Tag: Lumen Field

Direct answer: NFL.com asked 19 staff analysts to pick the 2026 postseason before Week 1. The consensus 14-team field is the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans, and Denver Broncos in the AFC; the Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Los Angeles Rams in the NFC; then AFC wild cards Los Angeles Chargers, New England Patriots, and Kansas City Chiefs; and NFC wild cards Seattle Seahawks, Philadelphia Eagles, and Chicago Bears.

Those picks come from the league site’s season-preview poll published Sept. 2, 2026. Odds cited below are FanDuel Sportsbook prices as of 2 p.m. ET that day. The regular season itself has not kicked off. Seattle hosts New England at Lumen Field on Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock — a rematch of Super Bowl LX, with the Seahawks as defending champions.

How the 14-team field is built

Each conference sends seven teams: four division winners and three wild cards. The 19 voters named a champion in every division, then ranked three wild-card teams per conference. Wild-card point totals mix two groups of ballots — teams that some voters also picked to win the division, and teams that only showed up as wild cards. The usable consensus field takes the eight division winners first, then the highest remaining wild-card vote totals among teams that did not win their division on the board.

The 14 projected playoff teams

AFC division winners

Buffalo Bills, AFC East (-135, 16 votes). The room treated Buffalo as the cleanest division call on the board. The nearest second-place cluster was New England, with three division votes. Several write-ups framed Josh Allen and a continuity bump on offense as the reason the Bills stay in front even as New England’s 2026 schedule hardens from last year’s easy slate.

Baltimore Ravens, AFC North (+105, 10 votes). This was the tightest AFC race. Cincinnati took nine division votes. The Ravens still won the plurality on a new-coach plus healthy-quarterback thesis: Jesse Minter on defense, Trey Hendrickson added offseason, Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry still the engine.

Houston Texans, AFC South (+125, 15 votes). Only Jacksonville (three votes) and Indianapolis (one) drew any division support against Houston. The public case was an already-strong defense plus a running-game upgrade meant to take pressure off C.J. Stroud.

Denver Broncos, AFC West (+195, 8 votes). Denver won a split West. The Chargers took seven division votes and the Chiefs four. Dan Parr’s note in the poll: if not for Bo Nix’s injury last year, Denver might have reached the Super Bowl; Jaylen Waddle was the offseason addition the voters kept citing.

NFC division winners

Dallas Cowboys, NFC East (+175, 12 votes). Philadelphia was second with seven votes. The Dallas case in the poll was quieter than the usual Cowboys noise: a defensive overhaul that includes coordinator Christian Parker and a Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate in Caleb Downs, plus a healthy Dak Prescott offense that has finished top-five in scoring in four of the last five seasons.

Detroit Lions, NFC North (+160, 10 votes). Chicago and Green Bay each took four division votes; Minnesota took one. Matt Okada’s framing was regression risk on Chicago after a pile of one-score wins last year, and a bounce-back bet on the club that won the North in 2023 and 2024.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers, NFC South (+175, 17 votes). The most lopsided NFC call after the Rams. New Orleans drew two leftover votes. The poll language around Baker Mayfield was contract-year urgency after Tampa missed the 2025 field on a three-way tiebreaker.

Los Angeles Rams, NFC West (-110, 18 votes). Eighteen of 19 voters. San Francisco was the only other team to receive a division vote. David Ely’s note: Los Angeles was a few plays from taking the West last year, then added Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald and rebuilt the secondary with Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson. That is why Seattle — defending Super Bowl champion — still lands as a wild card on this board, not as the division favorite.

Seattle and the Pacific Northwest read

For readers in Everett, Tacoma, and the rest of the Puget Sound, the useful number is not the Rams’ 18 division votes. It is Seattle’s 49 wild-card points — first in the NFC by a wide margin, with 12 of 19 analysts putting the Seahawks in as the fifth seed. Philadelphia had 16 points. Detroit, already the North pick for most of the room, had 14 leftover wild-card points from the voters who did not give them the division. Chicago had 8. San Francisco had 7. Minnesota had 6, all as a seventh seed.

That is the poll saying two things at once. The NFC West is treated as the hardest group in the conference. And Seattle is still treated as a near-lock to play in January. Kickoff night makes that local. The Seahawks host the Patriots at Lumen Field on Sept. 9, 8:20 p.m. ET. New England is also in the AFC wild-card pile (tied with the Chargers at 17 points). The first game of the year is a Super Bowl rematch between two clubs the same 19-person room expects back in the bracket.

For a broader Puget Sound sports map — Rainiers, Defiance, high school, and rec leagues — see the Tacoma sports guide.

Wild-card races behind the headline 14

AFC teams that collected wild-card points but sit outside the consensus three: Cincinnati (11 points), Buffalo (7 leftover points from voters who did not give them the East), Jacksonville (6), Houston (4 leftover). The next club in if one of Chargers / Patriots / Chiefs slips is Cincinnati.

NFC teams on the wrong side of the cut after Seattle, Philadelphia, and Chicago: San Francisco (7), Minnesota (6), Dallas leftover ballots (5), Green Bay (4), Rams leftover (3), New York Giants (2). The 49ers are the first team a January argument has to beat if Chicago’s wild-card hold does not survive the season.

What this poll is not

It is not a standings projection with records. It is not a Super Bowl pick. It is a staff vote taken two days before a Thursday news cycle and seven days before kickoff. FanDuel prices move. So do injuries. Kirk Cousins opening the year as the Raiders’ starter, with first-round pick Fernando Mendoza behind him, is in the same day’s NFL mailer and is already a West variable the poll barely priced. Treat the table as a snapshot of where 19 league-site analysts stood on Sept. 2, not as a finished bracket.

Primary source: 2026 NFL playoff predictions on NFL.com, Around the NFL staff, Sept. 2, 2026. Kickoff schedule confirmed against FOX Sports and NBC Sports Week 1 slates published in August 2026.

FAQ

How many NFL teams make the playoffs in 2026?

Fourteen. Seven from the AFC and seven from the NFC: four division winners and three wild cards in each conference.

Which 14 teams did NFL.com analysts pick?

Bills, Ravens, Texans, Broncos, Chargers, Patriots, Chiefs, Cowboys, Lions, Buccaneers, Rams, Seahawks, Eagles, and Bears. That is the consensus after locking the eight division winners, then taking the next three wild-card point totals in each conference.

Are the Seattle Seahawks projected to make the 2026 playoffs?

Yes. They were the top NFC wild-card team in the poll with 49 points. Eighteen of 19 analysts still gave the NFC West to the Rams.

When does the 2026 NFL season start in Seattle?

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. New England at Seattle, Lumen Field, 8:20 p.m. ET, NBC and Peacock. It is a rematch of Super Bowl LX.

How current are the betting odds in this article?

FanDuel Sportsbook division-winner prices as of 2 p.m. ET Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, as printed in the NFL.com poll. They are not live odds.