Culture
NFL playoff predictions: 9 coaches, executives predict divisional-round winners
Don’t smile because it’s over. Cry because it happened.
That’d be the more fitting phrase for anyone hoping wild-card weekend might offer more than a single competitive game throughout the three-day slate. Not only had five of the six games been decided by multiple possessions, but all the blowouts were also practically decided at some point in the third quarter.
Here’s hoping for a little more drama in the divisional round.
For the second week in a row, we’ve assembled a crew of nine team executives and coaches from around the NFL to weigh in on the playoff games. Last week, they combined to correctly call four of the six outcomes, missing the Green Bay Packers’ upset of the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans’ latest impressive performance against the Cleveland Browns.
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NFL divisional-round storylines: Can Packers stun 49ers? How will Chiefs fare on road?
Some fascinating storylines are taking shape this week. At quarterback, Lamar Jackson, C.J. Stroud and Jordan Love are trying to win their second career playoff games, and No. 1 picks Jared Goff and Baker Mayfield are continuing to try to fortify their standing with their new-ish teams. Then, in the weekend finale, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are gearing up for their third playoff installment, with Allen trying to get the Buffalo Bills on the board in the budding rivalry.
There’s a contrast in settings, too. The Saturday slate features a couple of home atmospheres, Baltimore and San Francisco, that are a bit more accustomed to postseason success, whereas the energy Sunday in Detroit and Buffalo will continue to play a prominent role in the weekend’s theatrics.
Now, let’s get to the picks.
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NFL playoffs: Key matchups to watch in each AFC divisional round game
Ravens coach John Harbaugh hasn’t won a playoff game in three years. He hasn’t been to the AFC title game in more than a decade. Will DeMeco Ryans’ Texans extend both streaks this weekend? (Brad Mills / USA Today)
Kickoff: 4:30 p.m. ET, Saturday
Expert picks: Ravens 9, Texans 0
Fear not, Texans fans. No one from the panel picked them to beat the Browns, either.
Of course, the Ravens are a more daunting opponent. The AFC’s top seed has won six consecutive games started by Jackson, the favorite to win the MVP Award next month. But for Jackson to improve upon his 1-3 playoff record, he will likely have to be more efficient as a passer. Jackson has completed less than 60 percent of his passes in all three postseason defeats, and the Ravens have averaged 10.7 points in those outings.
And though the Ravens allowed the fewest points in the league this season, they also had top-three defenses during the three prior seasons when they reached the playoffs with Jackson.
It’s simply a matter of translating that success to the playoffs, where the Ravens have one win in nine years.
“They can dominate all three phases and proved it throughout the regular season with a tough schedule,” an executive said.
The Ravens went 6-3 this season against teams that made the playoffs (two losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers), including a 3-0 mark against teams still standing. They beat the Texans 25-9 in Week 1.
“That’s who I see winning the AFC,” the executive added on the Ravens.
The Stroud effect is real, though. The NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year favorite has been outstanding in back-to-back win-or-go-home games, completing 36 of 47 passes for 538 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions.
Plus, edge rushers Jonathan Greenard (12 1/2 sacks) and Will Anderson (eight sacks, including one in the playoffs) have been a formidable duo. It’s a different challenge containing Jackson, but defensive-minded head coach DeMeco Ryans will surely have something creative up his sleeve for the veteran QB.
DeMeco already knew 🤯 pic.twitter.com/CXdSInCWHJ
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) January 18, 2024
It just might not be enough.
“The Ravens are the overall better team,” a coach said. “But I think it will be a good game.”
The outcome might be determined by the best player on the field.
“Lamar is playing too well, and the defense will get to the rookie QB,” an executive said.
