How one can watch the NFL playoffs 2026: Wild card weekend, divisional, and championship video games

Desk of Contents

Essentially the most unhinged a part of the NFL season is right here. That is proper — it is playoffs time, child.

Whether or not your crew is in or out, you are in all probability questioning what sort of streaming insanity the NFL has in retailer for this postseason. The excellent news is there are not any extra out of market video games to confuse and frustrate viewers. The unhealthy information is that if you do not have cable (or a cable alternative), you are going to want a bunch of streaming companies. Worry not; I’ve achieved the annoying analysis for you already. It is higher than wallowing in self pity as a result of my crew did not make the playoffs (I am a Ravens fan — IYKYK).

Listed below are all the main points it’s worthwhile to watch the NFL playoffs in 2026, together with the tentative schedule, which streaming companies you want, which of them provide free trials, and the very best streaming offers to avoid wasting you some cash.

What’s the 2026 NFL postseason schedule?

Wild Card Spherical

Saturday, Jan. 10

Sunday, Jan. 11

• Payments at Jaguars at 1 p.m. ET — CBS (stream on Paramount+)

• 49ers at Eagles at 4:30 p.m. ET  — Fox (stream on Fox One)

• Chargers at Patriots at 8 p.m. ET — NBC (stream on Peacock)

Monday, Jan. 12

Divisional Spherical

The Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos are the No. 1 seeds of their respective divisions, so that they earned a first-round bye. Within the Divisional Spherical, the bottom seed remaining within the AFC after the Wild Card weekend will play Denver for a spot within the AFC Championship. The bottom remaining seed within the NFC will face off towards Seattle for a spot within the NFC Championship. These video games are TBD, however will fall on Jan. 17 and 18.

Saturday, Jan. 17

• AFC or NFC divisional matchup, 4:30 p.m. ET — TBD

• AFC or NFC divisional matchup, 8 p.m. ET — TBD

Sunday, Jan. 18

• AFC or NFC divisional matchup, 3 p.m. ET — TBD

• AFC or NFC divisional matchup, 6:30 p.m. ET — TBD

Championship Spherical

Sunday, Jan. 25

Tremendous Bowl

Sunday, Feb. 8

Which streaming companies do you want?

If you do not have cable or a digital antenna (extra on this under), you will want fairly just a few streaming subscriptions to observe the playoffs. It ought to come as no shock, contemplating what number of completely different channels and subscriptions have been required to observe the common season. The excellent news is you’ll be able to simply join a single month of every service after which cancel if you happen to do not need to maintain paying. Plus, some even provide free trials.

You may want Fox, NBC, CBS, and ESPN/ABC networks to observe each postseason sport, plus Prime Video. Fortuitously, all of those channels have streaming counterparts for folk with out cable.

For the NFL 2026 playoffs, you will want the next streaming companies:

An alternative choice, albeit an costly one, is to enroll in a stay TV cable alternative service, like YouTube TV or Fubo, which incorporates all the networks you will want to observe stay video games (besides Prime Video). The month-to-month value for these companies is greater than paying for all 5 of the streamers above, however most include free trials. Should you’ve by no means signed up for YouTube TV earlier than, for instance, you will get a 21-day free trial. That will get you all over the Championship Spherical. You’d nonetheless have to pay individually for a Prime Video subscription for a wildcard sport, however that is your greatest wager to observe essentially the most video games for the most cost effective value.

Dwell TV cable alternative choices:

• YouTube TV (carries Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, ESPN)

• Fubo (carries Fox, CBS, ABC, ESPN)

• DirecTV Stream (carries ABC, ESPN, NBC, CBS, Fox in choose markets)

• Sling Orange & Blue (carries ESPN, Fox, ABC, and NBC in choose markets)

• Hulu + Dwell TV (carries ESPN, ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC)

Which streaming companies provide free trials?

Of the streaming companies and cable alternative choices above, this is a breakdown of which of them provide free trials and the way lengthy these trials final. Simply bear in mind, these trials are solely accessible to new customers typically (and generally returning customers).

Are there any streaming offers for the NFL playoffs?

Should you’ve already exhausted a lot of the free trial choices, fret not. There are some choices to economize on choose streaming companies in time for the playoffs. We have rounded up the very best streaming offers for every service under.

Fox One streaming offers

Fox One and ESPN bundle

Save $10 and kill two birds with one stone by signing up for the ESPN Limitless and Fox One bundle. You may get each streamers for simply $39.99 per thirty days (quite than $49.98), which is able to unlock entry to 3 video games within the wild card spherical, possible a sport or two within the divisional spherical, in addition to the NFC championship sport.

Fox One annual plan

One other option to save on Fox One is by signing up for all the yr upfront for $199.99. Paying month-to-month provides as much as $239.88 throughout 12 months, so you will find yourself saving almost $40 with an annual plan.

Prime Video streaming offers

Prime Video solely

Should you do not care about being a Prime member, it can save you your self $6 per thirty days by signing up for Prime Video solely. You will not get the perks of being a member (like free transport and Prime Day entry), however if you happen to solely need to stream sports activities and different content material, that is your greatest wager.

After all, Amazon makes it unnecessarily sophisticated to enroll in Prime Video by itself. If you go to enroll in a subscription, you’ll want to choose the choice to “see extra plans” or “change plans.” Then, navigate to the choice for Prime Video by itself. You possibly can nonetheless cancel everytime you need, simply as you’d a full Prime membership.

Extra Prime Video offers:

Peacock streaming offers

Peacock annual subscription

The perfect Peacock deal for most individuals on any given day (when Peacock is not operating any type of particular) is the annual subscription plan. You may get 12 months for the value of 10 once you pay upfront for the entire yr. Whereas a month-to-month subscription with advertisements normally prices $10.99 per thirty days, that value drops to $9.17 per thirty days with the annual plan. Dwell sports activities embrace advertisements no matter which tier you select, so that you may as nicely go for the cheaper Peacock Premium plan for the playoffs. A Peacock subscription grants you entry to not solely a sport throughout wild card weekend, but in addition the Tremendous Bowl itself.

Extra Peacock offers:

Paramount+ streaming offers

Paramount+ Important annual subscription

Paramount+ remains to be one of many most cost-effective streaming companies at simply $7.99 per thirty days with advertisements, however the value is about to leap to $8.99 per thirty days come Jan. 15. To be able to lock in a deal, we recommend signing up for the annual subscription earlier than that value hike takes place. You may get a complete yr of streaming for less than $59.99, which breaks down to only $5 per thirty days. You may get entry to a couple completely different playoff video games, together with the AFC Championship sport, in addition to in-network AFC video games all through the common season.

Extra Paramount+ offers:

ESPN Limitless streaming offers

See Fox One bundle above.

ESPN Limitless annual subscription

Should you’re an enormous sports activities fan, it can save you about $60 by signing up for a full yr of ESPN Limitless as a substitute of paying month-to-month. It will value you $299.99 in whole, which breaks right down to solely $24.99 per thirty days as a substitute of $29.99.

One other option to watch the NFL playoffs

Need to keep away from signing up for 1,000,000 streaming companies simply to observe the playoffs? I extremely suggest getting a digital antenna. I’ve this low cost one from Amazon, and I can entry ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox stay free of charge — no streaming subscription required. Simply you’ll want to examine how far the vary is for whichever antenna you select, in addition to how far you might be out of your native broadcast towers. Should you’re in that vary, you must be capable of watch stay TV free of charge. After all, you will nonetheless want that pesky Prime Video subscription, however for the opposite networks, you are golden.