Five outrageous predictions for the NFL's Wild Card Weekend

This weekend's slate of NFL Wild Card games appears to be the most evenly matched we have seen in quite some time.

Even the nine-win Washington Redskins seem to have a fighting chance against a Green Bay Packers squad that entered the season as one of the favorites to hoist the Lombardi.

In the AFC, the Houston Texans host the Kansas City Chiefs in a game that pits two surprise playoff teams against one another. There's a lot of narratives being thrown around regarding each squad. Which ones will prove to be correct when all is said and done on Saturday?

As we head into the postseason, here is an outrageous prediction for each playoff game with a bonus prediction on possible NFL relocation to Los Angeles.

1. Weekend's best game will take place in Washington

With these two teams seemingly finding themselves headed in vastly different directions, it appears that there's a potential sea change at hand.

No one in his or her right mind would suggest that Washington is the more talented team here. The Green Bay Packers were considered one of the top teams in the NFL heading into the season. They followed that prognosis up with six consecutive wins to start the year.

Though, as most of you know, the NFL playoffs are not all about who is more talented. Instead, the focus should be on who is playing better football.

In this, Washington makes up for the talent disparity a great deal. Jay Gruden's squad has won four in a row and six of eight. The Redskins have scored 30-plus in three consecutive games and are in the midst of a seven-game home winning streak.

Meanwhile, Green Bay has lost six of 10 since starting the season undefeated. During this span, the Packers have failed to put up as much as 20 points five times.

There's also something to how each quarterback has performed recently. The surface-based argument is that Kirk Cousins couldn't hold Aaron Rodgers' jockstrap, let alone be mentioned in the same breath with the future Hall of Fame Packers quarterback.

No one is going to argue Cousins is a better quarterback. That would be utterly foolish. But again, it's all about who is playing better football and how the one specific game might unfold.

Cousins' regular-season stats are startling. He led the NFL with a 70 percent completion rate while throwing 29 touchdowns compared to 11 interceptions.

It is, however, at home where he had the most success. The former fourth-round pick completed 75 percent of his passes with 20 total touchdowns and just two interceptions at FedEx Field.

On the other hand, Rodgers has struggled to an extent on the road. His 14-to-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio is fine. It's the 200 passing yards he's averaging per game that has to be taken into consideration here.

With Rodgers struggling to mesh with his wide receiver group and the Packers' running game a mix of the the unknown and inconsistent, this is an offense that could very well struggle against an improved Redskins defense.

Green Bay is vastly superior when it comes to all-around talent. The Redskins are playing much better football than their NFC counterpart. That's what is going to make this game so darn intriguing.

2. Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings combine for less than 30 points

The conditions in Minnesota come Sunday promise to be chilling (literally). The forecast suggests temperatures to be near or below zero degrees with 11 mile-per-hour winds. That in and of itself tells us a story of a game that promises to be low-scoring.

Now take into account the performances of these two defenses and what will be harsh conditions for the quarterbacks, and the reality is that we have to expect a low-scoring affair.

The biggest issue I can foresee here for both offenses is an inability to move the ball through the air. Russell Wilson and the Seahawks may have the advantage in this category, but there's no telling as to how he will react to what promises to be harsh conditions.

It's all about timing and the ability to move at normal speed. Receivers tend to struggle out of their breaks on an frozen field — further disabling what offenses like to do through the air.

If these offenses can't push the ball down the field, both Adrian Peterson and Marshawn Lynch will face stacked boxes. And while both running backs have proven they can succeed under such circumstances, it's not conducive to a ton of success on the ground.

Barring a few deep passes connecting, this is going to be one of the lowest-scoring playoff games in recent history. Something akin to 14-6 seems to make sense to this one scribe.

3. Jeremy Maclin gains more yards than DeAndre Hopkins

Want an absurd statistic? Over the course of the Kansas City Chiefs' past six games, Maclin has caught 39 passes for 476 yards and six touchdowns. During that very same span, Hopkins has put up a 35-472-2 line for the Houston Texans.

If that doesn't go away from the narrative that Alex Smith fails to find his wide receivers on a consistent basis, we aren't entirely sure what does.

There's something else we have to take into account here. Chiefs corner Marcus Peters, just one of two rookies named to the Pro Bowl, has been on absolute fire recently. He allowed a 34.4 completion percentage and 28.0 quarterback rating over the past four regular-season games.

This recent success fits well into what the Chiefs defense has done as a whole. It gave up an average of 146 passing yards during the final two games of the regular year.

In the end, this game is likely going to be a defensive battle. Kansas City ranks third in points allowed while Houston comes in seventh in that category. The Texans have yielded exactly six points in five of their past nine games. Meanwhile, the Chiefs have given up less than 20 points in 10 of their past 12 outings.

While Hopkins might rely on hitting it deep throughout the afternoon, Maclin seems to be more of a possession receiver. This is an indication that he will have a more consistent impact when all is said and done. It also helps that Kansas City boasts the vastly superior quarterback.

4. A.J. McCarron leads the Cincinnati Bengals to first playoff win in a quarter century

Leave it to a quarterback making his fourth career NFL start to help the Bengals snap their six-game postseason losing streak — a streak that dates back to the first Bush Administration.

Let's be clear here for a second. McCarron won't be the primary reason Cincinnati comes out on top against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday. Instead, he won't be the reason it loses.

With much due respect to Andy Dalton, the injured Bengals starter has been absolutely atrocious in the playoffs. He's thrown one touchdown compared to six interceptions for a ridiculously low 57.8 rating in four playoff starts — all losses. The Bengals have tallied a total of four touchdowns in those four games.

Back to McCarron for a second. We all know that playoff football is much different than the regular season. We also know that the former Alabama quarterback showed up on the biggest stages college football had to offer in leading that program to two national titles.

Whether the second-year quarterback is able to perform at a high level here remains to be seen. With four touchdowns compared to zero interceptions in three regular-season starts, the educated guess here is that McCarron will avoid the turnover bug that plagued Dalton in his four playoff starts. If so, the Bengals are likely going to come out on top here.

5. Bonus Prediction: Reports surface that the Rams are the odd team out in relocation race

It has been 20 years since the NFL has had a football team play in the nation's second-largest media market. When all is said and done during the relocation vote this upcoming week, one of the teams that played there last will relocate back to its roots.

We will start hearing rumors float about — mainly leaks from the league office — that the St. Louis Rams will be the odd team out when it comes to relocation to Los Angeles.

The table is already set here. The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders have a joint stadium venture in Carson, just a few miles from downtown Los Angeles. Neither city provided the NFL with a concrete plan to erect a new stadium in its current market — something that has to be taken into account here.

And while the city of St. Louis's plan asks the NFL for an additional $100 million on top of the $200 million the league would be willing to spend on the stadium project, its plan is much more viable at this time.

As someone who had the pleasure of living down in Los Angeles for a while, this one scribe can tell you that it's Raiders nation down there. That is also going to play a role in the vote. And short of the Rams finding a compromise with the Raiders in Inglewood, the Chargers would end up following the Raiders to Los Angeles.

It's not that this scenario is outrageous. Rather, the leaks that we will hear during Wild Card Weekend will set into motion a public reaction that the NFL itself wants to see prior to the actual vote taking place next week. In this, relocation may end up trumping the actual games taking place on the field.

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