The Packers have a rough recent history against the 49ers in the playoffs. Green Bay has lost four postseason games in a row to San Francisco, dating back to the 2011 season. The Packers’ Matt LaFleur and 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan were the coaches for the last two meetings. (Michael Zagaris / San Francisco 49ers / Getty Images)
Kickoff: 8:15 p.m. ET, Saturday
Expert picks: 49ers 9, Packers 0
Sticking with the Saturday theme, can a first-year starting QB keep up the magic against a No. 1 seed? And just like last week, the Packers didn’t get a single panelist to pick them to win.
That’ll be the test for Love, but his best friend of late has been running back Aaron Jones, who has 476 rushing yards during the team’s four-game winning streak. The Packers’ disciplined, run-heavy game plan exposed the Cowboys, and head coach Matt LaFleur was patient enough to stick with it. Love consistently operated on schedule and made several elite throws to keep the Cowboys off-balance.
This play, from this angle. 🤯@jordan3love threads the needle to @RomeoDoubs! 🤩🎯#GBvsDAL | #GoPackGo
Up next: #GBvsSF | Saturday, Jan. 20 at 7:15 p.m. CT | FOX pic.twitter.com/ZGprjESKVy
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) January 15, 2024
They’ll need a similar approach against the 49ers, who have allowed 4.1 yards per carry, just a tick better than the Cowboys.
“No QB should be as confident as Jordan Love is going into the weekend,” an executive said. “He’s playing lights out right now, and that offense is rolling. Green Bay should be excited about the future with how much young talent is on that roster. I expect a good battle this weekend but ultimately see the Niners’ run game and front seven taking over to win. Green Bay is still suspect on defense, and I have my doubts they will be able to control the game at any point.”‘
The 49ers figure to be a more challenging test than the Cowboys for two reasons. They’re far more dedicated to their running game with Christian McCaffrey, and the 49ers are viewed as a more disciplined team. They might not be as likely to succumb to the mistakes the Cowboys made to cater to the upset.
“(The game) will be closer than people think,” an executive said. “The 49ers’ run game and playmakers will be the difference.”
Added another coach: “The (Niners) defense will eliminate big plays and make (the Packers) drive on them.”
The 49ers have won two games in each of the last two postseasons, so they’re experienced. They were also potentially a Brock Purdy injury away from a Super Bowl rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs a year ago.
Classic Shanahan.
📺: #GBvsSF – Saturday 8:15pm ET on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/S0jRLT6G02— NFL (@NFL) January 18, 2024
Though the Packers’ youth is impressive, that’s come out of necessity. They had $67 million in dead cap space this season, the fourth most in the league, so they needed big production out of players on rookie contracts.
That might just be too much to ask against a potential juggernaut in San Francisco.
“Too big (of a stage) too early for the Packers,” an executive said.
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NFL Playoffs divisional round expert picks and odds for Chiefs vs. Bills, 49ers vs. Packers and every other game
Coach Todd Bowles’ Buccaneers have won three road games in a row. To advance to the NFC Championship Game, they’ll need to take down coach Dan Campbell’s Lions at what is sure to be a rowdy Ford Field. (Kim Klement Neitzel / USA Today)
Kickoff: 3 p.m. ET, Sunday
Expert picks: Lions 8, Buccaneers 1
If you’re of a certain age and watched a lot of football before the turn of the century, the idea of a Lions-Bucs game to determine an NFC Championship Game participant might have rattled your week.
But here we are.
“I went back and forth (with my pick),” an executive said. “I ultimately picked Detroit because they’re the more complete team and have home-field advantage. I am curious to see how Goff plays this weekend because I do think Tampa can get pressure on him. And historically, when you can get hits on Goff, you can get him out of rhythm.”
The Lions have been preparing for this stage all season, and the Bucs have exceeded expectations. The visitors have won six of seven, and they’ve been victorious in their past three road games.
“We’ll be ready to go.”@JaredGoff16 pic.twitter.com/t3Gb7Ogrs8
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) January 18, 2024
“The Bucs are hot, but the Lions have a good, balanced offense that should help keep Tampa’s defense honest.”
