The Wild Card Round is over, with six winners heading forward to the Divisional Round. That also means that six losers are now done with their seasons and will look ahead now to the offseason. But before they worry about 2026, they're probably going to ask themselves what happened to their 2025 title hopes. How did they lose on the first weekend of the postseason?
Now, look: losing a football game is complex. Infinite things could have gone differently. One drop in the first quarter could be the difference in a 24-0 win or a 24-0 loss, since every play after that drop might be scripted differently. However, for the purpose of this article, I'm not going to get all esoteric about sports outcomes. I'm just going to assign blame for losing football games based on what we saw on the field.
Here's who to blame for all six Wild Card losses this weekend.
Los Angeles Chargers: The offensive line
Most playoff losers this weekend managed to put points on the board, but Justin Herbert and the Chargers managed only a single field goal in a 16-3 loss to the Patriots.
Plenty went wrong, but the root of it all was the offensive line. The team couldn't keep the defense off of Herbert, who was hit 21 times in the loss. With both starting tackles out for the postseason, the team was unable to provide any push-back upfront, and Herbert never had a chance to do much. There's a lot that needs fixed on this team going forward, but offensive line needs to be a priority this offseason.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Aaron Rodgers
It seemed like neither quarterback was interested in holding on to the football on Monday night, but Houston's defense was able to overcome C.J. Stroud's two baffling fumbles. The Steelers were unable to do the same, largely because Houston's defense didn't give the Steelers defense a chance to stop the Texans offense, with Houston scoring a pair of fourth-quarter defensive touchdowns. The first came off a sack/fumble, and the second was a pick-six that could potentially go down as Rodgers' final NFL throw.
It was just a rough showing from Rodgers, who failed to throw a touchdown pass for the second playoff game in a row. Now, the question becomes...is this it? Was this how the future Hall of Famer will end his career?
Philadelphia Eagles: Reed Blankenship
The 49ers ran a trick play and Reed Blankenship got tricked.
JAUAN JENNINGS TD PASS TO CMC
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San Fran gave it to Jauan Jennings on the reverse. Blankenship hesitated as Christian McCaffrey sprinted past him, and Jennings then tossed the football to a wide-open McCaffrey for the score. That little hint of hesitation there, where it looks like Blankenship is trying to decide if he should take off toward the line of scrimmage to tackle Jennings, was all it took for McCaffrey to make a game-changing play.
Jacksonville Jaguars: Liam Coen's playcalling
The Jaguars ran the ball well against the Bills, but the team simply didn't run the ball enough. Travis Etienne had 10 carries for 67 yards. Bhayshul Tuten had four for 51. And yet, the Jaguars didn't exploit that enough, losing after a late touchdown run from Josh Allen.
Look at the third quarter, for example. Etienne had a 26-yard run that got the Jaguars in field goal range, but the ball was in Trevor Lawrence's hands for the next three plays. Yes, you got a field goal out of the possession, but you also got two incomplete passes and a one-yard Lawrence run.
Liam Coen proved this year that he's a great coach and nothing should detract from that, but the lack of touches for Tuten when he was running so well was definitely a big part of the loss.
Carolina Panthers: Rico Dowdle
Rico Dowdle was one of the NFL's biggest surprises this year, rushing for over 1,000 yards despite opening the year in a backup role. However, his playoff performance was awful, as Dowdle had five carries for just nine yards.
Chuba Hubbard scored a pair of touchdowns, but not getting production from Dowdle still forced quarterback Bryce Young to do too much. Young has shown he's a much better quarterback than people initially thought after a brutal rookie campaign, but you shouldn't be asking him to throw 40 passes in a playoff game.
Green Bay Packers: Brandon McManus
Nothing but respect here for what Brandon McManus has done through his 12 seasons in the NFL. He's been a reliable kicker, and in 2024 he found a new gear, making a career-high 95.2 percent of his field goal attempts. That dropped to 80 percent this season, but that's still plenty respectable.
But McManus cost the Packers this game. He missed two field goal attempts and an extra point in a game that the Packers lost by four points. Even if you disregard McManus missing a tough 55-yarder before the half, that's still four points that McManus cost the Packers that he very much should not have cost them, which would have at least helped Green Bay force overtime.