Primetime, playoff football is returning to Gillette Stadium. The New England Patriots (14-3) will host the Los Angeles Chargers (11-6) Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET on the NFL’s Wild Card Weekend.
The game will be broadcast nationally on NBC and Peacock with Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth on the call.
The Patriots clinched the No. 2 seed in the AFC with Sunday’s 38-10 blowout win over the Miami Dolphins. They were prevented from getting the No. 1 seed and the lone AFC bye as the Denver Broncos took care of business on Sunday against the Chargers, who will now come to Foxboro as the No. 7 seed.
Elsewhere in the AFC, the 3-seed Jacksonville Jaguars will host the 6-seed Buffalo Bills, and the 4-seed Pittsburgh Steelers will host the 5-seed Houston Texans.
Here is the full Wild Card Weekend schedule:
Saturday
4:30 p.m. ET – (5) Los Angeles Rams at (4) Carolina Panthers (FOX)
8 p.m. ET – (7) Green Bay Packers at (2) Chicago Bears (Prime Video)
Sunday
1 p.m. ET – (6) Buffalo Bills at (3) Jacksonville Jaguars (CBS)
4:30 p.m. ET – (6) San Francisco 49ers at (3) Philadelphia Eagles (FOX)
8 p.m. ET – (7) Los Angeles Chargers at (2) New England Patriots (NBC)
Monday
8 p.m. ET – (5) Houston Texans at (4) Pittsburgh Steelers (ESPN)
This will be the Patriots’ first playoff game since 2021, and their first home playoff game since 2019, when Mike Vrabel’s Tennessee Titans came into Gillette and beat New England in Tom Brady’s final game as a Patriot.
The Patriots will be looking for their first playoff win since the 2018 season, when they beat the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 53. If they get it, they will also be at home for the Divisional Round. The Patriots would only have to go on the road for an AFC Championship Game in Denver, if both they and the Broncos were to get that far.
This will be the fifth playoff meeting all-time between the Patriots and Chargers, with New England winning each of the last three meetings – in the 2006 Divisional Round, 2007 AFC Championship Game, and 2018 Divisional Round. The Patriots’ only playoff loss to the Chargers came way back in the 1963 AFL Championship in San Diego.