NFL Playoff Scenarios 2017: Week 17 AFC, NFC Postseason Picture

The final Sunday of the 2016 NFL regular season is upon us. Many of this year's playoff invitations have already been handed out, but there is still plenty to play for in Week 17.

We're going to break down what the playoff picture looks like and what could happen between now and the end of Sunday. We'll examine the teams that are in, the teams that could be and the plethora of potential playoff scenarios that could occur.

We'll also take a look at the latest Super Bowl odds, courtesy of OddsShark. These odds might just provide an idea of how folks expect teams to fare in the coming weeks.

Let's get to it.

Week 17 Playoff Picture

Seed	Team	Record
AFC
NFC
1	New England Patriots	13-2
2	Oakland Raiders	12-3
3	Pittsburgh Steelers	10-5
4	Houston Texans	9-6
5	Kansas City Chiefs	11-4
6	Miami Dolphins	10-5
1	Dallas Cowboys	13-2
2	Atlanta Falcons	10-5
3	Seattle Seahawks	9-5-1
4	Green Bay Packers	9-6
5	New York Giants	10-5
6	Detroit Lions	9-6
7	Washington Redskins	8-6-1
8	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	8-7

Super Bowl Odds

Team	Odds
New England Patriots	19-10
Dallas Cowboys	13-4
Pittsburgh Steelers	8-1
Atlanta Falcons	11-1
Green Bay Packers	11-1
Seattle Seahawks	11-1
Kansas City Chiefs	11-1
New York Giants	18-1
Oakland Raiders	28-1
Houston Texans	50-1
Miami Dolphins	50-1
Detroit Lions	50-1
Washington Redskins	66-1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	200-1

Scenarios to Watch For

Dolphins Defeat Patriots

The New England Patriots sit at 13-2 and in control of the No. 1 seed in the AFC. However, in order to guarantee the team holds on to that position, New England must defeat the Miami Dolphins on the road in Week 17.

Should the Patriots lose, the 12-3 Oakland Raiders will have an opportunity to take over the No. 1 seed because of tiebreakers. The Raiders will have to beat the Denver Broncos to make this happen, but it is possible.

Knocking New England out of the No. 1 seed would bring some satisfaction to the Dolphins, but this isn't the only reason they should want to win Sunday. If Miami wins and the Kansas City Chiefs lose to the San Diego Chargers, then the Dolphins can slide into the fifth seed.

Since the Pittsburgh Steelers are locked into the No. 3 seed, a move up would book the Dolphins a date with the Houston Texans.

While the Patriots generally dominate AFC East opponents, they have struggled in Miami, losing their last three games there. The Dolphins have yet to rule out injured quarterback Ryan Tannehill too.

"I don’t know yet," Dolphins coach Adam Gase said, per Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post. "I don’t know where the doctors have him right now or how he feels. I haven’t really asked. I just tell them, 'Once you guys have something different, come talk to me.'"

If Miami can hold serve at home, the Raiders will get their shot at the top seed.

Oakland's Offense Falters Under McGloin

Tony Avelar/Associated Press

Unfortunately for the Raiders, starting quarterback Derek Carr suffered a broken fibula against the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday. This means backup Matt McGloin will now lead the offense.

While McGloin has been with the Raiders for four seasons and knows the offense well, he hasn't made a regular-season start since 2013.

Nevertheless, the Raiders seem to have faith in the Penn State product.

“Next man up,"  Raiders tackle Donald Penn said, per Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com. "It ain’t going to stop us. So we’ve got to find a way to just keep this thing going, because it’s going good. ... We’ve got a lot of faith in Matt. We’re going to rally."

What if the Raiders offense doesn't keep things going, though? The team is rated fifth in overall offense by Pro Football Focus, but that's with Carr, a Pro Bowl quarterback.

If the offense cannot operate with at least a similar amount of efficiency under McGloin's guidance, it could spell trouble for the Raiders—not only during the playoffs but also heading into them.

If the Raiders lose to the Broncos, they'll miss out on the No. 1 seed and could miss out on the AFC West title too. Should the Chiefs defeat the Chargers as well, Kansas City would become division champion and earn a first-round bye.

The Raiders would then slide into the No. 5 seed, setting up a match with the Texans.

Denver is likely to present a tough challenge for McGloin in his first start of the season. The Broncos are rated second in overall defense by PFF and allow an average of just 19.4 points per game (sixth in the NFL).

The matchup between Denver and Oakland should give us a lot of insight into the Raiders' chances in the postseason.

Green Bay and Detroit Finish Tied

A bit of an interesting situation can occur if the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions finish in a tie Sunday night.

For starters, the tie would hand the Packers the NFC North title. Both Green Bay and Detroit would finish 9-6-1, but the Packers own the head-to-head tiebreaker. This would tilt the balance in Green Bay's favor and leave the Lions looking at a wild-card spot.

The good news for Detroit is that a tie would give the team the wild-card spot over the Washington Redskins. Washington could also finish 9-6-1 with a win Sunday, but the Lions defeated the Redskins 20-17 earlier in the season.

So there are essentially two paths for both the Packers and the Lions to get into the postseason from here: win or tie.

If the Redskins knock off the New York Giants and the Packers and Lions don't tie, though, the loser would be left watching the playoffs from the couch like the rest of us.