Historic parity leaves eight divisional-round NFL teams with key questions

Cbssports reports the 2025 NFL season has produced historic parity, leaving eight teams in the divisional round each with a major question to answer as the playoffs continue. Five of the league's initial 14 playoff teams reached the postseason after losing 11 or more games the year prior, and four division winners won five or fewer games — both the most in NFL history.

The wild-card round featured 12 fourth-quarter lead changes, the most in a single postseason, plus four game-winning touchdowns and four comeback wins in the final three minutes, also the most in a single postseason. Among team-specific concerns, Buffalo must wonder whether its run defense can hold up; the Bills surrendered 136.2 rushing yards per game (fifth-worst) and 5.1 yards per carry (third-worst), though they led the league in time of possession (33:08) with James Cook (1,621 rushing yards) and Josh Allen (579 rushing yards).

Denver's key issue is quarterback Bo Nix's inconsistency. Nix is the only player with more than 3,900 passing yards (3,931) and a yards-per-attempt under 6.5 (6.4); his 87.8 passer rating ranked as the eighth-lowest among the eight remaining playoff quarterbacks and the lowest of those eight.

Key Topics

Sports, Josh Allen, Bo Nix, James Cook, Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos