In the NFC, the division champions are set: Green Bay in the North, Dallas in the East, Tampa Bay in the South, and Seattle in the West. Dallas and Green Bay have locked up the top two seeds, and the all-important first round byes that come with them. They are both 12-2, and should they finish tied, Dallas will get the top seed by virtue of the first tiebreaker, head-to-head results, because they beat Green Bay earlier this season.
As division kings, Tampa Bay and Seattle get the next two seeds, regardless of how their records compare to either of the Wildcard teams. Right now they are both 9-5, and if they end up tied, Seattle gets the 3rd seed due to their Week 1 victory over Tampa Bay.
So the division champs are pretty set — we know the top four seeds, but the order could change. Where it gets complicated is when it comes to the NFC Wildcard teams, seeds 5 and 6.
Right now, five teams are still in contention for two spots, the New York Giants at 9-5, the Minnesota Vikings at 8-6, the Washington Redskins at 7-7, the New Orleans Saints at 7-7, and, amazingly enough, the Carolina Panthers at 6-8.
Here's what each team needs to do in order to grab one of the Wildcard spots.
New York Giants
The Giants are 9-5 (7-5 in the conference) and have games remaining at Buffalo and at home to New England to close out the year.
Winning either one of these games locks up a wildcard spot.
They could also lose both and still make it if New Orleans loses one of their remaining games.
They don't make the playoffs if, and only if, they lose both games, and both New Orleans and Washington win out their remaining games.
Minnesota Vikings
This one’s complicated.
The Vikes are 8-6 (6-5 in the conference) and have games remaining at home against Washington on Sunday Night and at Denver, the last game of the season.
This makes the Sunday Night game against the Redskins pretty big, which is why it was moved to NBC on Sunday Night a couple of weeks back.
If the Vikings win their last two games, they are in.
If they lose to Washington, then that’s where it gets complicated…
They will still make it to the playoffs by beating Denver, and then hoping the Giants lose both their remaining games, and then hoping for one additional result: 1) Dallas beats Washington in RFK on the last week of the season, or 2) the Saints lose one of their remaining games.
If the Giants win one of their remaining games, they still have a shot if they can beat Denver and Dallas beats the Redskins and the Saints lose both their remaining games.
If Minnesota beats Washington, but loses to Denver, they will make it if either the Giants lose both their remaining games or the if Saints lose one of their games.
But, again, they can make everything simple by just winning their next two games.
Washington Redskins
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12 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Michael kochevar about 1 year ago
I don't se where the Giants are even in the equation for the Vikings to make the playoffs. Minnesota beat the Giants in the regular season and hold the tie breaker. If Minnesota loses to Washington, they must beat Denver; Washington must lose to Dallas; and New Orleans must lose one of their last two.
games.
If Minnesota beats Washington and New Orleans loses next week Minnesota clinches the Wild card birth.
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Michael kochevar about 1 year ago
never mind I see.
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John Newman about 1 year ago
Yes, you're right if Minnesota beats Washington and New Orleans loses, Minnesota clinches the wild card.
But, let's say Minnesota beats Washington, loses to Denver and New Orleans wins out. Both teams would be 9-7, and the Saints would win the tiebreaker with a better conference record. So for Minnesota to still make the playoffs, they'd have to get the other spot, which they wouldn't have a chance for unless the Giants lost both their games to also finish 9-7. Then Minnesota would win the tiebreaker with the Giants because of the regular season victory over them.
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Rich Weyhe about 1 year ago
Cant be right...you say that if Washington beats MN but loses to the Cowboys they are still in if Saints lose out...
However, if MN beats Denver Vikes finish 9-7..so Vikes and Giants get the spots and Washington is eliminated at 8-8
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Michael kochevar about 1 year ago
yep, I agree. But I am lookimg for the Vikings to win out as I predicted a few weeks ago on my web site. I did see how New Your fits in the equation with Minnesota after i posted. Thanks
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Rich Weyhe about 1 year ago
You also say that if the Giants win one of their remaining games the Vikes would still have a shot if they beat Denver and Dallas beats the Skins and NO loses BOTH of their games....
