The 1 and 2 seeds from each conference receive a first-round bye, earning an automatic berth in the following week's "divisional playoff" games, where they faced the wild card survivors.
[4] Philadelphia started the game strong as quarterback Randall Cunningham completed a 66-yard pass to tight end Keith Jackson on their third play from scrimmage, giving the team a first down at the Redskins 11-yard line.
However, the next three plays resulted in a 1-yard run, an incomplete pass, and a 10-yard sack by Washington linebacker Monte Coleman, forcing the Eagles to settle for a 37-yard field goal by Roger Ruzek.
At this point, Cunningham was benched and replaced by Jim McMahon, who promptly threw three straight incompletions before Brian Mitchell returned their punt to the Redskins 45-yard line.
at Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami, Florida With 3:28 left in the game, the Dolphins capped an 85-yard drive with quarterback Dan Marino's winning 12-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mark Clayton.
On the Dolphins opening drive they reached midfield, but Marino was sacked on third down and Reggie Roby's punt was blocked by Charles Washington, giving the Chiefs the ball at the Miami 37-yard line.
The Chiefs responded with a drive to the Dolphins 30-yard line, featuring a 33-yard reception by receiver Stephone Paige, but it ended with no points when safety Jarvis Williams intercepted a pass from Steve DeBerg.
On the opening drive, they advanced 70 yards in 11 plays, including a 46-yard completion from Boomer Esiason to tight end Rodney Holman, to score on a 1-yard run by fullback Ickey Woods.
Early in the second quarter, Bengals safety David Fulcher intercepted a pass from Cody Carlson and returned it 43 yards to the Oilers' 16-yard line, setting up Esiason's 2-yard touchdown toss to Green.
Ironically, Houston had helped get Cincinnati into the playoffs by defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers in their final game of the season, causing the Bengals to win the AFC Central based on tiebreaker rules.
Still the Saints were just trailing 10–3 near the end of the third quarter, and had a great chance to tie the game when defensive tackle Renaldo Turnbull blocked Butler's 45-yard field goal attempt.
New Orleans defensive end Vince Buck recovered the ball and returned it 62 yards for a potential touchdown, only to see the play wiped out by an offsides penalty on teammate Robert Massey, who had lined up with his hand over the neutral zone.
On the next series, Miami quarterback Dan Marino threw a pass that was tipped by Darryl Talley and intercepted by Nate Odomes, who returned the ball nine yards to the Dolphins 38.
This time the three players would combine for 67 yards as Thomas rushed twice for eight and caught an 11-yard pass before Kelly's 43-yard completion to Reed brought up first and goal on the Miami 5-yard line.
However, their comeback hopes were swiftly snuffed out by the Bills offense, who stormed back 63 yards in 10 plays, including Kelly's 5-yard completion to tight end Keith McKeller on fourth and 2, and retook a 10-point lead with Thomas' 5-yard touchdown run.
On the last play of the drive, Montana fired a 10-yard pass to Rice in the end zone, who caught the ball between two defenders to retake the lead for San Francisco at 14–10.
Linebacker Monte Coleman quickly gave the Redskins another chance to get back in the game, intercepting a pass from Montana and returning it 18 yards to the 49ers 19-yard line with 10:28 left in regulation.
In the closing minutes of the game, 49ers linebacker Charles Haley deflected a pass from Rypien into the arms of 295-pound defensive tackle Michael Carter, who rumbled 61 yards to the end zone to make the final score 28–10.
On Chicago's second possession of the game, Mark Collins of the Giants intercepted Mike Tomczak's pass after it bounced out of the hands of Dennis Gentry and returned it 11 yards to set up a 46-yard field goal by Matt Bahr.
The Giants then drove 75 yards, including a 6-yard fourth down conversion catch by reserve tight end Bob Mrosko, to go up 10–0 on Hostetler's 21-yard completion to Stephen Baker.
The injury to Munoz, a future Hall of Famer, was particularly devastating, as the team was forced to assign Kirk Scrafford, a rookie in his first NFL start, to block Townsend, who had led the Raiders with 12.5 sacks during the season.
Quarterback Boomer Esiason completed a 22-yard pass to Brooks and a 40-yard throw to tight end Rodney Holman, while Ickey Woods' 11-yard run gave the Bengals a first down on the Raiders 19-yard line.
However, the Raiders defense managed to keep Cincinnati out of the end zone, forcing them to settle for Jim Breech's 27-yard field goal to take a 3–0 lead with 12:07 left in the second quarter.
The Bengals defense seemed ready to force a punt when linebacker Carl Zander sacked Schroeder for a 10-yard loss, bringing up third down and 20 from the Raiders 22-yard line.
On Buffalo's opening drive, Kelly completed six consecutive passes for 65 yards, the last a 13-yard touchdown toss to Lofton after he recovered a fumbled snap in shotgun formation.
The Raiders responded with Schroeder's two 26-yard completions to Willie Gault and Mervyn Fernandez, setting up a 41-yard field goal from Jeff Jaeger, but Buffalo stormed back to score just four plays after the ensuing kickoff on a 66-yard drive.
Later on, Talley intercepted a pass from Schroeder and returned it 31 yards to the Raiders 27-yard line, setting up Norwood's 39-yard field goal to make the final score 51–3.
Former Ram Greg Bell, himself a year removed from a blowout loss in the NFC title game in San Francisco, led the Raiders in rushing with 36 yards, despite only carrying the ball 5 times.
On the next play, Montana was sacked for an 8-yard loss by Leonard Marshall, but he followed this up with two completions to Craig that advanced the ball to the 17, where Cofer kicked a 35-yard field goal that tied the score at 6 going into halftime.
The 49ers managed to recover the fumble as the ball skipped past Giants cornerback Mark Collins and lineman Steve Wallace corralled the football, enabling the 49ers to punt.