One Fatal Flaw For Every Team Left in the 2025 NFL Playoffs

Building the perfect football team is nearly impossible. Whether it be a roster deficiency created by the league’s salary cap guardrails, player inconsistency, or a schematic weakness, every squad has its flaws—even at this stage of the NFL season.

While these weaknesses become few and far between as we enter the divisional round of the 2025 playoffs—given that the eight remaining teams have combined for a whopping .757 win percentage through this point of the campaign—they also become more pronounced as you begin to wonder what will hold each club back from hoisting a Lombardi Trophy next month.

As the AFC and NFC’s best continue their march toward Super Bowl LX, here’s a look at each team’s fatal flaw as we enter the divisional round of the 2025 playoffs.

Buffalo Bills

Fatal flaw: run defense

Bills defense — The Bills allowed 6.7 yards per carry against the Jaguars last weekend. | Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While the Bills have put together the league’s top pass defense in 2025—allowing a league-low 156.9 yards per game through the air—their run defense has struggled. Over 17 games, Buffalo surrendered the most rushing touchdowns in the NFL (17) and the fifth-most rushing yards per game (136.2). They'll need to crack down on opposing backs if they want to win their first Super Bowl in franchise history.

Chicago Bears

Fatal flaw: Caleb Williams in structure

Caleb Williams has put the Bears’ offense on his back multiple times this season, mainly throughout his league-leading six fourth-quarter comebacks in 2025, and has done so by often improvising with his legs and making near-impossible throws.

MORE: Ranking the Eight Remaining Quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL Playoffs

When he attempts to operate within the structure of coach Ben Johnson’s offense, however, things can get dicey—as evidenced by his lowly 58.1% completion rate.

Denver Broncos

Fatal flaw: inability to force turnovers

Broncos defense — The Broncos have one of the best defenses in football. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

While the Broncos boast one of the league’s top defenses in 2025—leading the NFL in sacks, allowing the second-fewest yards, and surrendering the third-fewest points—they’ve struggled to generate turnovers, forcing the fourth-fewest in the league this season at just 14. Add a few more takeaways, and Denver becomes a near-impossible out.

Houston Texans

Fatal flaw: penalties

Azeez Al-Shahiir. — The Texans has has 148 total flags thrown on them this season. | Sean Thomas-Imagn Images

The Texans are the hottest team in football right now—having won 10 straight games—but they've also been one of the more penalized teams all season, something that could come back to bite them if they don't button it up.

Los Angeles Rams

Fatal flaw: special teams

Kicker Harrison Mevis has been the lone bright spot on the Rams’ special teams unit this season. Despite a series of gaffes in three different losses costing coordinator Chase Blackburn his job in late December, the issues have persisted. In L.A.'s last-minute win over the Panthers last weekend, Carolina blocked an Ethan Evans punt in the fourth quarter that led to a go-ahead touchdown—if not for Matthew Stafford bailing them out late, another special-teams breakdown would have ended the Rams’ season altogether.

New England Patriots

Fatal flaw: edge rush

K’Lavon Chaisson and Milton Williams — The Patriots were able to sack Justin Herbert six times on Sunday. | David Butler II-Imagn Images

Don’t take my word for it, take theirs. Despite notching a 15–3 record this season and boasting one of the NFL’s better defensive tackle duos, the Patriots have continued to search for edge help even after the first week of the playoffs. On Monday, they signed former Texans defensive end Darrell Taylor to the practice squad, and according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, he has a “strong possibility” of being activated for the remainder of the postseason.

San Francisco 49ers

Fatal flaw: health

George Kittle suffered a torn Achilles in the 49ers win on Sunday. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The 49ers’ latest bout with the injury bug came in the form of an Achilles tear last weekend to the heartbeat of their offense, tight end George Kittle. The team captain now joins a growing list of San Francisco stars—Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, Trent Williams and Brock Purdy among them—who have battled significant injuries this season. If healthy, the 49ers are unquestionably Super Bowl contenders. That “if,” however, remains the heaviest one left in the field.

Seattle Seahawks

Fatal flaw: the unknown of Sam Darnold

While Sam Darnold—once considered a draft bust—has been lights out over the past two regular seasons, leading both the Vikings and Seahawks to consecutive 14-win campaigns, he returned to his old form in last year's postseason with a 27–3 loss to the Rams in the wild card round.

The Seahawks own one of the league’s top defenses and, behind 28.4 points per game scored in the regular season, earned the NFC’s No. 1 seed. Until he proves it on the biggest stage, however, it’s more than fair to question whether the lights will be too bright for Darnold on Saturday night.