NFL Playoff Scenarios 2023-24 Week 16: Latest Matchups After Seahawks' Win vs. Eagles

Opportunity presented itself for the Philadelphia Eagles when the Buffalo Bills defeated the Dallas Cowboys.

And they failed to seize it.

Seattle stunned the Eagles with a 20-17 victory that saw Jaxon Smith-Njigba haul in the game-winning touchdown in the final 30 seconds. Philadelphia could have moved into first place in the NFC East and the No. 2 overall seed in the conference's playoff standings with a win, but it fell down to the No. 5 seed with the loss.

The San Francisco 49ers are the No. 1 seed, and it doesn't look like they are going to give that spot up in the near future following six consecutive wins.

Here is a look at the latest playoff picture for both conferences heading into Week 16.

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AFC

1. Baltimore Ravens (11-3, first-round bye)

2. Miami Dolphins (10-4) vs. 7. Indianapolis Colts (8-6, tiebreaker over Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills)

3. Kansas City Chiefs (9-5) vs. 6. Cincinnati Bengals (8-6, tiebreaker over Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills)

4. Jacksonville Jaguars (8-6, tiebreaker over Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans) vs. 5. Cleveland Browns (9-5)

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NFC

1. San Francisco 49ers (11-3, first-round bye)

2. Dallas Cowboys (10-4, tiebreaker over Detroit Lions) vs. 7. Los Angeles Rams (7-7, tiebreaker over New Orleans Saints and Seattle Seahawks)

3. Detroit Lions (10-4) vs. 6. Minnesota Vikings (7-7, tiebreaker over Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints)

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-7, tiebreaker over New Orleans Saints) vs. 5. Philadelphia Eagles (10-4)

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The Eagles are the reigning NFC champions, but the biggest storyline in the conference at this point is whether anyone can stop the 49ers.

Not only have they won six in a row, they are steamrolling teams in the process. They have won those six games by an average of 18.8 points with none of them coming by single digits. They have been in cruise control for the majority of the fourth quarters since the calendar flipped to November and appear well on their way to a first-round bye.

Which would mean they will be even fresher for the two home playoff games they would need to win to reach the Super Bowl.

With Brock Purdy distributing in an offense that features Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk as well as a defense that features star power in Fred Warner, Nick Bosa and others, the 49ers may not lose again before they are lifting the Lombardi Trophy.

But things figure to get more difficult in Week 16 when they face the top seed in the AFC in the Baltimore Ravens in a potential Super Bowl preview.

Like San Francisco, Baltimore has been rolling with four straight wins. Two of those victories were by double digits against fellow AFC playoff contenders in the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars, and the conference appears to run through Lamar Jackson and Co. at this point.

Yet the difficulty of those AFC playoffs may come down to how the final three weeks of the season unfold.

After all, the Bills and Houston Texans are sitting outside the current postseason picture even though they have the same record as the Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts in the battle for the wild-card spots.

Buffalo in particular would be a prime candidate to upset a top seed if it got into the playoffs with Josh Allen leading the way. That was on full display during Sunday's blowout 31-10 win over the Cowboys and its victory over Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs the previous week.

Houston could also be a threat with C.J. Stroud spearheading the aerial attack, although the Texans need to get healthier before they start thinking about possible playoff upsets.

The bottom of the AFC playoff race and the top of the NFC one will be firmly under the spotlight as teams use the final three weeks to jockey for postseason positioning.