The 2026 Wild Card Weekend began how playoff games should be. Two games on Saturday, with both games coming down to the wire. Like the 2025 season, no one could have predicted how each game was going to play out.
The Los Angeles Rams and Carolina Panthers kicked off the Wild Card Weekend. This was a game that many expected to be one-sided. The odds makers certainly did as Carolina opened up as 10.5 point undersdogs at home.
The atmosphere in Bank of America Stadium was unreal. Cam Newton got the crowd going by pounding the drum. The Panthers fans were ready for their first home playoff game in a decade.
The energy was quickly subdued when Los Angeles jumped out 14-0. Matthew Stafford was flawless, and no one could stop Puka Nakua. It looked like the moment was too big for Carolina.
To the home team’s credit, they didn’t panic. They answered with a drive of their own to make it 14-7 and get the crowd back in it. The Rams would go up 17-7, and this is where things got dicey.
Carolina was poised to get the ball back late in the second quarter. The punt returner, however, muffed it and gave Stafford and company the ball back with just over two minutes left. The Rams had the potential to score at the end of the half and to start the second half. 31-7 was on the board.
This is where the Panthers’ defense deserves credit. They buckled down and forced a stop on fourth and three deep in their own territory. After the turnover on downs, the home team drove down the field with about a minute and a half and punched it in, making it 17-14. The complexion of the game had changed.
The Panthers then forced a three-and-out to open the second half, and then would tie it at 17. From that point on, it was a back-and-forth game. The black and blue eventually found themselves up 31-27 with around three minutes to go, but Stafford and his experience prevailed, engineering a game-winning drive.
The Rams won the game 34-31 and move on to the next round. The Panthers and Bryce Young have a lot to be excited about moving forward. They proved that they belong in the bigger stages and with a few tweaks here and there, can be right back here next year!
Game two of Wild Card Weekend. The Chicago Bears had the biggest game they have had in more than a decade. They hosted the big bad Green Bay Packers on Saturday Night in Caleb Williams’s playoff debut. It was a game that the entire city was going to be tuned in to.
The game started as badly as it possibly could for the home crowd. The Packers’ offense looked unstoppable the entire first half. On the right of Jordan Love, they went up 21-3 in the first half. The city of Chicago was in shambles.
Williams didn’t look ready, and Ben Johnson was getting outcoached by nemesis Matt LaFleur. The game was not competitive at all. Fortunately, there are two halves to a football game. Green Bay began with the ball in the second half, and Chicago forced them to a three-and-out.
That defense got everything started for the comeback. Chicago was able to cut it to 21-6, but the game still felt like it was firmly in the Packers’ control. Then the fourth quarter happened.
The Bears picked up right where they left off in the regular season. Putting up dynamite fourth quarters and engineering wild comebacks. The home team won the quarter 25-6, and boy was Williams special.
He wasn’t accurate all night long, and even in the fourth, he missed a few throws. When his team needed it most, however, he came through. The play that comes to mind is that fourth down late in the game.
Chicago was down 27-16. The situation was fourth and eight with 5:37 left on the clock. If they don’t overcome this, the season is over. With the season on the line, Williams makes one of the greatest and most athletic plays that this league has ever seen.
There has been magic in the Windy City air all year long, and it came through in the biggest game of the year. It was an incredible win for that team and fanbase, given who they beat and how it transpired.
For Green Bay, this is unacceptable. Blowing a lead like this in this magnitude of a game will result in major changes. A key question is the status of LaFleur’s job. Could John Harbaugh be a Packer next year?
The two games lived up to the postseason hype. It truly has been a Wild Card Weekend up to this point. There is no definitive top dog in either conference, which makes this so much more intriguing.
The next slate of games is on Sunday. These should be good as well.
If it’s anything like the first two games, it’s going to be a treat. A truly wild season!
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