NFL Playoff Picture 2016: Postseason Scenarios and Wild-Card Bracket

Whether your team triumphantly claimed a postseason berth or locked up that nice draft pick you've had your eye on, Week 17 signaled the end of the NFL's regular-season drama and ushered in a new set of scenarios specific to the postseason. 

The Carolina Panthers didn't go unbeaten, the Indianapolis Colts didn't cash in on their mind-numbing 10-team parlay (via ESPN's Jeremy Mills) and the NFC East actually produced a team with a winning record that has the potential to win a playoff game. Those pressing questions that defined the stretch run of the NFL season have all been answered, making way for the host of new topics that the postseason brings. 

Will the Kansas City Chiefs ever lose again? Probably, but it may not come until next season with red-hot Kansas City riding a 10-game win streak into an AFC playoff field weakened by injury. 

Will the Seattle Seahawks reach their third-consecutive Super Bowl? They ended the regular season by obliterating one of the NFC's most viable contenders, so Seattle probably likes its chances. 

Those situations and more will play out in the coming weeks, with the NFL playoffs set to begin this Saturday. 

Here is how the playoff field ultimately filled out, followed by a primer for some of the postseason's most intriguing scenarios. 

How Will Injuries Affect the Postseason? 

Frank Victores/Associated Press/Associated Press

An overtime loss to Denver in Week 16 is mostly to blame for Cincinnati's failure to earn a first-round bye. Now, it'll suffer the consequences of its No. 3 seed by dragging an unhealthy team into a Wild Card Weekend meeting with the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

Andy Dalton, who fractured his thumb in a Week 14 loss to the Steelers, will get his cast off Monday, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer's Jim Owczarski. But, whatever that process reveals, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport expects Dalton to be sidelined for the Bengals' third meeting with Pittsburgh this year. 

Denver has sympathized with Cincinnati during the stretch run of the season. The Broncos were without Peyton Manning for six of their final seven games. But the future Hall of Famer returned to the field to complete five of nine pass attempts for 69 yards and lead Denver to a victory and the No. 1 seed. 

Despite Manning's apparent health, Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak gave a spectacular non-answer after Sunday's win regarding Denver's starting quarterback position (via NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal). 

"We'll sit down," Kubiak said. "We'll make a decision that's best for the football team and we'll be counting on everybody to continue to do their part."

Although Brock Osweiler has thrown 10 touchdowns to just six interceptions and completed 61.8 percent of his passes this season, it would be hard to fathom the Broncos sitting a healthy Manning after what we saw in the final game of the regular season. 

Turning to the NFC, Marshawn Lynch has missed Seattle's last seven games with an abdominal injury. But Joe Rodgers of the Sporting News is reporting the Seahawks' can expect to have their star running back available this postseason, with Lynch returning to practice Monday. 

Thomas Rawls filled in admirably for much of Lynch's absence, but Seattle lost Rawls for the year to an ankle injury in Week 14. Despite the Seahawks' revolving door at running back, they ranked third in the NFL in rushing yards per game with 141.8. 

Lynch's return should be a boost for Seattle. But Seahawk-turned-Cowboy-turned-Seahawk-again Christine Michael's 102-yard performance in the season finale suggests Lynch's availability won't decide Seattle's fate on its own. 

Biggest Threats to Keep No. 1 Seeds out of Conference Title Games

In order for the top two seeds in a conference to play each other, the meeting must come in a championship game. Therefore, the only teams capable of keeping the Broncos and the Panthers out of the AFC and NFC title games, respectively, will be in action this weekend. 

Neither conference's No. 1 seed is invincible—although that notion was in doubt until Week 16 in Carolina's case. So the possibility one of the top seeds bows out before its respective title game not only exists, it's significant. 

AFC: Kansas City Chiefs

Ed Zurga/Associated Press

With a 1-5 record through six games, the Chiefs' chances of making the playoffs were effectively zero percent (via FiveThirtyEight h/t CBS Sports' Jared Dubin). The details of Andy Reid's deal with the devil are still unknown, but Kansas City ultimately defied those odds to close out the season with 10 consecutive wins.

With that unprecedented level of momentum entering the playoffs, the Chiefs are perhaps the last team the Broncos want to face. But, based on the NFL's playoff format that dictates the highest seed in each round must face the lowest seed, a matchup between No. 1 seed Denver and fifth-seeded Kansas City is a distinct possibility. 

The Chiefs' first-round opponent is a best-case scenario, as far as playoff teams go. Kansas City travels to Houston to face the 9-7 AFC South champion Texans in Wild Card Weekend. In the likely event the Chiefs dispatch Houston in Round 1, they will advance to play Denver if Cincinnati beats Pittsburgh, and they will play New England if the Steelers win that game. 

After the Week 17 win that advanced Kansas City's win streak to a franchise-record 10 games, Jeremy Maclin said a playoff berth was never actually in doubt in the locker room (via the Kansas City Star's Terez A. Paylor). 

"We thought that we had the type of roster put together that we could win them all," Maclin said. “That’s why we were so confident, even sitting at 1-5."

With regard to the strength of the roster, he was apparently right. Because the Chiefs compiled their win streak entirely without the help of their best player. Kansas City lost Jamaal Charles for the season back in a Week 5 loss to Chicago. 

So on the heels of 10 consecutive wins—one of which was a 29-13 victory over the Broncos—with an identity entirely independent of a 1-5 start, Kansas City represents the most ominous threat to Denver's AFC supremacy. 

NFC: Seattle Seahawks

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Defense wins championships, and the Seahawks win defense. 

Seattle allowed the fewest points per game for the fourth straight year, holding opponents to just 17.3 in 2015. But the Seahawks' resurgence from a 4-5 start to a 10-6 final mark wouldn't have been possible without a breakout season for Russell Wilson.

Wilson's 4,024 passing yards and 33 touchdown passes are both new franchise records.

Those dominant trends on both sides of the ball culminated in a 36-6 dismantling of the second-seeded Cardinals in Week 17. So, if it wasn't already clear, that performance affirmed Seattle's ability to beat anyone in the league right now. 

And if the Seahawks move past the Vikings on Wild Card Weekend, Seattle is guaranteed a meeting with the top-seeded, 15-1 Panthers in the divisional round. 

The two likely opponents have developed something of a rivalry over the last several years. Seattle and Carolina have met five times in the last four years, and all but one of those contests finished as a one-score game. 

However, in those five games, the Panthers' only win came in the most recent meeting. Carolina defeated Seattle 27-23 back in Week 6 of this season. 

But that result is hardly indicative of the Seahawks team that enters the playoffs having won six of its last seven games to close the season. Seattle will be a trendy pick to emerge as the NFC's representative in the Super Bowl, and rightfully so.