A look at how NFL divisional and wild card races shape up for the 2025 season

How the NFL division and wild card races shape up in NFC West ers Several of the more reactionary members of the fan base certainly supposed the ers were tanking the season after retooling their roster What they really did was make themselves better and kept their contention window open for at least two more years NFC North Detroit Lions Gave up or more points four times in their last six games including a - playoff loss to Washington With Aidan Hutchinson back and an explosive offense should defend their title in the NFC s toughest division NFC South Tampa Bay Buccaneers I ve totally underrated Tampa Bay and quarterback Baker Mayfield for the last two seasons No longer Hard to believe they won t run away with the weakest division in the NFC NFC East Philadelphia Eagles Expect more bumps in the road coming off a much-deserved Super Bowl championship But the Eagles should prevail in the NFC by a Tush Push because of explosive balance on both sides of the ball Wild cards Los Angeles Rams Green Bay Packers Chicago Bears The Rams have been very good for two years running with tough playoff losses to Detroit and Philadelphia They develop young talent as good as any organization in the NFL The Packers will need an uptick in terms of quality play from quarterback Jordan Love but it appears doable Coach Ben Johnson will be the best thing that ever happened to quarterback Caleb Williams On the outside looking in Minnesota Vikings As good as Kevin O Connell is as a head coach I m sensing a rough rookie season for quarterback J J McCarthy Their free agency and draft decisions left something to be desired Washington Commanders Will the C J Stroud sophomore slump be in play for Jayden Daniels It looked like Deebo Samuel hit the wall last season with the ers Patrick Mahomes right and Travis Kelce play on a Chiefs club that has won nine straight AFC West titles A P Photo AFC West Kansas City Chiefs You really think there s any other choice but the crew that s won the AFC West nine straight years has Andy Reid as coach and Patrick Mahomes at quarterback There will be a surprise in the division but it won t be at the top AFC North Baltimore Ravens At particular point Derrick Henry is going to be running on empty but for the time being he and teams with Lamar Jackson for the NFL s largest part feared - punch Hard to believe Baltimore hasn t been back at the Super Bowl since taking down Colin Kaepernick and the ers AFC South Houston Texans C J Stroud wasn t the same miracle worker he was in a fabulous rookie season but the Texans under DeMeco Ryans are still the class of a suspect division AFC East Buffalo Bills Sean McDermott is one of the NFL s preponderance underrated coaches The Bills don t have a star-studded roster but are better than the sum of their parts Josh Allen is among the top five NFL quarterbacks no matter who is doing the ranking Wild cards Cincinnati Bengals Las Vegas Raiders New England Patriots All Cincinnati requirements to make the postseason is a healthy Joe Burrow It didn t happen last year The Raiders added various juice with Pete Carroll after the two disappointments of Josh McDaniels and Antonio Pierce an explosive rookie runner in Ashton Jeanty and a competent meeting manager that s a good thing remember in Geno Smith at quarterback Something just feels right about Mike Vrabel being back with the Patriots On the outside looking in Related Articles Purdy stays focused as expectations grow after ers-record contract Developing down ers schedule A look at the Niners season from Week through Kurtenbach Purdy must take on mantle of the man for ers Luke Farrell relishes dirty work as ers new blocking tight end NFL fearless forecast Super Bowl MVP winners and big themes including contest managers success Pittsburgh Steelers Mike Tomlin is in his th year and has never had a losing season although he went - three times Look for an - record this season even with Rodgers at quarterback and Tomlin will be in demand to coach elsewhere in Denver Broncos Will be surprised if Denver gets games combined out of Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga