The road to Super Bowl LIX begins here. After 18 weeks of regular-season action, just 14 teams remain standing with a chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy in a few weeks in New Orleans. Outside of the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions, who are on enjoying a first-round bye, that playoff push begins now with Wild Card Weekend on our doorstep.
As we do every week, we’ve collected all of the best picks and gambling content from CBSSports.com and SportsLine and put them in one place, so you can get sports betting picks against the spread from our CBS Sports experts as well as additional feature content for each game, including plays from top SportsLine experts and the SportsLine Projection Model, best bets from our staff, survivor picks and more.
Ready? Let’s jump in.
All NFL betting courtesy of SportsLine consensus.
Which picks can you make with confidence during Wild Card Weekend? And which Super Bowl contender goes down hard? Visit SportsLine, as its incredible model simulates every NFL game 10,000 times and is up well over $7,000 for $100 players on top-rated NFL picks since its inception.
Time: Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET (CBS), stream on Paramount+ (click here)
Open: Chargers -3, O/U 44.5
SportsLine’s Mike Tierney is on a 47-25-2 roll when it comes to betting Chargers games, and he has now unveiled which side of the spread he is backing for this playoff showdown against the Texans. We can tell you he’s leaning Under the 44.5 point total, but to see his best-bet ATS pick you’ll have to go to SportsLine.
“Not only is this game the least-sexy matchup on paper, but it’s also one of the tougher matchups to pick. The Texans are the No. 4 seed, playing at home, yet they are underdogs to the visiting Chargers — who have clearly received some steam from bettors. That in itself has me leaning to Houston +3, but I can’t bring myself to do it.
“I have legitimate concerns about this Texans offense. C.J. Stroud has Nico Collins back in the fold, but he’s down Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell. Go back through Houston’s schedule … when is the last time this offense looked good? Nov. 18 against the lowly Dallas Cowboys? Maybe not even then. How about Oct. 13 against the New England Patriots? Now, the Texans have to take on the No. 1 scoring defense in the league to start the postseason.
“The Chargers aren’t exactly the greatest show on turf either, but did you realize they’ve put up at least 34 points in three straight games now? One of those scoring explosions came against the Broncos, who I think have a solid defense. Chargers win in a low-scoring affair.” — CBS Sports NFL writer Jordan Dajani on why he likes the Chargers -2.5 against Houston. To see all of his picks for this weekend, click here.
“The Texans end up on the Saturday playoff slate in the first weekend almost every single year it feels like. I don’t, however, recall them having a healthy starting quarterback, playing at home and being an underdog. It’s a shame, because I was extremely excited about getting to bet Jim Harbaugh as a dog in the postseason. Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to take him as a favorite, which he is, on the road, despite the Chargers being a wild-card team and playing in Houston, where the crowd will be rowdy and where things went extremely south for Joe Flacco and Co. last year when the Browns came in piping hot and got snuffed out by the Texans. The Chargers are a very different team, however. Justin Herbert isn’t going to throw interceptions and the Harbaugh factor here cannot be overstated. Harbaugh’s playoff record is pretty incredible, going 5-3 overall in three trips with the 49ers, with all three losses coming either in the Super Bowl or in the NFC title game and all coming down to the final play and by a single score. He’s never lost a wild-card game and he’s 2-0-1 against the spread in those spots. I just trust the coaching advantage here to give the Chargers a close victory.” — CBS Sports Senior NFL writer Will Brinson on why he has the Chargers -2.5 as one of his best bets. To see all of his picks, click here.
Time: Saturday, 8 p.m. ET (Prime Video)
Open: Ravens -9.5, O/U 43.5
Mike Tierney, one of SportsLine’s many betting experts, has been the go-to source when it comes to betting Ravens games. In games involving Baltimore, Tierney is a scorching 53-26-2, and now has his sights sets on this playoff showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers. We can tell you he’s leaning Over the 43.5 point total, but to see his spread pick, you’ll have to click over the SportsLine.
“If there’s one game where I could see a big upset happening this weekend, it’s this one. On one hand, that sounds absolutely ridiculous because the Steelers have forgotten how to play football over the past four weeks. On the other hand, it doesn’t sound ridiculous at all because Lamar Jackson always seems to forget how to play football during the postseason.
“In Jackson’s career, he’s gone just 2-4 in the playoffs and the Ravens have averaged just 16 points in his six starts, which is the lowest average since 1990 for any starting quarterback with at least five playoff starts. To put that in perspective, the Ravens have averaged 28.7 points per game during the regular season with Jackson, so his postseason number is more than 12 points worse.
“What I’m trying to say here is that the Ravens have been one of the highest-scoring teams in the NFL since Jackson took over as starting quarterback, but they always seem to choke in the playoffs.
“… The Steelers have obviously been a disaster over the past few weeks, which is almost unheard of for a team heading into the playoffs. Pittsburgh is just the third team in NFL history to enter the playoffs on a losing streak of at least four games and the only good news there is that one of the previous two teams did win their opening-round playoff game (1986 Jets). Basically, the end of the regular season doesn’t necessarily matter because you’re starting from scratch in the playoffs.
“If the Steelers had shown any signs of life during their four-game losing streak to end the season, I might have picked them to pull off the upset, but instead, I’m going to take the Ravens in a nail-biter.” — CBS Sports NFL writer John Breech on why he expects a close matchup between the Ravens and Steelers where Baltimore edges out a 23-20 win. To see all of his picks for this weekend, click here.
“The Ravens are massive favorites (-9.5) at home against the Steelers in the first round of the playoffs and while I’d lean toward Pittsburgh against the spread here, the Ravens’ explosiveness on offense, the Steelers’ recent struggles in the pass game, the improved Ravens defense and Baltimore’s ability to extend a lead really scares me. Instead I’m going to take a plus-money bet on the Ravens’ star tight end as wide receiver Zay Flowers is going to be out in this game. Andrews has been a focal point of the passing game over the last month-plus after a slow start to the season, garnering 30 targets in his last six games, despite the last four of those games being massive blowouts by Baltimore. And in those six games, Andrews has … six touchdowns! One for each outing, actually — he’s Lamar’s go-to guy in the red zone again and we’re getting a pretty choice price here, with DraftKings offering 20 cents more than other spots.” — CBS Sports Senior NFL writer Will Brinson on why he has Mark Andrews anytime touchdown as one of his best bets. To see all of his picks, click here.
Time: Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (CBS), stream on Paramount+ (click here)
Open: Bills -8.5, O/U 47
“I think this game has the potential to be closer than folks expect, which means Josh Allen won’t be taking his foot off the gas. He’s gone over this completions total in eight of his 17 games played this season and now faces a Broncos defense that is giving up the sixth-most completions (23.06) to quarterbacks this season.” — CBS Sports NFL writer Tyler Sullivan on why he likes Josh Allen Over 20.5 completions as one of his top prop bets for Wild Card Weekend. To see the rest of his prop bets, click here.
Need some helping making a pick in this Broncos-Bills matchup? Let SportsLine’s Matt Severance help you out. Severance is on a 25-7 roll when it comes to betting Broncos games. We can tell you he’s leaning Under the 47.5 point total for this contest with Buffalo, but to see his ATS pick for the playoff showdown you need to go to SportsLine.
“Broncos fans, your team did it: They’re finally back in the playoffs. I was starting to worry that they might not ever make it back, especially during those lean years when Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch, Case Keenum, Brandon Allen, Drew Lock, Brett Rypien, Jeff Driskel all played quarterback, but Sean Payton has them back in the postseason for the first time since 2015.
“If you don’t remember 2015, that’s the year the fifth “Mission: Impossible” movie came out, which I’m only mentioning, because this game feels like Mission: Impossible for the Broncos.
“For one, the Broncos are starting a rookie quarterback. I don’t know if you’ve ever watched an NFL playoff game involving a rookie quarterback, but it almost always ends up being a disaster for the team with the rookie quarterback. Over the past 10 years, rookie quarterbacks have gone 3-8 in the playoffs and two of those wins came from Brock Purdy, who had an absolutely loaded offense while leading the 49ers to the NFC title game during the 2022 season.
“The Broncos offense is good, but it’s not “2022 49ers good.” One reason rookies tend to struggle in the playoffs is because it’s much easier to mask their deficiencies in the regular season. Sean Payton designed an offense for Bo Nix that called for a lot of quick, short passes and Nix thrived in that offense. Nix is also capable of throwing the occasional home run ball, which is another reason why the offense worked so well.
“For some reason, I don’t think the dink and dunk strategy is going to work on Sunday. Bills coach Sean McDermott is a former defensive coordinator and he’ll definitely make sure to do his best to take the easy stuff away from Nix, and once that happens, it will be interesting to see how the rookie responds. If Nix can throw downfield, the Broncos can win. The Bills were 1-2 this season when the opposing QB threw for at least 300 yards, so Nix is going to have his work cut out for him.
“Even if Nix plays well, the Broncos are likely going to need a nearly perfect performance from their defense if they’re going to slow down Josh Allen. This is an interesting matchup because we have the defense that totaled the most sacks in the NFL this year (Broncos had 63) going up against the offense that surrendered the fewest sacks (The Bills only gave up 14). This is only the fourth time since 1990 that we’ve had a matchup like this in the postseason and in the previous three instances, the defense that led the NFL in sacks came away with the win, which would seem to favor the Broncos.
“I think my main point here is that the Broncos defense is good enough to slow down Josh Allen. Like the Steelers-Ravens game, I could also see an upset happening here, but I just can’t bring myself to take a rookie quarterback on the road, especially since only three rookies quarterbacks have won a road playoff game in NFL HISTORY and none have pulled it off since Russell Wilson did it with the Seahawks in 2012. I’m guessing that Nix knocking Russell Wilson out of the record book was all part of Sean Payton’s master plan, but I think his plan falls apart here with the Bills winning.
“When it comes to my NFL picks, the Broncos were somehow the one team I almost never missed on this year. Over the course of the regular season, I went 14-3 straight up and 13-4 against the spread picking Broncos games, which means there’s no way my pick here is going to be wrong. At least I think that’s what it means.” — CBS Sports NFL writer John Breech on why he likes the Bills to defeat the Broncos, 24-17. To see all of his picks for this weekend, click here.
Time: Sunday, 4:30 p.m. ET (FOX), stream on fubo (try for free)
Open: Eagles -3.5, O/U 46.5
“Both quarterbacks come in with injury issues. Jalen Hurts is in the concussion protocol, but is expected to play. Jordan Love has an elbow injury, but is also expected to play. How rusty will Hurts be after not playing the final two weeks of the regular season and missing most of the game in Week 16? The Packers have played a lot of good teams close only to lose, including the Eagles. This week, I think Love gets the best of them. Upset special.” — CBS Sports Senior NFL analyst Pete Prisco on why he likes the Packers to pull off the upset, 23-20. To see all of his picks, click here.
R.J. White is one of SportsLine’s top NFL bettors and has zeroed in on this Packers-Eagles matchup. That’s a great thing for you and I as White is a remarkable 76-32-2 when betting Packers games, so he’s as dialed-in as you can be. We can tell you White is leaning Under the 46.5 point total for this game. To see his spread pick, you’ll have to go to SportsLine.
“As I write this, we don’t know the official status of Jalen Hurts (concussion protocol), but we’ll assume he suits up. Ditto for Jordan Love. These teams met back in Week 1 in Brazil with the Eagles pulling out the win, but it’s hard to gauge anything from that matchup as we now look to this playoff head-to-head.
“My gut tells me that this will be a field goal game, so we’ll ride with the Packers and the points. Jordan Love has been stellar at protecting the football to end the season, currently riding a seven-game streak of zero interceptions. If he continues to keep a clean sheet, I think Green Bay will stick around long enough to make Philly uncomfortable. Even if the Packers lose this game, what we’ve seen from them throughout the season tells us it won’t be a blowout. Five of their six losses on the year have come by five or fewer points. The Eagles’ talent likely wins out here, but the Packers keep it tight and cover.” — CBS Sports NFL writer Tyler Sullivan on why he likes the Packers to cover the 5.5-point spread vs. Philly. To see all of his picks for this weekend, click here.
Time: Sunday, 8 p.m. ET (NBC), stream on fubo (try for free)
Open: Buccaneers -3.5, O/U 50.5
“This is the first playoff game for Washington rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who has been special this season. Tampa Bay’s defense is banged up, so I look for Daniels to have success throwing it. But the Bucs can score. They will also get some big plays from Baker Mayfield and then have Bucky Irving close it out with some tough running late.” — CBS Sports Senior NFL writer Pete Prisco on why he has the Bucs winning over the Commanders, 35-30. To see the rest of his picks, click here.
“Hail to the Commanders, hail Jayden Daniels. The former LSU star broke rookie quarterback records for completion percentage (69%) and rushing yards (891) in what was truly a historic campaign. Now, can he power Washington to success in the postseason?
“The Commanders got something going for ’em. They are playing in prime time. Washington went 1-1 in prime-time games this season — with both games coming on the road. They defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in a shootout, but lost to the Eagles. As for the Buccaneers, they went 0-4 in prime time this year! They lost to the Atlanta Falcons, Ravens, Chiefs and Cowboys. Yeah, the Ravens and Chiefs are good teams, but Kirk Cousins’ Falcons and the short-handed Cowboys were not. The Commanders did finish the regular season with the third-worst run defense in the league (137.5 rushing yards allowed per game), but I’m predicting the upset and will hope for a push at worst.” — CBS Sports NFL writer Jordan Dajani on why he is not only taking the Commanders +3, but is backing them outright against Tampa Bay. To see all of his picks for this weekend, click here.
SportsLine’s Larry Hartstein is the guy to follow when it comes to narrowing down a pick for this Commanders-Buccaneers contest. In games involving Washington, Hartstein is 34-20, so you’ll certainly want to see how he’s sizing up this game. We can tell you he’s leaning Under the 50.5 point total. To check out his ATS pick for Sunday night’s game, log on over to SportsLine.
“The Buccaneers will likely want to dictate the pace of this game and not let Jayden Daniels run wild. One way to do that is to establish a strong rushing attack, which pairs well against Washington’s poor run defense. The Commanders are allowing the fourth-most rushing yards to backs this season and the third-highest yards-per-rush average. This sets Bucky Irving up nicely to go over a rushing yard total that he’s exceeded in five of his final seven games to round out his regular season.” — CBS Sports NFL writer Tyler Sullivan on why he likes Bucky Irving Over 86.5 rushing yards as one of his top prop bets for the weekend. To see all of his prop picks, click here.
Time: Monday, 8 p.m. ET (ABC, ESPN), stream on fubo (try for free)
Open: Vikings -2, O/U 47
“You may not believe me, but this isn’t a simple overreaction to Minnesota’s loss to the Lions last week. It’s more about how I think the Rams could be a frisky team now that they’ve snuck into the playoffs. The duo of Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay has a Super Bowl-winning pedigree to lean on while Kevin O’Connell has coached in just one playoff game (a loss) in his career and Sam Darnold has never started a playoff contest. We know the moment won’t be too big for Stafford and McVay, but can we say that about O’Connell and Darnold? No. The Rams are 3-0 in the playoffs all time at SoFi Stadium (including Super Bowl LVI), while Stafford has been lights out in those games. Minnesota’s secondary could have problems containing both Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp, further applying pressure to Darnold and the Vikings offense to keep pace. I think McVay puts on a coaching masterclass against his former OC and pulls off the home upset.” — CBS Sports NFL writer Tyler Sullivan on why he likes the Rams to pull off the upset vs. Minnesota. To see all of his picks, click here.
SportsLine’s R.J. White has locked in on this matchup between the Vikings and Rams on Monday night. White is on a 71-39-5 roll when it comes to betting Vikings games, so you’ll absolutely want to see which side of the spread he’s backing. We can tell you he’s leaning Over the 47 point total. To see his ATS pick, you’ll need to go to SportsLine.
“T.J. Hockenson was a non-factor in the regular-season finale against the Lions, but he’s largely been solid since coming off of IR midseason. He’s gone over this number in five of his 10 games played this season, including three of his last five appearances. It’s also a smash matchup as the Rams are weak against tight ends, surrendering the fourth-most receiving yards and third-most receptions in the NFL to the position group.” — CBS Sports NFL writer Tyler Sullivan on why he likes T.J. Hockenson Over 42.5 receiving yards as one of his best prop bets for this playoff round. To see all of his prop picks, click here.
