The Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Texans on Monday night will close out the opening weekend of the NFL playoffs. The winner gets the chance to play in New England next weekend.
The results of Sunday’s wild-card round games set up the matchups for the divisional round. No matter who wins between the No. 4 seed Steelers and No. 5 seed Texans, they will be the third-highest seed remaining in the AFC bracket. That means a matchup with the No. 2 Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., on Sunday, Jan. 18. Kickoff at Gillette Stadium will be at either 3 p.m. or 6:30 p.m, the NFL announced late Sunday.
The Steelers (10-7) and Texans (12-5) play 8:15 p.m. Monday at Acrisure Stadium.
New England beat the No. 7 Los Angeles Chargers, 16-3, on Sunday night.
The No. 1 seed Denver Broncos had a bye, and they will host the No. 6 Buffalo Bills this coming Saturday. The Bills were 27-24 winners at the No. 3 Jacksonville Jaguars earlier Sunday.
The NFL re-seeds after the first round of the postseason, matching up the highest remaining seed against the lowest.
The Steelers won at the Patriots, 21-14, on Sept. 21. But New England has won 14 of the 15 games it has played since.
The NFC matchups are set: the No. 6 San Francisco 49ers at the No. 1 Seattle Seahawks and the No. 5 Los Angeles Rams at the No. 2 Chicago Bears.
The television networks for each of the divisional-round games — including one that might include the Steelers — have yet to be announced.
