The divisional round of the 2025 NFL season gets underway this Saturday with the Denver Broncos hosting the Buffalo Bills to kick things off. There are only 8 teams left now after the Wild Card round sent 6 others packing.
At this point of the season, there are multiple factors that can decide games, such as injury reports, weather forecasts, and the heavy toll on players’ bodies after a grueling 18-week regular season. Nevertheless, a win here gets teams one more step closer to hoisting the all-important Lombardi Trophy.
And with that, let us now turn our attention to the topic at hand. In this article, we will take a look at our NFL ATS picks for the Divisional round.
NFL Divisional Round ATS Picks
Below is a list of our NFL ATS picks for the Divisional Round, along with the line (sourced via FanDuel).
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As mentioned previously, the NFL Divisional round starts off with the Broncos hosting the Bills in Denver, Colorado. The Bills are slight favorites coming into this game despite being on the road for the second straight game and losing wide receiver Gabe Davis to an ACL tear.
The Broncos are well-rested, coming off their bye week, and will be the healthier team on Saturday. That said, Denver’s season has been a mixed bag. In some games, the Broncos have looked at the top of their game, but in others, it has been the opposite. They haven’t played too many top-quality teams as of late, which could be a worry, especially with Josh Allen on the other side.
Performance-wise, the Broncos were middle of the pack in scoring with an average of 23.6 points a game, whereas they were a top-three scoring defense, allowing just 18.3 points a game. Denver is also the league leader in total sacks (68) this season.
On the other hand, the Bills also had their fair share of ups and downs. They lost their division title for the first time in many years, but what has truly been baffling is the over-reliance on players such as Allen and James Cook.
Defensively, the Bills are outside the top ten, coming in at the 12th spot with a scoring defense allowing an average of 21.5 points in the regular season. They also gave up 24 to the Jaguars last week in the Wild Card round. On offense, they have averaged a very healthy 28.3 points per game, but the real struggle has been against defensively elite teams, as they lost 23-19 to the Texans and 13-12 to the Eagles.
With the way the 49ers have played all season long after a boatload of injuries, it is hard to pick against them to lose by a big margin. However, the loss of tight end George Kittle will be massive for San Francisco. Not only will they miss one of their premier pass catchers, but they will also miss his tremendous blocking game.
The 49ers and the Seahawks is a divisional rivalry game that has produced two very low-scoring and tough matches this season. The 49ers won the first game of the season 17-13, while the Seahawks won the final game 13-3 in Week 18.
Having faced each other just a couple of weeks earlier, this gives us a good idea about how things could go in the upcoming game. Seattle has a top-three scoring offense with an average of 28.4, whereas the 49ers are tenth in the league, scoring 25.7 points a game. Defensively, though, the 49ers have allowed 21.8 points per game, while the Seahawks led the league with just 17.2 points allowed per game.
The Divisional round on Sunday starts with the New England Patriots taking on the Houston Texans, where the Patriots are favored by a field goal. This is a clash between two top defensive teams in the league, where points could be hard to come by.
Houston is on the road once again after their dominant performance against the Steelers in the Wild Card game. The Texans’ defense was all over Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh, allowing just 6 points to be scored against them. On the other hand, the defense came up with a pick-six and a fumble scoop and score, putting up 12 points.
The worry for Houston will be its offense once again. In the last game, C.J. Stroud made multiple uncanny mistakes, fumbling the ball a total of 5 times and losing it twice in the process. DeMeco Ryans’ offense hasn’t played well all season long and has had to rely on the defense bailing the team out.
Over to the Patriots, where head coach Mike Vrabel has turned the franchise around in just his first season. Quarterback Drake Maye has had a stellar season and could even bring home the MVP, but their success has been a true team success on both sides of the ball.
If the Texans have the second-best scoring defense this season, the Patriots are just behind with the fourth-best. That being said, New England has the better offense and the home-field advantage, where the weather is expected to be much cooler for Houston’s liking.
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The final game of the Divisional round gives us an NFC showdown between the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams. Both teams are coming off close wins from the Wild Card rounds, with the Bears defeating the Packers at home and the Rams winning on the road against the Panthers.
The Rams open this matchup as the favorites, and that is understandable given they have the best offense in the league. Throughout the regular season, the Rams averaged 30.5 points per game. Matthew Stafford is the favorite to land the MVP and led the league in passing yards and passing touchdowns, while Davante Adams and Puka Nacua shouldered most of the responsibility in the end zone.
However, the Rams are going up against a Bears team that is also playing well. The weather could be a factor, as Los Angeles is a dome team and will be tested in the forecasted 8-degree weather at Soldier Field.
Moreover, the Bears are one of the best teams in the league as far as takeaways are concerned, with 8 fumble recoveries and a league-leading 23 interceptions. All things considered, this game is expected to be a closely fought contest.
The above odds are sourced from FanDuel. Use FanDuel to ace your betting game in all sports!
I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!
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