The Wildcard round of the 2022 NFL playoffs completes on Monday when the Arizona Cardinals visit the Los Angeles Rams. With the one game remaining in the round, the Divisional round next weekend is nearly set, with the league having announced the scheduled kickoff times for the games.
The NFL’s Divisional round introduces the two top seeds from the conferences after they had a bye for the first weekend. This year, that means the Tennessee Titans in the AFC and the Green Bay Packers in the NFC will join the tournament. The playoff bracket is not a true straight bracket, however. The NFL schedules the team with the lowest seeding remaining after the Wildcard round to face the top seed from their conference, with the other two remaining teams from the Wildcard round facing off.
The AFC side of the Wildcard playoffs schedule saw the fourth-seeded Cincinnati Bengals beat the fifth-seeded Las Vegas Raiders, the third-seeded Buffalo Bills defeat the sixth-seeded New England Patriots, and the second-seeded Kansas City Chiefs beat the seventh-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers. With a chalk weekend, that leads to the Bengals traveling to the Titans next weekend, while the Bills will visit the Chiefs.
In the NFC, the second-seeded Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the seventh-seeded Philadelphia Eagles and the sixth-seeded San Francisco 49ers beat the third-seeded Dallas Cowboys. That leaves the 49ers as the lowest remaining seed, guaranteeing them a trip to Green Bay next weekend. That leaves the Buccaneers to host the winner of tonight’s Cardinals at Rams game.
Last night, the league published the kickoff time for each game:
Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022:
4:30 p.m. Eastern
(4) Cincinnati Bengals at (1) Tennesse Titans
CBS, Paramount+
8:15 p.m. Eastern
(6) San Francisco 49ers at (1) Green Bay Packers
FOX
Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022:
3 p.m. Eastern
(4/5) Arizona Cardinals or Los Angeles Rams at (2) Tampa Bay Buccaneers
NBC, Peacock
6:30 p.m. Eastern
(3) Buffalo Bills at (2) Kansas City Chiefs
CBS, Paramount+