The National Football League playoffs for the 2018 season began with the Wildcard Round on January 5, 2019, and concluded with Super Bowl LIII at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 3, 2019, when the New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams 13–3.
Indianapolis then advanced the ball to the Texans' 17-yard line, but they also failed to score when Luck's pass was deflected by J. J. Watt and then intercepted by lineman Brandon Dunn on the last play of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson's completions to Ed Dickson and Tyler Lockett for gains of 26 and 40 yards set up Sebastian Janikowski's 27-yard field goal.
[5] With 8:04 left in the third quarter, Seahawks defensive back Neiko Thorpe managed to knock Michael Dickson's 45-yard punt away from the end zone, where it was downed by Seattle on the Cowboys' 2-yard line.
Finally with just over 2 minutes left in the quarter, Wilson finished the 9-play, 44-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run; Mike Davis ran for a successful two-point conversion, giving the Seahawks a 14–10 lead.
Four plays later, Prescott completed a 34-yard pass to Amari Cooper at the Seattle 16-yard line, setting up Elliott's 1-yard touchdown run that gave the Dallas a 17–14 lead with just over 12 minutes left.
Dallas was now in prime position to take a late-game two-score lead, but after driving to the 16-yard line, Prescott threw a pass to Noah Brown that bounced off his shoulder and was intercepted in the end zone by K. J. Wright as he fell to the ground.
The Chargers recorded six sacks, jumped out to a 23–3 lead and halted a late Ravens rally, forcing Lamar Jackson to fumble on the final drive to earn a trip to New England.
On the Ravens' second possession of the game, Chargers defensive end Melvin Ingram forced a fumble from Kenneth Dixon that was recovered by safety Adrian Phillips, giving Los Angeles the ball on the Baltimore 14-yard line.
King returned the second half kickoff 72 yards to the Ravens' 35-yard line, but this time the Chargers failed to score when Badgley's field goal attempt was blocked by Za'Darius Smith.
At the end of Los Angeles' next possession, the Ravens got another scoring opportunity when Javorius Allen blocked Donnie Jones's punt, resulting in Baltimore taking over on the Chargers' 40-yard line; they only managed to gain 4 yards with their next three plays and Tucker's 50-yard field goal attempt was wide right.
The Bears' offense responded with a 62-yard drive, including a 45-yard completion from Trubisky to Allen Robinson, that ended in another field goal by Parkey from 34 yards at the beginning of the fourth quarter to cut the Eagles' lead to one at 10–9.
After that, Parkey's 43-yard kick was tipped by the Eagles' defensive tackle Treyvon Hester, hit the left goal post and bounced off the crossbar to send Philadelphia to the divisional round.
Following a Colts punt on the opening drive, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes led the team 75 yards in five plays, including his 44-yard completion to Sammy Watkins, to score on Damien Williams' 10-yard touchdown run.
With six minutes left in the second quarter, Indianapolis finally managed to strike back when Colts linebacker Najee Goode blocked Dustin Colquitt's punt and Zach Pascal recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown to make the score 17–7.
But on the Colts' ensuing drive, Chiefs lineman Dee Ford forced a fumble while sacking Luck and linebacker Justin Houston recovered it with 50 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Rams advanced 57 yards in 11 plays on their opening drive, the longest a 19-yard completion from Jared Goff to tight end Tyler Higbee, to score on Greg Zuerlein's 25-yard field goal and take a 3–0 lead.
Los Angeles had to punt on their opening drive of the second half and Brady's 25-yard completion to tight end Rob Gronkowski set up a 28-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal, increasing New England's lead to 38–7.
Though Philadelphia scored touchdowns on their first two drives, the Saints' defense managed to shut them out for the rest of the game, clinching the win with an interception by Marshon Lattimore in the closing minutes on the Eagles' final possession.
Philadelphia got off to a strong start as cornerback Cre'Von LeBlanc intercepted Saints quarterback Drew Brees' pass on the game's first play, giving the Eagles a first down on the New Orleans 24-yard line.
After forcing the Eagles to punt on the opening second-half possession, New Orleans went on the longest drive of the postseason to that point, covering 92 yards in 18 plays and taking 11:29 off the clock, which included overcoming a 41-yard touchdown completion called back by a holding penalty.
After this, Alvin Kamara's 15-yard run moved the ball to the Eagles' 2-yard line, and Brees completed a 2-yard touchdown pass to Thomas on the next play, giving the Saints their first lead of the game at 17–14 with 1:40 left in the third quarter.
Brees eventually finished the drive with a 5-yard touchdown toss to tight end Garrett Griffin, who had been promoted from the practice squad just two weeks earlier after missing the entire regular season.
After forcing the Rams to punt on the opening possession of the second half, New Orleans drove 71 yards in 12 plays, mainly on the strength of running backs Mark Ingram II and Kamara.
[18] Two Saints season ticket holders filed a lawsuit against the NFL over the incident, attempting to force the league to use its unfair act provisions and replay the game from the point of the missed call.
[23] Still, it would take an overtime touchdown by Rex Burkhead to put Kansas City away after a wild, back and forth fourth quarter in which the teams combined to score 38 points as the lead changed four times.
When faced with 3rd-and-2 after two plays, Mahomes burned the Patriots' defense with a 54-yard completion to Sammy Watkins, and followed it up with a 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end Travis Kelce, making the score 14–7.
Later in the quarter, New England receiver Julian Edelman returned a punt 13 yards to the Chiefs' 37-yard line, setting up Stephen Gostkowski's 47-yard field goal that increased the Patriots' lead to 17–7.
[27] After an incompletion, Chiefs defensive back Charvarius Ward appeared to put the game away with an interception, only to see it overturned by a penalty against linebacker Dee Ford, who had lined up in the neutral zone before the ball was snapped.
In a change from previous Wild Card Weekends, NBC aired the late Sunday afternoon NFC game as a lead-in to their coverage of the Golden Globe Awards.