Why would the Saints have to lose both of their games - they are 7-7 - so if they lose ONE game they are 8-8 while the Vikings would be 9-7
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John Newman about 1 year ago
Rich, you're right on both counts. Thanks for pointing it out. They key game is that Washington at Minnesota game Sunday night. After that, things will get a little clearer. Although if Minnesota loses, and New Orleans and Carolina win, all four teams still have a shot. Conceivably, all four could then finish up tied at 8-8, in which case Carolina would go to the playoffs with the best conference record, which is the only way Carolina can go.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
I might be wrong about this, but I believe that if Washington wins out, they STILL need New Orleans to lose one OR the Giants to lose both of their remaining games. If i'm wrong about this please let me know. As a Washington fan I like the idea of them being in control of their own destiny, but that's not how I read it.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
I might be wrong about this, but I believe that if Washington wins out, they STILL need New Orleans to lose one OR the Giants to lose both of their remaining games. If i'm wrong about this please let me know. As a Washington fan I like the idea of them being in control of their own destiny, but that's not how I read it.
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Mark Myers about 1 year ago
You are correct. Washington does not control its own destiny.
Here are all the scenarios that get the Redskins into the playoffs:
http://chancebot.com/clinch.php?t=20
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Rich Weyhe about 1 year ago
If NO, Washington, MN and NYG all finish 9-7 - who advances (NO & Wash win out; NYG lose both games, MN beats Denver but loses to Skins)?
If MN, Wash, NYG finish 9-7 while NO loses at least one - which one of the three is eliminated?
I'm not sure how to read that first provision of the three or more teams tied wildcard tiebreaker that eliminates all but the highest seeded team in each division?
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John Newman about 1 year ago
The first step for multiple-teams tied for a wild card slot is to cut it down to no more than one team per division. So if NO, Wash, MN, NYG all finish 9-7, the first step is to see who ranks higher in the NFC East, the Giants or the Skins, and eliminate the lower of the two. Since they split their two games against each other, division records would be checked next. The Giants will have a division record of 3-3, and Washington, if they beat MN and Dallas to finish 9-7, would also be 3-3. So they'd have to go to records against common opponents. The Giants would be 6-6 (wins over Philly(2), Chi, Det, Mia, NYJ, losses to Dallas(2), Min, GB, Buf, NE), the Redskins would be 7-5 (wins over Philly, Chi, Min, Det, Mia, NYJ, and Dallas, and loses to Dallas, Philly, GB, NE, Buf), so the Redskins would advance in a four way tie and the Giants would be eliminated.
This leaves a three way tie for two spots between NO, MN, and Wash. For three way conference ties, the first tiebreaker is a head to head sweep, but this is only applicable if the teams have all played each other and neither the Vikings or the Skins have played the Saints. So the 2nd tiebreaker is conference record, and the Saints at 8-4 would win the #5 seed.
That settles the #5 seed, but we still have a three way tie for the #6 seed. Again the Giants are eliminated as the lower ranked of the two NFC East seeds. And the Skins go to the playoffs because they won the head-to-head meeting with the Vikes
The next scenario, MN, NYG and Wash all finish 9-7 works the same way:
The tree teams are all tied for the #5 seed. So, you run the tiebreak procedure for three teams and the first step is to find out which of the two NFC East teams is the highest ranked, and as shown above, Washington would be ranked higher than the Giants, so it would then come down to a two way tie between MN and Wash, and the Skins would win based on their head-to-head victory.
So now that the Skins are the #5 seed they are no longer tied for the #6 seed, but the Vikings and Giants are still tied for that seed. So you do the tiebreaking procedure for two teams in the conference, and the 1st tiebreaker is head-to-head, so the Vikings win based on their Week 12 victory over the Giants.
If the Giants want to go to the playoffs, they better not finish 9-7. They can make it at 9-7, but only if only one other team finishes 9-7 or better. That means Wash has lose at least one, and the Saints have to lose at least one.
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