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
The Redskins are 7-7 (5-5 in the conference) and have games remaining at Minnesota, and at home against Dallas.
If the Redskins win both their remaining games, then they are in.
If they lose to Minnesota, they are out.
If they beat Minnesota, but lose to Dallas, then they are still in if the Saints lose both their remaining games.
New Orleans Saints
The Saints are 7-7 (6-4 in the conference) and have games remaining at home against Philly and at Chicago.
If the Saints win their two remaining games, their conference record would be 8-4, which would be better than anything the Giants, Vikings or Redskins could do. And since the Saints haven't played the Giants, Vikings or Redskins this year, the conference record would be the first tiebreaker against any of those teams.
So for the Saints to realistically have any hope of making the playoffs, they have to win their last two games, and hope the Vikings lose at least one game.
If they lose one of their games, it would be a real stretch to make the playoffs. It could happen, but the Vikings would have to lose both their games, the Redskins would have to lose to Dallas, the Panthers would have to lose to either Dallas or Tampa Bay, and the games against common opponents tiebreaker would have to go in their favor.
Carolina Panthers
The Panthers are 6-8 (6-4 in the conference) and have games remaining at home against Dallas, and at Tampa Bay.
The only reason the Panthers are still mathematically in contention is their 6-4 conference record.
And the only way the Panthers can make the playoffs is to win both their remaining games against Dallas and at Tampa Bay, hope that the Vikings lose both their remaining games, the Redskins lose to Dallas, and the Saints lose to either Philly or Chicago.
Whew! If that doesn't clear things up, take two aspirin and call me next week. Things will be a lot simpler then.
We're going to send you the most entertaining Carolina Panthers articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web.
10 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete