The NFL Playoffs start this weekend, but before the first ball is even kicked off, Microsoft’s Bing Predicts is forecasting who will win each game all the way through to the Super Bowl championship on Feb. 7.
Brace yourselves, Seahawks fans. According to Bing, the New England Patriots will repeat as champs, a year after beating Seattle and denying the Seahawks back-to-back titles of their own.
Using models which involve “traditional statistical models coupled with social listening and search analysis,” Bing Predicts ended the regular NFL season with a 161-95 (63 percent) record. The site sees Seattle beating Minnesota in Sunday’s wildcard game, but falling in the divisional round at Carolina. The Panthers are Bing’s other pick to reach the Super Bowl — a rematch of the 2004 contest which saw New England win 32-29.
Here is Bing’s prediction bracket for all of the playoff matchups:
Over at rival prediction site FiveThirtyEight, Seattle is again looking like a winner at Minnesota, but currently has just a 9 percent chance of winning Super Bowl 50. Carolina, at 20 percent, is outpacing Arizona, Denver and New England as predicted champion.