NFL Playoff Picture 2014: Week 17 Standings, Super Bowl Odds and Wild-Card Hunt

Heading into the final week of the 2014 regular season, plenty of playoff questions remain unanswered.

The vast majority of the postseason places have been decided, with only a few up in the air in Week 17. With that said, half of the divisions across the league landscape will be won on Sunday.

As a fan, you can't ask for much more. Some of the Week 16 results removed a bit of the intrigue, but there will be more than enough excitement to carry on throughout the day.

Standings

	W	L	T	Super Bowl Odds
AFC East
New England Patriots	12	3	0	3/1
Miami Dolphins	8	7	0	------
Buffalo Bills	8	7	0	------
New York Jets	3	12	0	------
AFC North
Cincinnati Bengals	9	5	1	40/1
Pittsburgh Steelers	10	5	0	25/1
Baltimore Ravens	9	6	0	33/1
Cleveland Browns	7	8	0	------
AFC South
Indianapolis Colts	10	5	0	20/1
Houston Texans	8	7	0	500/1
Jacksonville Jaguars	3	12	0	------
Tennessee Titans	2	13	0	------
AFC West
Denver Broncos	11	4	0	5/1
San Diego Chargers	9	6	0	33/1
Kansas City Chiefs	8	7	0	100/1
Oakland Raiders	3	12	0	------
NFC East
Dallas Cowboys	11	4	0	12/1
Philadelphia Eagles	9	6	0	------
New York Giants	5	9	0	------
Washington Redskins	4	11	0	------
NFC North
Detroit Lions	11	4	0	20/1
Green Bay Packers	11	4	0	5/1
Minnesota Vikings	6	9	0	------
Chicago Bears	5	10	0	------
NFC South
Carolina Panthers	6	8	1	150/1
Atlanta Falcons	6	9	0	150/1
New Orleans Saints	6	9	0	------
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	2	13	0	------
NFC West
Seattle Seahawks	11	4	0	13/4
Arizona Cardinals	11	4	0	25/1
San Francisco 49ers	7	8	0	------
St. Louis Rams	6	9	0	------

Playoff Picture

AFC

Jason Miller/Getty Images

The AFC picture doesn't look radically different after Sunday's games.

The only significant change so far is the Pittsburgh Steelers clinching a playoff spot following a 20-12 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Ben Roethlisberger threw for 220 yards and a touchdown, and Le'Veon Bell rushed for 63 yards and a TD.

The Steelers didn't look completely convincing, but they're one win away from taking the AFC North.

NBC announced on Sunday night that this week's Sunday Night Football will feature Pittsburgh and the Cincinnati Bengals in division-deciding matchup:

That gives everybody six days to get their Andy Dalton jokes ready:

Although the Bengals currently lead the North, they could potentially miss out on the playoffs altogether if they lose their last two games. That would be quite a change in fortunes, and given Dalton's poor performances during prime-time games, it wouldn't come as a major surprise.

The San Diego Chargers currently occupy the other AFC wild-card place following their dramatic comeback victory against the San Francisco 49ers. They play the Chiefs in Week 17. San Diego beat the Baltimore Ravens—the only other 9-6 team in the AFC—in Week 13, so a victory over Kansas City would mean the Chargers.

NFL on ESPN also provided the other myriad playoff possibilities heading into the final week:

Along with shining some light on the Bengals' playoff hopes, Monday night could also reveal the top seed in the AFC. The New England Patriots own the head-to-head advantage over and currently sit a half-game ahead of the Denver Broncos. Should Denver fall to Cincinnati, the Pats would earn home-field advantage until the Super Bowl.

NFC

Unlike the AFC, a small handful of NFC teams all earned postseason berths on Sunday, none bigger than the Dallas Cowboys, who won the NFC East for the first time since 2009.

Team owner and general manager Jerry Jones gets his fair share of criticism for his meddling with the team personnel and making questionable decisions. However, he deserves credit for the team's success, too.

Jones admitted that he learned from his past failures and approached this year's Cowboys team with a different attitude.

"The fact we're doing it with lesser players when it comes to [salary] numbers is a pretty good thing," he said, per Tim Cowlishaw of The Dallas Morning News. "This is the second-youngest team in the NFL. That gets my attention a little bit on how to put this together. We tried it the other way and went 8-8 three times."

The perception surrounding the Cowboys is that they trip over their own feet late in the season, but Dallas is putting that belief to bed this year.

Looking elsewhere, both the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers will advance to the postseason out of the NFC North, but who will represent the division remains unclear. The two meet in Green Bay on Sunday. Detroit won the first meeting 19-7 back in Week 3, but the Packers are a decidedly different team right now. They're also dominant at Lambeau Field, going 7-0 so far.

The Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals are in the same boat as the two North teams, with the duo tied at 11-4 after Week 16. Seattle beat Arizona 35-6 on Sunday night, wresting away the NFC West lead.

In addition, with the Cowboys' win, the Seahawks clinched a playoff spot.

Should Seattle prevail in its final game, it will not only secure the West, the Seahawks will also grab home-field advantage in the playoffs, which is a nightmare scenario for the other NFC playoff teams. Nobody will want to head into CenturyLink Field needing to win.

For the most part, all that's left in the NFC is the seeding. Five of the six postseason teams are confirmed, with the lone holdout the potential NFC South champion. The Carolina Panthers sit atop the division for now, but they're only a half-game ahead of the Atlanta Falcons, with the two teams facing off in Week 17.

SportsCenter highlighted the mess that is the NFC South and pointed to the fact that a losing team will host an NFL playoff game:

The Panthers have won three of the last four meetings with Atlanta and have a great record during this time of year in the past three seasons, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Carolina's rolling right now and looks the favorite to win.

Note: Super Bowl odds are courtesy of Odds Shark.