Welcome to the 2021-2022 NFL playoffs! It’s hard to believe we’ve made it this far in this ridiculous year, but we want to thank each and every one of you for a very successful second season at Fantasy Points, pandemic or not — with an extra regular-season week built in.
But we’re not done — there are fantasy playoff championships to be won. Check out some of the formats you can play if interested.
In building our playoff content, the first thing we must do is figure out a bracket. It’s self-evident, but not every team is on equal footing in the playoffs — this isn’t like projecting a universal 17-game season. There will be guys whom we would typically consider WR3s outscoring WR1s because our WR3 plays three games to just one for or WR1. So any and all rankings have to take games played into account. And there will be disagreements, which makes building a set of playoff rankings even more difficult.
So each member of our full-time staff has come up with a set of playoff predictions, which we’ve then distilled into a consensus, with an average of games played. Our overall playoff rankings will be built around this.
John Hansen
Wild Card Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (7) Pittsburgh at (2) KANSAS CITY | (7) Philadelphia at (2) TAMPA BAY |
| (6) New England at (3) BUFFALO | (6) SAN FRANCISCO at (3) Dallas |
| (5) Las Vegas at (4) CINCINNATI | (5) Arizona at (4) LA RAMS |
Divisional Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (4) CINCINNATI at (1) Tennessee | (6) San Francisco at (1) GREEN BAY |
| (3) BUFFALO at (2) Kansas City | (4) LA RAMS at (2) Tampa Bay |
Championship Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (4) Cincinnati at (3) BUFFALO | (4) LA Rams at (1) GREEN BAY |
Super Bowl LVI
| AFC | NFC |
| (3) BUFFALO | (1) Green Bay |
Joe Dolan
Wild Card Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (7) Pittsburgh at (2) KANSAS CITY | (7) Philadelphia at (2) TAMPA BAY |
| (6) New England at (3) BUFFALO | (6) SAN FRANCISCO at (3) Dallas |
| (5) Las Vegas at (4) CINCINNATI | (5) Arizona at (4) LA RAMS |
Divisional Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (4) CINCINNATI at (1) Tennessee | (6) San Francisco at (1) GREEN BAY |
| (3) BUFFALO at (2) Kansas City | (4) LA RAMS at (2) Tampa Bay |
Championship Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (4) Cincinnati at (3) BUFFALO | (4) LA Rams at (1) GREEN BAY |
Super Bowl LVI
| AFC | NFC |
| (3) Buffalo | (1) GREEN BAY |
Tom Brolley
Wild Card Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (7) Pittsburgh at (2) KANSAS CITY | (7) Philadelphia at (2) TAMPA BAY |
| (6) New England at (3) BUFFALO | (6) SAN FRANCISCO at (3) Dallas |
| (5) Las Vegas at (4) CINCINNATI | (5) Arizona at (4) LA RAMS |
Divisional Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (4) Cincinnati at (1) TENNESSEE | (6) San Francisco at (1) GREEN BAY |
| (3) BUFFALO at (2) Kansas City | (4) LA RAMS at (2) Tampa Bay |
Championship Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (3) BUFFALO at (1) Tennessee | (4) LA Rams at (1) GREEN BAY |
Super Bowl LVI
| AFC | NFC |
| (3) BUFFALO | (1) Green Bay |
Scott Barrett
Wild Card Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (7) Pittsburgh at (2) KANSAS CITY | (7) Philadelphia at (2) TAMPA BAY |
| (6) New England at (3) BUFFALO | (6) San Francisco at (3) DALLAS |
| (5) Las Vegas at (4) CINCINNATI | (5) Arizona at (4) LA RAMS |
Divisional Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (4) CINCINNATI at (1) Tennessee | (4) LA Rams at (1) GREEN BAY |
| (3) Buffalo at (2) KANSAS CITY | (3) Dallas at (2) TAMPA BAY |
Championship Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (4) Cincinnati at (2) KANSAS CITY | (2) Tampa Bay at (1) GREEN BAY |
Super Bowl LVI
| AFC | NFC |
| (1) KANSAS CITY | (1) Green Bay |
Graham Barfield
Wild Card Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (7) Pittsburgh at (2) KANSAS CITY | (7) Philadelphia at (2) TAMPA BAY |
| (6) New England at (3) BUFFALO | (6) SAN FRANCISCO at (3) Dallas |
| (5) Las Vegas at (4) CINCINNATI | (5) ARIZONA at (4) LA Rams |
Divisional Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (4) Cincinnati at (1) TENNESSEE | (6) San Francisco at (1) GREEN BAY |
| (3) Buffalo at (2) KANSAS CITY | (5) Arizona at (2) TAMPA BAY |
Championship Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (2) KANSAS CITY at (1) Tennessee | (2) Tampa Bay at (1) GREEN BAY |
Super Bowl LVI
| AFC | NFC |
| (2) Kansas City | (1) GREEN BAY |
Wes Huber
Wild Card Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (7) Pittsburgh at (2) KANSAS CITY | (7) Philadelphia at (2) TAMPA BAY |
| (6) New England at (3) BUFFALO | (6) San Francisco at (3) DALLAS |
| (5) Las Vegas at (4) CINCINNATI | (5) Arizona at (4) LA RAMS |
Divisional Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (4) Cincinnati at (1) TENNESSEE | (4) LA Rams at (1) GREEN BAY |
| (3) Buffalo at (2) KANSAS CITY | (3) Dallas at (2) TAMPA BAY |
Championship Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (2) Kansas City at (1) TENNESSEE | (2) TAMPA BAY at (1) Green Bay |
Super Bowl LVI
| AFC | NFC |
| (1) TENNESSEE | (2) Tampa Bay |
Fantasy Points Staff Consensus
Wild Card Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (7) Pittsburgh at (2) KANSAS CITY | (7) Philadelphia at (2) TAMPA BAY |
| (6) New England at (3) BUFFALO | (6) SAN FRANCISCO at (3) Dallas |
| (5) Las Vegas at (4) CINCINNATI | (5) Arizona at (4) LA RAMS |
Divisional Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (4) CINCINNATI at (1) Tennessee | (6) San Francisco at (1) GREEN BAY |
| (3) BUFFALO at (2) Kansas City | (4) LA Rams at (2) TAMPA BAY |
Championship Round
| AFC | NFC |
| (4) Cincinnati at (3) BUFFALO | (4) Tampa Bay at (1) GREEN BAY |
Super Bowl LVI
| AFC | NFC |
| (3) Buffalo | (1) GREEN BAY |
Our staff predicted four different Super Bowl champions: Buffalo (2), Green Bay (2), and Kansas City (2), and Tennessee (1).
Buffalo advances in our staff consensus over Kansas City because of the highest overall predicted number of wins.
Games Played Average
Note: Any tiebreaker is settled by the highest-round game our staff has predicted a team will win (and number of those wins predicted). For teams projected to play just one game, we sort by a power rating of those teams.
| TEAM | GAMES PROJECTED |
| Buffalo | 3 |
| Green Bay | 2.83 |
| Kansas City | 2.83 |
| Tampa Bay | 2.67 |
| Cincinnati | 2.5 |
| LA Rams | 2.33 |
| Tennessee | 1.67 |
| San Francisco | 1.67 |
| Dallas | 1.33 |
| Arizona | 1.17 |
| Las Vegas | 1 |
| New England | 1 |
| Philadelphia | 1 |
| Pittsburgh | 1 |