The Lions have gone 7-2 at Ford Field this season, including the playoff opener against the Los Angeles Rams last weekend.
“Home field will matter,” an executive said. “And Goff will outperform Baker.”
Will Patrick Mahomes and his Chiefs make it three playoff victories in a row over Josh Allen and the Bills? Or will Buffalo finally clear the Kansas City hurdle? (Denny Medley / USA Today)
Kickoff: 6:30 p.m. ET, Sunday
Expert picks: Bills 8, Chiefs 1
Allen has been viewed as one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks for the past four years, but he needs to get over the Mahomes hump in the playoffs. The Chiefs beat the Bills in the 2020 and 2021 postseasons, but the Bills are finally getting a crack at them in Buffalo.
What’s more, the Bills are the league’s hottest team with six consecutive victories. This is a far cry from a year ago when they were heading in the wrong direction as the playoffs started.
“(The Bills) are a little beat up from the Pittsburgh game, but I think Allen seals the deal this weekend,” an executive said. “He’s balling right now.”
Based on recent performance, it’s hard to argue against the Bills’ chances, but their injuries across the board are a concern. So, too, is Mahomes in the playoffs, and he might be increasingly motivated after the Chiefs have been written off more than usual due to the rash of mistakes from the skill players.
“(The Bills are) rolling at the right time, playing better football than Kansas City down the stretch, (and that) will continue,” a coach said.
JOSH ******* ALLEN!!!!
📺: @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/PdKuDqemFI
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) January 15, 2024
The lone voter who took the Chiefs essentially called it a coin toss. Both teams have high ceilings, but it’s been tough to predict how they’ll perform any given week. The lopsided nature of the picks is surely indicative of the Chiefs’ struggles this season.
The Chiefs defense might not be getting enough attention in the clash between two high-profile quarterbacks. Kansas City has allowed 20 or fewer points in six consecutive games, and it has surrendered more than 21 points just twice all season.
The Bills beat the Chiefs 20-17 in Week 14 at Arrowhead.
“The Bills finally get it done (in the playoffs) versus Kansas City,” an executive said.
(Top photo of Andy Reid and Sean McDermott: Kevin Sabitus / Getty Images)
new video loaded: 250 Years of Jane Austen, in Objects
By Jennifer Harlan, Sadie Stein, Claire Hogan, Laura Salaberry and Edward Vega
December 18, 2025
“Window seat with garden view / A perfect nook to read a book / I’m lost in my Jane Austen…” sings Kristin Chenoweth in “The Girl in 14G” — what could be more ideal? Well, perhaps showing off your literary knowledge and getting a perfect score on this week’s super-size Book Review Quiz Bowl honoring the life, work and global influence of Jane Austen, who turns 250 today. In the 12 questions below, tap or click your answers to the questions. And no matter how you do, scroll on to the end, where you’ll find links to free e-book versions of her novels — and more.
On Dec. 16, 1775, a girl was born in Steventon, England — the seventh of eight children — to a clergyman and his wife. She was an avid reader, never married and died in 1817, at the age of 41. But in just those few decades, Jane Austen changed the world.
Her novels have had an outsize influence in the centuries since her death. Not only are the books themselves beloved — as sharply observed portraits of British society, revolutionary narrative projects and deliciously satisfying romances — but the stories she created have so permeated culture that people around the world care deeply about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, even if they’ve never actually read “Pride and Prejudice.”
With her 250th birthday this year, the Austen Industrial Complex has kicked into high gear with festivals, parades, museum exhibits, concerts and all manner of merch, ranging from the classily apt to the flamboyantly absurd. The words “Jane mania” have been used; so has “exh-Aust-ion.”
How to capture this brief life, and the blazing impact that has spread across the globe in her wake? Without further ado: a mere sampling of the wealth, wonder and weirdness Austen has brought to our lives. After all, your semiquincentennial doesn’t come around every day.
By ‘A Lady’
Austen published just four novels in her lifetime: “Sense and Sensibility” (1811), “Pride and Prejudice” (1813), “Mansfield Park” (1814) and “Emma” (1815). All of them were published anonymously, with the author credited simply as “A Lady.” (If you’re in New York, you can see this first edition for yourself at the Grolier Club through Feb. 14.)
Where the Magic Happened
Placed near a window for light, this diminutive walnut table was, according to family lore, where the author did much of her writing. It is now in the possession of the Jane Austen Society.
An Iconic Accessory
Few of Austen’s personal artifacts remain, contributing to the author’s mystique. One of them is this turquoise ring, which passed to her sister-in-law and then her niece after her death. In 2012, the ring was put up for auction and bought by the “American Idol” champion Kelly Clarkson. This caused quite a stir in England; British officials were loath to let such an important cultural artifact leave the country’s borders. Jane Austen’s House, the museum now based in the writer’s Hampshire home, launched a crowdfunding campaign to Bring the Ring Home and bought the piece from Clarkson. The real ring now lives at the museum; the singer has a replica.
Austen Onscreen
Since 1940, when Austen had a bit of a moment and Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier starred in MGM’s rather liberally reinterpreted “Pride and Prejudice,” there have been more than 20 international adaptations of Austen’s work made for film and TV (to say nothing of radio). From the sublime (Emma Thompson’s Oscar-winning “Sense and Sensibility”) to the ridiculous (the wholly gratuitous 2022 remake of “Persuasion”), the high waists, flickering firelight and double weddings continue to provide an endless stream of debate fodder — and work for a queen’s regiment of British stars.
Jane Goes X-Rated
The rumors are true: XXX Austen is a thing. “Jane Austen Kama Sutra,” “Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen” and enough slash fic and amateur porn to fill Bath’s Assembly Rooms are just the start. Purists may never recover.
A Lady Unmasked
Austen’s final two completed novels, “Northanger Abbey” and “Persuasion,” were published after her death. Her brother Henry, who oversaw their publication, took the opportunity to give his sister the recognition he felt she deserved, revealing the true identity of the “Lady” behind “Pride and Prejudice,” “Emma,” etc. in a biographical note. “The following pages are the production of a pen which has already contributed in no small degree to the entertainment of the public,” he wrote, extolling his sister’s imagination, good humor and love of dancing. Still, “no accumulation of fame would have induced her, had she lived, to affix her name to any productions of her pen.”
Wearable Tributes
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Jane Austen fan wants to find other Jane Austen fans, and what better way to advertise your membership in that all-inclusive club than with a bit of merch — from the subtle and classy to the gloriously obscene.
The Austen Literary Universe
On the page, there is no end to the adventures Austen and her characters have been on. There are Jane Austen mysteries, Jane Austen vampire series, Jane Austen fantasy adventures, Jane Austen Y.A. novels and, of course, Jane Austen romances, which transpose her plots to a remote Maine inn, a Greenwich Village penthouse and the Bay Area Indian American community, to name just a few. You can read about Austen-inspired zombie hunters, time-traveling hockey players, Long Island matchmakers and reality TV stars, or imagine further adventures for some of your favorite characters. (Even the obsequious Mr. Collins gets his day in the sun.)
A Botanical Homage
Created in 2017 to mark the 200th anniversary of Austen’s death, the “Jane Austen” rose is characterized by its intense orange color and light, sweet perfume. It is bushy, healthy and easy to grow.
Aunt Jane
Hoping to cement his beloved aunt’s legacy, Austen’s nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh published this biography — a rather rosy portrait based on interviews with family members — five decades after her death. The book is notable not only as the source (biased though it may be) of many of the scant facts we know about her life, but also for the watercolor portrait by James Andrews that serves as its frontispiece. Based on a sketch by Cassandra, this depiction of Jane is softer and far more winsome than the original: Whether that is due to a lack of skill on her sister’s part or overly enthusiastic artistic license on Andrews’s, this is the version of Austen most familiar to people today.
Cultural Currency
In 2017, the Bank of England released a new 10-pound note featuring Andrews’s portrait of Austen, as well as a line from “Pride and Prejudice”: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!” Austen is the third woman — other than the queen — to be featured on British currency, and the only one currently in circulation.
In the Trenches
During World War I and World War II, British soldiers were given copies of Austen’s works. In his 1924 story “The Janeites,” Rudyard Kipling invoked the grotesque contrasts — and the strange comfort — to be found in escaping to Austen’s well-ordered world amid the horrors of trench warfare. As one character observes, “There’s no one to touch Jane when you’re in a tight place.”
Baby Janes
You’re never too young to learn to love Austen — or that one’s good opinion, once lost, may be lost forever.
The Austen Industrial Complex
Maybe you’ve not so much as seen a Jane Austen meme, let alone read one of her novels. No matter! Need a Jane Austen finger puppet? Lego? Magnetic poetry set? Lingerie? Nameplate necklace? Plush book pillow? License plate frame? Bath bomb? Socks? Dog sweater? Whiskey glass? Tarot deck? Of course you do! And you’re in luck: What a time to be alive.
Around the Globe
Austen’s novels have been translated into more than 40 languages, including Polish, Finnish, Chinese and Farsi. There are active chapters of the Jane Austen Society, her 21st-century fan club, throughout the world.
Playable Persuasions
In Austen’s era, no afternoon tea was complete without a rousing round of whist, a trick-taking card game played in two teams of two. But should you not be up on your Regency amusements, you can find plenty of contemporary puzzles and games with which to fill a few pleasant hours, whether you’re piecing together her most beloved characters or using your cunning and wiles to land your very own Mr. Darcy.
#SoJaneAusten
The wild power of the internet means that many Austen moments have taken on lives of their own, from Colin Firth’s sopping wet shirt and Matthew Macfadyen’s flexing hand to Mr. Collins’s ode to superlative spuds and Mr. Knightley’s dramatic floor flop. The memes are fun, yes, but they also speak to the universality of Austen’s writing: More than two centuries after her books were published, the characters and stories she created are as relatable as ever.
Bonnets Fit for a Bennett
For this summer’s Grand Regency Costumed Promenade in Bath, England — as well as the myriad picnics, balls, house parties, dinners, luncheons, teas and fetes that marked the anniversary — seamstresses, milliners, mantua makers and costume warehouses did a brisk business, attiring the faithful in authentic Regency finery. And that’s a commitment: A bespoke, historically accurate bonnet can easily run to hundreds of dollars.
Most Ardently, Jane
Austen was prolific correspondent, believed to have written thousands of letters in her lifetime, many to her sister, Cassandra. But in an act that has frustrated biographers for centuries, upon Jane’s death, Cassandra protected her sister’s privacy — and reputation? — by burning almost all of them, leaving only about 160 intact, many heavily redacted. But what survives is filled with pithy one-liners. To wit: “I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.”
Stage and Sensibility
Austen’s works have been adapted numerous times for the stage. Some plays (and musicals) hew closely to the original text, while others — such as Emily Breeze’s comedic riff on “Pride and Prejudice,” “Are the Bennet Girls OK?”, which is running at New York City’s West End Theater through Dec. 21 — use creative license to explore ideas of gender, romance and rage through a contemporary lens.
Austen 101
Austen remains a reliable fount of academic scholarship; recent conference papers have focused on the author’s enduring global reach, the work’s relationship to modern intersectionality, digital humanities and “Jane Austen on the Cheap.” And as one professor told our colleague Sarah Lyall of the Austen amateur scholarship hive, “Woe betide the academic who doesn’t take them seriously.”
W.W.J.D.
When facing problems — of etiquette, romance, domestic or professional turmoil — sometimes the only thing to do is ask: What would Jane do?
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