NFL playoff guide: Who’s in, who’s out and what’s the schedule for wild-card weekend?

The NFL saved its best drama for the final game of Week 18.

The Detroit Lions — eliminated from playoff contention earlier Sunday when the Seattle Seahawks beat the Los Angeles Rams — pushed past their disappointment and played the spoiler role, rallying to beat the Green Bay Packers 20-16 on Sunday night. The win denied quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Packers a spot in the postseason.

Instead it’s the Seahawks who will be the No. 7 seed in the NFC. They’ll travel to face the division rival San Francisco 49ers in next weekend’s wild-card round.

The rest of next weekend’s schedule is also set: In the AFC, it’ll be the Miami Dolphins at the Buffalo Bills, the Baltimore Ravens at the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Chargers at the Jacksonville Jaguars. In the NFC, the Minnesota Vikings will host the New York Giants and the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers will host the Dallas Cowboys.

The Lions’ upset win capped a weekend that saw the Dolphins make it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. The surprising Jaguars also return to the postseason for just the second time since 2007.

Seven of the 14 teams that qualified for the playoffs didn’t make the field last season: the Seahawks, Ravens, Jaguars, Chargers, Dolphins, Vikings and Giants.

Among those headed home: The New England Patriots and six-time Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick, eliminated after a loss to the Bills.

The Lions didn’t have much to play for against the Packers other than pride, but that was enough. They were knocked out of playoff contention when the Seahawks’ Jason Myers kicked a 32-yard field goal to beat the Rams 19-16 in overtime.

The Kansas City Chiefs claimed the No. 1 seed in the AFC with their 31-13 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday. The NFC’s top spot was taken by the Philadelphia Eagles, who beat the Giants 22-16 on Sunday.

The AFC bracket could be affected by the cancellation of the Bills-Bengals game after Damar Hamlin’s injury. The Bengals avoided a coin flip for home field by beating the Ravens 27-16, but there could be a neutral field for the AFC championship game if the Bills line up against the Chiefs.

Here’s a look at other developments as the postseason approaches.

Saturday

Seahawks at 49ers, 4:30 p.m. ET, Fox

Chargers at Jaguars, 8:15 p.m. ET, NBC

Sunday

Dolphins at Bills, 1 p.m. ET, CBS

Giants at Vikings, 4:30 p.m. ET, Fox

Ravens at Bengals, 8:15 p.m. ET, NBC

Monday

Cowboys at Buccaneers, 8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC

This is the third straight year of the current format, which includes the top seven teams from both the AFC and the NFC.

The four division winners in each conference automatically get the top four seeds, regardless of record, and then the top three teams with the best record that didn’t win their division are the wild-card selections. That’s why it’s fairly common for a wild-card team to have a better record — but worse playoff seeding — than a team that finished as a division winner.

The No. 1 seed in each conference gets a bye into the second round — that’s the Chiefs and Eagles — while No. 2 hosts No. 7, No. 3 hosts No. 6 and No. 4 hosts No. 5 during wild-card weekend.

The NFL has a reseeding policy after each playoff round. That means that no matter how the bracket started, the lowest-seeded team always will travel to the higher-seeded team.

There are four rounds to the playoffs: The wild-card round is during the upcoming weekend, the divisional round is Jan. 21-22, the conference championship games are on Jan. 29 and the Super Bowl is scheduled for Feb. 12 in Glendale, Arizona.

It has been an eventful week for players and fans, who watched in horror Monday night as Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field and had to be given CPR before leaving the field in an ambulance. A few days later, those same players and fans have watched with joy as Hamlin recovers.

That made it much easier to focus on Week 18 and now the playoffs.

The Bills-Bengals game had major playoff implications in the AFC, so the cancellation of the game due to Hamlin’s injury could force some changes depending on playoff results.

The AFC championship game will be played at a neutral site if the Chiefs and Bills reach that point.

The Bills’ 35-23 win over the Patriots on Sunday, coupled with the Chiefs’ 31-13 victory Saturday in Las Vegas, means the top-seeded Chiefs (14-3) can’t host the conference title game against the Bills (13-3) because the teams played an unequal number of games.

NFL owners approved a resolution Friday that implemented new rules for this postseason in response to the cancellation of the Bills-Bengals game.

In fairly straightforward playoff drama, the Jaguars beat the Tennessee Titans 20-16 on Saturday night to win the AFC South for the first time in five seasons. The Titans needed a win to advance to the postseason.

The Dolphins and third-string quarterback Skylar Thompson squeezed past the New York Jets 11-6, snapping a five-game losing streak. The Dolphins then had to wait a few minutes for the Bills to finish off the Patriots and make their playoff appearance official.

“We’re In” was displayed on the video board at Hard Rock Stadium.

The Pittsburgh Steelers nearly found a way to sneak into the postseason but couldn’t quite make it. They did their part by beating the Cleveland Browns 28-14 but needed the Patriots and Dolphins to lose.

The Patriots obliged. The Dolphins did not.

AP’s Rob Maaddi and Alanis Thames contributed.