2026 NFL Wild Card Round Sets Records: Four Teams Win After Trailing in Final Three Minutes
Wild Card Weekend Delivers Most Thrilling Postseason Start in NFL History
NEW YORK — The 2026 NFL Wild Card round will be remembered as one of the most dramatic weekends in postseason history, featuring unprecedented late-game heroics and record-setting comeback performances.
Four teams rallied to win after trailing in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter across six Wild Card games — the most such comebacks in a single postseason in NFL history. The weekend produced 12 fourth-quarter lead changes, also an all-time record for any postseason round.
Three teams — the Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams — scored game-winning touchdowns in the final two minutes of regulation, marking the most such victories in a single postseason.
"Over 80 percent of plays occurred during one-score games," according to NFL statistics, with 775 of 968 total plays happening when the margin was eight points or fewer. Four games were decided by four points or fewer, the most in any single postseason round in league history.
The weekend also produced historic outcomes for Wild Card teams. Four non-division winners — Buffalo, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco — all won on Wild Card Weekend for just the third time ever, joining 2015 and 2020.
Houston's 30-6 victory at Pittsburgh marked the franchise's first road playoff win in team history. The Texans advanced to the Divisional playoffs for the third consecutive season, the longest such streak in franchise history. They'll face New England on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN.
The Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 16-3 for their first postseason victory since winning Super Bowl LIII on Feb. 3, 2019, against the Rams. New England has won eight consecutive Divisional playoff games from Jan. 14, 2012, to Jan. 13, 2019 — the longest such streak in NFL history.
Houston can make more history Sunday. A victory would send the Texans to their first-ever Championship Game. New England has defeated Houston in both previous postseason meetings, winning Divisional playoff games in 2012 and 2016, both in New England.
The teams last met in Week 6 of the 2024 regular season, with Houston winning 41-21 in a game that marked Patriots quarterback Drake Maye's first career NFL start. Both Maye and Houston's C.J. Stroud threw three touchdown passes in that contest.
Chicago's comeback against Green Bay exemplified the weekend's drama. The Bears overcame an 18-point deficit — the largest in franchise playoff history — by scoring 25 fourth-quarter points to win 31-27. The rally marked Chicago's first postseason victory since the 2010 Divisional round against Seattle on Jan. 16, 2011.
For the first time in 16 seasons, four different teams will host Divisional playoff games than the previous year. Three hosts — Chicago, New England and Seattle — missed the playoffs entirely last season.
The remaining field features remarkable youth at quarterback. Seven of the eight starting quarterbacks are under 30 years old, with Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (37) as the lone veteran who has previously won a Super Bowl.
For the first time in 26 seasons, three quarterbacks in their first or second year — New England's Drake Maye, Denver's Bo Nix and Chicago's Caleb Williams — will start in the Divisional round. The last time this occurred was 1999 and 2000.
The Divisional round begins Saturday with Buffalo visiting top-seeded Denver at 4:30 p.m. ET, followed by San Francisco at Seattle at 8 p.m. ET. Sunday's action features Houston at New England at 3 p.m. ET and Los Angeles at Chicago at 6:30 p.m. ET.
