Lo, the silly season begins in the NFL

 The regular season has been put to bed. The playoffs begin Saturday in the Wild Card round, six games over three nights. Conspiracy theorists will continue to claim games are rigged, but only because of their delusions. Amazon Prime gets in on the fun on Saturday night.

Here we go:

NFC:

Saturday:

Los Angeles @ Carolina (Fox, 4:30 pm):

To say the Panthers came out of nowhere to win the NFC South would be an understatement. Tampa Bay and Atlanta had the lead at different times this season, and both were eliminated in the last 36 hours, despite the Buccaneers beating Carolina over the weekend. Various tiebreakers gave the division to the Panthers.

Similarly, the Rams lost their grip on the NFC West, as it turned into a 3-way dogfight with San Francisco and eventual division champ Seattle. Unlike Carolina, however, the Rams won their game, pounding Arizona into dust on Sunday. The Panthers are the weakest of the 8 division champs between the conferences, and the most vulnerable.

Pick: Los Angeles.

Green Bay @ Chicago (Amazon Prime, 8 pm):

3rd meeting between the ancient rivals this season. Both teams are coming off losses after Week 18, but the Packers are wounded and vulnerable. Adding Trevon Diggs (Dallas) last week to the defense doesn't really help the offense. 

Pick: Chicago.

Sunday:

San Francisco @ Philadelphia (Fox, 4:30 pm):

The defending champs lost out on the bye week due to a mid-season slump, but Jalen Hurts and the Eagles will be ready. Expect Hurts and Brock Purdy to light up the sky, since the weather figures to be mild for mid-January. The drive to repeat begins for Philadelphia, and that means Saquon Barkley should find his groove. If so, the Niners are in trouble.

Pick: Philadelphia.

AFC:

Sunday:

Buffalo @ Jacksonville (CBS, 1 pm)):

The Bills closed Highmark Stadium 1 (formerly Rich Stadium & Ralph Wilson Stadium) with a blowout over the listless Jests, giving up a garbage time touchdown in the 4th quarter.  Jacksonville similarly blew away Tennessee. This will be fun to watch, and, likely, another high scoring affair.

Pick: Buffalo in an upset.

Los Angeles @ New England (NBC, 8 pm):

Mike Vrabel brought back "The Patriot Way" when ex-teammate Jerod Mayo could not, and the Patriots ended a 5 year division title drought. The Chargers rested their starters, content with the Wild Card in the AFC West, but that won't do them much good against the Patriots.

Pick: New England.

Monday:

Houston @ Pittsburgh (ESPN/ABC, 8:15 pm):

Pittsburgh is back in the playoff picture, as they eliminated Baltimore Sunday night. Houston disposed of pesky Indianapolis, which had to start rookie Riley Leonard (Notre Dame) when Philip Rivers ended his comeback after 3 weeks. Aaron Rodgers won't get very far this time around, and I don't think he gets past this round.

Pick: Houston.

Of course, I could be wrong.