The National Football League playoffs for the 2023 season began on January 13, 2024, and concluded with Super Bowl LVIII on February 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, with the Kansas City Chiefs defeating the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 22-25 in overtime.
This was the first postseason since 1998 not to feature either Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, as they had played their final NFL games in the 2015 and 2022 seasons, respectively.
In the Wild Card round, the No. 7 seed Green Bay Packers defeated the No. 2 seed Dallas Cowboys, becoming the first No. 7 seed ever to win a playoff game since the introduction of the format in 2020. The Detroit Lions won their first playoff game since 1991 by defeating the Los Angeles Rams. This was the 15th consecutive NFL postseason in which at least one team scored at least 40 points in a game, achieved by both the Houston Texans and the Green Bay Packers.
The Kansas City Chiefs became the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since the New England Patriots successfully did so in 2003 and 2004. They were also the first team to win the Super Bowl as a 3 seed since the 2006 Colts. In addition, it marked only the second Super Bowl to go into overtime, the other being Super Bowl LI in 2016–17.
Participants
Bracket
Schedule The playoffs began with Wild Card Weekend on January 13–15, 2024. The Divisional round was played on January 20–21, with the winners of those games advancing to the Conference Championship games on January 28. Super Bowl LVIII was played on February 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada.
Round Away team Score Home team Date Kickoff(ET / UTC–5) National TV Network(s) Streaming Viewers (millions) TV rating Wild-card round Cleveland Browns 14–45 Houston Texans January 13, 2024 4:35 p.m. NBC Peacock 29.2 12.8 Miami Dolphins 7–26 Kansas City Chiefs 8:15 p.m. Peacock 23.0 9.2 Green Bay Packers 48–32 Dallas Cowboys January 14, 2024 4:35 p.m. Fox 40.2 19.1 Los Angeles Rams 23–24 Detroit Lions 8:15 p.m. NBC Peacock 36.0 15.6 Pittsburgh Steelers 17–31 Buffalo Bills January 15, 2024 4:35 p.m. CBS Paramount+ 31.1 15.7 Philadelphia Eagles 9–32 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 8:15 p.m. ABC/ESPN ESPN+ 29.2 15.1 Divisional round Houston Texans 10–34 Baltimore Ravens January 20, 2024 4:35 p.m. ABC/ESPN ESPN+ 32.416.2 Green Bay Packers 21–24 San Francisco 49ers 8:15 p.m. Fox 37.517.8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23–31 Detroit Lions January 21, 2024 3:05 p.m. NBC Peacock 40.518.6 Kansas City Chiefs 27–24 Buffalo Bills 6:40 p.m. CBS Paramount+ 50.424.2Conference championships Kansas City Chiefs 17–10 Baltimore Ravens January 28, 2024 3:05 p.m. CBS Paramount+ 55.5 25.5 Detroit Lions 31–34 San Francisco 49ers 6:40 p.m. Fox 56.725.1 Super Bowl LVIIIAllegiant StadiumParadise, Nevada San Francisco 49ers 22–25 Kansas City Chiefs February 11, 2024 6:40 p.m. CBS/Nickelodeon Paramount+ 123.7 43.5
Wild-card round Saturday, January 13, 2024 AFC: Houston Texans 45, Cleveland Browns 14
This was the first postseason meeting between the Browns and Texans. During the regular season, the Browns defeated the Texans 36–22 in Houston in Week 16. Deshaun Watson, who was the starting quarterback for Cleveland since 2022, suffered a season-ending injury in Week 10. He was the starting quarterback for Houston from 2017 to 2020.
After a competitive first half that was led by the Texans, they took a commanding lead after the turn of the half, in which Joe Flacco threw back-to-back interceptions that were returned for touchdowns. This was the Texans' first playoff win since the 2019 season.
AFC: Kansas City Chiefs 26, Miami Dolphins 7
This was the fourth postseason matchup between the Dolphins and Chiefs, with Miami winning all three previous contests. The most recent playoff meeting between these two teams was in the 1994–95 Wild Card round, which Miami won 27–17. It was the first postseason clash between the two teams in Kansas City since Christmas Day 1971, which remains the longest NFL game played; the Dolphins won that game 27–24 after two overtime periods. During the regular season, the Chiefs defeated the Dolphins 21–14 in a neutral-site game in Frankfurt, Germany in Week 9. This was the first game where Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill returned to Arrowhead Stadium since he left the Chiefs.
With a kickoff temperature of , this became the fourth coldest NFL game in history. The game was dominated by Kansas City, whose defense held the league's top offense to just 7 points. With the Lions winning their playoff game against the Rams the next day, Miami became the team with the longest playoff game win drought.
With 28 million viewers watching, Peacock recorded their busiest day in history on January 13.
Technically, it was the first regionally televised game in the NFL playoffs since the 1982-83 NFL playoffs, when the first round games were regionally televised, since the Peacock stream was out of market; the game was televised on NBC affiliates in Miami and Kansas City.
Sunday, January 14, 2024 NFC: Green Bay Packers 48, Dallas Cowboys 32
Coming in as 7-point underdogs, the Packers dominated the Cowboys throughout the game.
After getting the ball first after electing to receive the opening kickoff, the Packers drove 75 yards in almost 8 minutes, capping the drive with an Aaron Jones touchdown run from 3 yards out to go up 7–0. After the teams traded punts, cornerback Jaire Alexander intercepted a ball off of Dak Prescott deep in Cowboys' territory. At the beginning of the second quarter, the Packers cashed in on the turnover with another Aaron Jones touchdown run, which came from one yard out, to go up 14–0. Following a Cowboys' punt, the Packers drove 93 yards and capped it when Dontayvion Wicks caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Love, although the extra point was missed, leaving the score at 20–0. On the next drive, Prescott threw another interception that was returned 64 yards for a touchdown by Darnell Savage with 1:50 remaining in the 1st half to extend the Packers' lead to 27–0. The Cowboys did rebound to score a touchdown on the last play of the half when Jake Ferguson caught a 1-yard pass from Prescott, cutting the lead to 27–7.
In the second half, the Packers extended their lead to 32 points, 48–16, with 10:23 left in the 4th quarter, before the Cowboys scored back-to-back touchdowns and two successful 2-point conversions to reduce the deficit to 16 points, though the game was effectively already decided in favor of the Packers. The game ended after the Cowboys turned the ball over on downs on their last drive with less than 20 seconds left, sealing the Packers' victory. With the win, the Packers improved to 6–0 at AT&T Stadium all-time (including their win in Super Bowl XLV) and became the first seventh seed to beat a second seed since the playoffs expanded to 14 teams in the 2020 season. Conversely, the Cowboys became the first second seed to lose against a seventh seed since it expanded, and it snapped the Cowboys' 16-game home win streak. The Cowboys also became the first team in NFL history to have won 12 or more games in three straight seasons, without making a conference championship game.Packers dominate Cowboys to advance in NFL playoffs and throw Dallas into disarray while Lions defeat Rams in 1st playoff win in 32 years, CNN, January 15, 2024
This was the ninth overall postseason matchup in the rivalry between the Cowboys and Packers. The postseason series between the two teams had been tied 4–4, with the most recent meeting being in the 2016 NFC Divisional Playoffs, which the Packers won 34–31 in Arlington. The teams did not meet in the 2023 regular season.
NFC: Detroit Lions 24, Los Angeles Rams 23
This was the second overall postseason meeting between the Rams and Lions. The first came in the 1952 National Conference Championship, which the Lions won 31–21 in Detroit. It was the Lions' first home playoff game since 1993 and only their third since winning their last NFL title in 1957. It was also their first playoff game at Ford Field. This game was also notable for being the first postseason clash between Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff, the starting quarterbacks for the Rams and Lions respectively. Each had previously played for the other team before being traded for each other prior to the 2021 season. The Rams and Lions did not meet during the regular season.
The Lions wound up victorious by a final score of 24–23, their first victory in a postseason game since 1991 and only their second in the Super Bowl era. In his first game in Detroit as an opposing player, Stafford completed 25 of 36 passes for 367 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Goff completed 22 of 27 passes for 277 yards and a touchdown. Los Angeles Pro Bowl receiver Puka Nacua set a rookie record for receiving yards in a postseason game with nine catches for 181 receiving yards while also scoring a touchdown. The record would then be surpassed by Ladd McConkey the following year. Amon-Ra St. Brown was Detroit's leading receiver with seven catches for 110 receiving yards. Although neither team turned the ball over, the Rams were undone by an ineffective red zone offense: zero touchdowns in three red zone trips, while Detroit converted all three of its red zone trips into touchdowns.
With this victory, the Lions no longer had fewer playoff victories in their own stadium than another NFL team, as they equaled the Pittsburgh Steelers who had won Super Bowl XL at Ford Field. The victory, combined with the #2-seeded Cowboys' loss to the Packers earlier that day, also meant that the Lions would host two games in a single postseason for the first time in franchise history. This was the first time a team from Detroit advanced in a postseason since 2013, when the Detroit Tigers won an ALDS matchup against the Oakland Athletics.
Monday, January 15, 2024 AFC: Buffalo Bills 31, Pittsburgh Steelers 17
This was the fourth playoff matchup between these two teams; Pittsburgh won two out of the first three. The most recent playoff meeting occurred during the Divisional Round of the 1995–96 postseason, which Pittsburgh won 40–21. The Steelers and Bills did not meet during the regular season. The game was originally scheduled to be played on January 14 at 1:05 p.m. EST, but was delayed due to a state of emergency and travel ban declared in Western New York as a result of a massive snowstorm, marking the first time an NFL playoff game was postponed since the 2016–17 playoffs, a game that also featured the Steelers.
The first half was dominated by Buffalo, with a Josh Allen throwing a touchdown pass to Dawson Knox on Buffalo's first drive of the game. Later in the quarter, a reception by George Pickens was turned into a fumble by Taron Johnson that saw Terrel Bernard recover the ball at the 29-yard line of Buffalo. Allen soon threw a touchdown pass to Dalton Kincaid to give Buffalo a 14–0 lead. After Pittsburgh went 88 yards only to have the ball intercepted in the endzone, the Bills drove down the field and capitalized on a 52-yard run by Allen for a touchdown to increase the lead to 21–0 (the run was a career-long for Allen and the second longest run by a quarterback in a playoff game next to Colin Kaepernick's 56-yard run in the 2013 postseason). Pittsburgh finally got on the board with a short field after blocking a field goal and returning it to the 33-yard line, with Rudolph throwing a touchdown pass to Diontae Johnson to make it 21–7 at the half.
The teams traded field goals in the third quarter before Pittsburgh went on a 75-yard drive that saw them close it with a Rudolph touchdown pass to Calvin Austin to narrow the lead to 24-17 with 10:32 remaining. Buffalo responded with a 70-yard drive that lasted four minutes and finished with a Khalil Shakir touchdown reception and scramble to make the score 31-17 with six minutes remaining; neither team scored from that point on as Buffalo won their fourth straight Wild Card Round game.