Eagles kicked a field goal to extend the lead to 10–0. Following a scoreless second quarter, the Packers cut the lead to 10–3 with a field goal almost 10 minutes into the third quarter, but the Eagles soon extended the lead to 16–3 with a Dallas Goedert touchdown. While the Packers cut the deficit to 16–10 early in the fourth quarter with a touchdown from Josh Jacobs, the Eagles responded with a field goal to go up 19–10. Following a turnover on downs from the Packers, the Eagles kicked another field goal to take a 22–10 lead. Cornerback Quinyon Mitchell then intercepted Jordan Love in the end zone, sealing the win for Philadelphia.
A video filmed during the game of an Eagles fan harassing a female Packers fan with derogatory and misogynistic phrases in the stands went viral on social media. The cameraman, who is the woman's fiancée, posted the video online and asked people watching to "help me out and find this man". He avoided any physical altercation with the Eagles fan in order to not get himself kicked out. The Eagles fan was banned for life from attending Lincoln Financial Field, and his place of employment fired him after being notified of his actions and conducting investigations. He later issued an apology.
NFC: Washington Commanders 23, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20
This was the first playoff matchup between Tampa Bay and Washington since the 2020 NFC Wild Card, when the Buccaneers won 31–23 over the then-Washington Football Team, en route to their win in Super Bowl LV. The Commanders and Buccaneers met in Tampa in Week 1 of the regular season, with the Buccaneers winning 37–20. This was the fourth playoff meeting between the two teams, with the Buccaneers holding a 2–1 series lead. In addition, this was Washington's first playoff game under the 'Commanders' nickname.
The Buccaneers opened the scoring on a Chase McLaughlin 50-yard field goal on the first possession of the game. On the Commanders' first possession, they turned the ball over on downs after a Jayden Daniels pass to Austin Ekeler on fourth down fell incomplete from Tampa Bay's 20-yard line. After the Buccaneers punted, Washington scored on a Daniels pass to Dyami Brown to cap off a 9-minute, 17-play drive. After a successful Zane Gonzalez field goal, which made the score 10–3, Baker Mayfield led the Bucs down the field and scored on a 1-yard pass to Mike Evans, who was covered for most of the first half by rival Marshon Lattimore. This tied the score at 10–10 at halftime.
On the Commanders' first possession of the second half, Gonzalez added another field goal, giving Washington a temporary lead. The next possession, the Buccaneers went ahead 17–13 on a 4-yard Mayfield pass to rookie running back Bucky Irving. The Commanders' next possession saw them drive 67 yards in 12 plays, as the game moved into the fourth quarter. They then failed on a fourth-down conversion for the second time in the game, turning the ball over on downs at the Tampa Bay 3-yard line. Three plays later, Mike Evans made a stretching reach to secure a critical first down, but the Buccaneers gave the ball right back to Washington on next play. Mayfield committed a costly turnover, a botched handoff to rookie Jalen McMillan on a jet sweep, resulted in a fumble recovered by Bobby Wagner at the Tampa Bay 13. Four plays later, facing yet another fourth-down conversion, a 4th-and-2 at the Tampa Bay 5-yard line, Daniels pass to Terry McLaurin gave the Commanders a 20–17 lead. On their next possession, late in the fourth quarter, Tampa Bay could not pick up a first down deep in Washington territory after Mayfield was tackled for no gain on 2nd-and-1, and Irving was tackled for a loss on a seemingly botched 3rd-and-1 running play. McLaughlin kicked a 32-yard field goal to tie the score at 20–20.