2026 Super Bowl Predictions: Expert Make Picks Ahead of Wild-Card Weekend

Our NFL writers have made their Super Bowl picks. Between them, they picked six teams to make the big game and three of them to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

The AFC is wide open without the Chiefs or Ravens involved this season, although that could mean a clear path for the Bills to finally break through. In the NFC, four of our writers had the Rams making it to Santa Clara.

Here's what we think will happen.

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Let’s start here: the Rams are the most complete team in football.

We know what Matthew Stafford is capable of — he’s turned in an MVP-worthy season at 37 — but he’s supported by a rushing attack that played its best ball down the stretch, averaging 157.0 yards per game over the last six games of the regular season. Combine that with a defensive front that can play at an elite level, you have a Los Angeles team that will be very difficult to stop, even with a tough road to Super Bowl LX as a No. 5 seed.

On the AFC side, the Texans have a defense capable of leading them all the way to Santa Clara — even if it showed some cracks down the stretch. The big question is its offense, which has underwhelmed all season. But C.J. Stroud has shown enough in critical moments and has the kind of playoff experience early in his career that, combined with Houston’s defensive prowess, gives the Texans a path to the Super Bowl in a wide-open AFC field.

That doesn’t mean that recipe will be enough to win the Lombardi Trophy, though.

If the Rams-Texans season opener was any indication, a sequel in Super Bowl LX will also be low-scoring. And I don’t see Stafford losing out to Stroud with everything on the line.

I’m not a betting man at all. I’ve covered the league long enough to know how much something surprises me every