We somehow survived the 2017 NFL regular season filled with Tom Savage, Bryce Petty, C.J. Beathard, Mike Glennon, Brett Hundley, a brief but very tall appearance by Brock Osweiler, way too many injuries to all of our favorite stars, and of course, 16 losses by the Cleveland Browns. Our reward is a wonderful slate of playoff games to open up the postseason. 

On Saturday and Sunday, Wild Card Weekend will feature a host of Super Bowl caliber teams, most of which are relative newcomers to the postseason. How we got this field was anything but ordinary. 

The Titans gave zero indications that they were capable of beating this version of the Jaguars to clinch their first playoff spot since 2008, but then they remembered that Blake Bortles is still Blake Bortles. They forced two interceptions, kept the Jaguars' offense out of the end zone, and now they're in the playoffs for the first time since the Jeff Fisher era. Somewhere, Fisher is probably trying to take credit for the Titans' playoff berth. 

The Titans will face the Chiefs, who might just be the most confusing team in football. We thought they were the best team in football after their 5-0 start and then we figured they'd blow their lead in the AFC West after losing six of their next seven games. Now, we have to give them credit for winning their final four games to end up at 10-6. Which version of this team the Titans will see in the playoffs is an unknown.

The Bills joined the Titans as the AFC's other wild-card team because they dispatched the David Fales-quarterbacked Dolphins (the expected result) and because Andy Dalton threw a 49-yard touchdown on fourth-and-12 in the final minute of the fourth quarter to lead the Bengals past the Ravens (not so expected).

The Bills will face the Jaguars, who enter the playoffs on a two-game losing streak. The matchup should be billed as a celebration. It's the Bills' first playoff appearance since 1999 and the Jaguars' first playoff appearance since 2007.

In the NFC, the dangerous Falcons beat the Panthers in Week 17 to punch their ticket to the playoffs and avoid unending Super Bowl hangover jokes. But their first playoff game will be against the new kings in the West, the Los Angeles Rams, who were afforded the opportunity to rest their stars in Week 17. 

In the NFC's other game, the Saints -- who, despite winning the NFC South, stumbled into the postseason by losing three of their final six games and dropping their finale to the Buccaneers -- will face the team they barely won the NFC South over: the Panthers. The Saints are going for the rare three-game sweep after beating the Panthers in both of their regular-season matchups.

The entire schedule is awesome:

Saturday, Jan. 6

AFC: (5) Tennessee (9-7) at (4) Kansas City (10-6), 4:35 p.m. ET (ESPN/ABC)

NFC: (6) Atlanta (10-6) at (3) Los Angeles Rams (11-5), 8:15 p.m. ET (NBC)

Sunday, Jan. 7

AFC: (6) Buffalo (9-7) at (3) Jacksonville (10-6), 1 p.m. ET (CBS)

NFC: (5) Carolina (11-5) at (4) New Orleans (11-5), 4:40 p.m. ET (Fox)

And now that the field and schedule are set, it's time to take a look at who is and isn't favored and more importantly, it's time to make picks. Let's get to it.

All odds via SportsLine.

Monday odds update

Titans at Chiefs (-7.5)

  • Kansas City against the spread: 10-6
  • Kansas City against the spread as the favorite: 8-5
  • Tennessee against the spread: 8-7-1
  • Tennessee against the spread as the underdog: 2-1

Falcons at Rams (-5.5)

  • Atlanta against the spread: 7-9
  • Atlanta against the spread as the underdog: 0-2
  • Los Angeles against the spread: 9-7
  • Los Angeles against the spread as the favorite: 7-5

Bills at Jaguars (-7.5)

  • Buffalo against the spread: 9-6-1
  • Buffalo against the spread as the underdog: 4-5
  • Jacksonville against the spread: 9-7
  • Jacksonville against the spread as the favorite: 6-5

Panthers at Saints (-6)

  • Carolina against the spread: 9-7
  • Carolina against the spread as the underdog: 5-2
  • New Orleans against the spread: 9-7
  • New Orleans against the spread as the favorite: 8-3

My picks

Chiefs (-7.5)

This is more about the Titans than it is about the Chiefs, a team that is difficult to trust after the topsy-turvy nature of their regular season. The one thing we know for certain is that the Titans are not a good football team, even if they did find a way to earn a playoff berth. They were outscored by 22 points over the course of the season. They're ranked 19th in scoring offense and 17th in scoring defense. For all of their faults, the Chiefs do have the sixth-best scoring offense to pair alongside their meh defense. 

The Chiefs were better at home this year (6-2) while the Titans went 3-5 away from Nashville. This is Marcus Mariota's first taste of the postseason and he's entering the playoffs after the worst regular season of his young career. Say what you want about the Chiefs, but they've been here before. They bring actual playoff experience to the table. Most importantly, give me Andy Reid over Mike Mularkey. One coach (Reid) knows how to maximize his quarterback's skillset while the other (Mularkey) has squandered his quarterback's potential.

Look for the Chiefs to handedly beat the Titans.

Rams (-5.5)

It's officially time to stop doubting the Rams and to start admitting that this Falcons team is never going to turn into the powerhouse we all expected. Give credit to the Falcons for fighting through a slog of a season to win 10 games and avoid what appeared to be an inevitable Super Bowl hangover, but their season will end against a well-rested Rams team that sat their stars in Week 17, features the only challenger to Tom Brady's MVP candidacy in Todd Gurley, and suddenly has a formidable defense again.

The only concern is that the Rams are young newcomers. Maybe the playoffs will be too big of a stage for them. But if Sean McVay really is the coach we've made him out to be (he should win Coach of the Year in a landslide), he'll make sure his team doesn't succumb to the pressure of the moment. 

Rams win by a touchdown.

Bills (+7.5)

There's no doubt the Jaguars have the superior team. Their defense is the best defense in the playoffs by a long shot. And yet, I can't pick them to cover against a mediocre Bills team. In the end, it comes down to the quarterbacks. The Bills have the better one. 

After a brief hot stretch to begin December, Blake Bortles has morphed back into Blake Bortles. In his past two games, he completed 56 percent of his passes, averaged 6.4 yards per attempt, threw two touchdowns and five interceptions, and posted a 58.6 passer rating. There's no reason to expect him to get hot again. He's still Blake Bortles and Blake Bortles is not a good NFL quarterback. He's a turnover machine. On the other hand, the Bills have a quarterback in Tyrod Taylor who seldom turns the ball over (10 interceptions in the past two seasons COMBINED). 

Expect a low-scoring game as both teams try to pound the ball. And keep an eye on the status of LeSean McCoy. If he can play and be close to 100 percent, I like the Bills to win. If he can't play, I still like the Bills to cover. The difference will be Bortles and his turnovers. 

Can you really take Bortles to cover a 7.5-point spread in a playoff game? I can't.

Saints (-6)

Both the Saints and the Panthers will enter Wild Card Weekend on a down note. Sure, the Saints won the NFC South, but they also blew a late lead against the hapless Buccaneers. The Panthers ended their season by playing one of the most offensively inept games of their season against the Falcons. 

Give me the Saints in this one. They're inside their dome, where they went 7-1. They've already proven they can beat the Panthers. In their two earlier matchups, the Saints won by 21 and 10 points. They're the better team. The Saints outscored their opponents by 122 points and the Panthers outscored their opponents by 36 points.

Give me the Saints by a touchdown.