Best Wildcard Runs in NFL Playoff History

The 2025 NFL season has been marked by unpredictability, with the league’s established order being turned on its head. If the whistle blew to end the regular season today, the Kansas City Chiefs—half a decade of dominance, three world championships, a run of eight straight AFC title games—would be out, with their recent last gasp loss at Denver leaving them at 5-5. The Baltimore Ravens, serial winners in the Lamar Jackson era, would be right beside them on the wrong side of the door. 

THE BRONCOS WALK OFF THE CHIEFS! #BroncosCountry pic.twitter.com/IHnwbnlLGX

— Bodog (@BodogCA) November 17, 2025

But one look at the NFL betting odds suggests that, despite both teams’ lowly standing right now, both are expected to reach the postseason when all is said and done. The latest NFL odds from popular online betting sites currently make the reigning AFC champion Chiefs a -210 shot to qualify for the playoffs, while the Ravens are an even shorter -320. What that means is that the AFC’s current divisional leaders, Indianapolis, Denver, New England, and Pittsburgh, will all be nervous to avoid a potential wildcard banana skin against one of the big boys. 

So, with the Chiefs’ and Ravens’ only route to the postseason seemingly as a wildcard, which others have managed to string together an impressive postseason? Let’s take a look at some of the finest wildcard efforts in history. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 2020/21

A sterile, global events-pierced season. Cardboard cutouts behind the end zones. An aging quarterback—Tom Brady, already at the summit of his profession—takes a leap to Tampa Bay and rewires the entire energy of a long-forgotten franchise. On paper, the Bucs’ 11-5 finish and second place in the NFC South hinted at competence, nothing more. Then, TB12 was unleashed on the playoffs, and greatness was about to be among us. 

Let’s start with the numbers: Brady, 10 touchdowns, not a single interception through the postseason gauntlet. They opened with a surgical 31-23 dispatching of Washington. But the campaign’s drama truly ignited in New Orleans—Brees versus Brady, part three. The Saints had handed Tampa two of their regular-season defeats, yet the Bucs’ defense orchestrated four turnovers and delivered Brees a retirement party draped in interception blues. Then, the trip to the tundra: Lambeau Field, the Packers, Rodgers, the weight of cold history. Tampa controlled the crucial moments, surviving a Green Bay rally to book their spot in the Super Bowl, 31-26, after three straight road game triumphs. 

The capstone? A home Super Bowl—first in NFL history—and a defensive performance that squeezed the magic out of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. Final: 31-9. Brady didn’t just win a seventh ring; he eviscerated the touchdown or bust aesthetic of Kansas City with a blend of swashbuckling offense and a defense that pinched every high-wire trick from Mahomes. The Bucs set a new threshold for wildcard glory, one that hasn’t been matched either before or since. 

Washington Commanders – 2024/25

Collapse is easy in the NFL; resurrection is statistical heresy. The 2023 Washington Commanders were not merely bad—they were adrift, a punchline. Twelve months later, enter Jayden Daniels: rookie quarterback, kinetic enigma, carried onto the playoff stage with a 12-5 record and the kind of narrative fuel that movie producers crave.

Nobody, not even the most optimistic Beltway watcher, predicted back-to-back escapology acts to start the playoffs. Tampa Bay in the Wild Card—decided by a nerveless field goal as the clock bled out for a first postseason victory in 19 years. In the Divisional round, it only escalated—a road game against the Lombardi favorite Detroit, the conference’s regular-season bulldozer. But the game ended in shocking fashion as the Commanders claimed a stunning blowout victory, leaving Motor City shocked into silence. 

Yes, the run ended in the NFC Championship, their first trip that deep since 1991—a sobering conclusion against a deeper, more polished Philadelphia Eagles side that would go on to maul the three-peat seeking Chiefs in the Super Bowl. But the journey transformed the franchise and left every wildcard hopeful in the league believing that, with enough nerve and perhaps a generational rookie, any disaster could be reversed.

San Francisco 49ers – 2021/22

January in Lambeau Field conjures images of the frozen chosen, and the San Francisco 49ers—scraped raw by injuries, battered to a 10-7 finish—entered the playoffs as uninvited guests to the league’s biggest party. If you’re documenting playoff grit, start here.

Their path? Road trip after road trip. The opening salvo, a 23-17 grudge match over the Cowboys, was trademark Kyle Shanahan: controlling the clock, squeezing the life from a high-powered Dallas offense, and surviving every late twist. In Green Bay, conditions made passing nearly hypothetical—but the 49ers’ special teams turned the tide. A blocked punt, returned for the only touchdown against the Pack, blindsided a Lambeau faithful spoiled by Aaron Rodgers’ icy poise. Then, the walk-off: Robbie Gould and a 45-yard exclamation point, as time expired, sending stunned silence across Wisconsin.

Onward, then downward. The NFC Championship against the Rams swung on a handful of plays; San Francisco led late but couldn’t seal the deal. No matter—Deebo Samuel’s relentless energy, a defense that punched above its weight, and do-or-die special teams made this more than a cameo—it was a manual on how to outlast the odds when everything seems stacked against you.