Pittsburgh Steelers vs Cincinnati Bengals NFL Playoff Schedule 2016, Odds, Spread

The Bengals have downplayed the hatred of the Steelers that came up in interviews before the last matchup, and Burfict has successfully avoided the media.

“That (San Francisco) game he played a lot of snaps”, defensive coordinator Paul Guenther said. When these two teams squared off in the regular season, the game was much closer than people realized, and had it not been for the pitiful excuse of a kicker (looking at you Josh Scobee), the Steelers could have come away with a win. When it comes to the playoffs, the Cincinnati Bengals have become accustomed to early round exits, and this year I’m predicting the same.

Both of these teams are impossible to figure out.

Prediction: These teams also met earlier in the year, after both clubs got to hot starts.

Following a Pro Bowl season in 2013, Burfict spent most of previous year trying to recover from head, neck and knee injuries and eventually needed offseason microfracture surgery to fix his left knee. For some reason, the offense started sputtering, and the Packers went 4-6 in their final 10 games.

Gilbert’s excitement echoed what he posted online just after the December 13 game when he said all he wanted for Christmas was the Bengals.

Considering how Minnesota has closed the schedule, winning three straight to grab the NFC North and also with a close defeat at Arizona before that, some might be surprised to see the Seahawks so heavily favored.

Cincinnati is 0-6 in their last six playoff appearances, losing each game in the Wild Card round. In the end though, Breech of CBS Sports picks the Packers to win by a score of 20-17.

The defending NFC champion Seattle Seahawks’ record will indicate that it hasn’t been as strong a season as years past, but quarterback Russell Wilson is having the best season of his career.

Smith is never going to be the quarterback to air it out for 500 yards, and he’s not an elite deep passer of the ball, so the Chiefs need to find ways to get their playmakers open in pockets that Smith can find them, then get blockers downfield to get them some big plays. “We know that we line up against anybody that we’re confident that we’re going to get the job done”.

Leading off the Wild Card weekend will be the Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans starting at 4:35 pm ET; a rematch of the first week of the 2015/2016 season in which the Chiefs beat the Texans 27-20.

It’s odd to not have perhaps the best quarterback of all time at No. 1 on this list, but Brady has not been as effective as Newton, and is without key members of his offense. The temperature is expected to be around zero degrees, and that could be a huge advantage for Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. As you can see, 11 of the 12 teams in the playoffs finished with a positive differential. The Texans won an very bad AFC South division, and are a mediocre at best as a football team. The Chiefs passing game has been rejuvenated with Jeremy Maclin on the roster.

“Many wanted the Steelers out of the top 10 following the Week 16 hiccup in Baltimore”.