NFL Playoff Picture 2025: Week 18 Standings, AFC and NFC Wild Card Bracket Hunt

And then there were three.

Three division crowns remain up for grabs entering Week 18, with the NFC, AFC North, and NFC South as of yet undetermined.

It makes for a dramatic conclusion to a 2024 NFL season that once looked top-heavy but now features a handful of teams across both conferences who could conceivably win the Lombardi Trophy and celebrate a Super Bowl victory come February in New Orleans.

What does the current bracket look like, who holds what advantage entering the final week of the season, and what one match-up has the highest stakes in the regular season thus far?

Find out with this preview of Week 18.

NFC Playoff Picture

Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Inglewood, California December 28, 2024-Rams defensive end Kobe Turner (91) shares a laugh with linebacker Byron Young at SoFi Stadium Saturday. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The NFC playoff picture is as follows:

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Division Leaders

1. x-Minnesota Vikings (14-2)

2. xz-Philadelphia Eagles (12-3, NFC East)

3. xz-Los Angeles Rams (10-6, NFC West)

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-7)

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Wild Card

5. x-Detroit Lions (13-2)

6. x-Washington Commanders (11-5)

7. x-Green Bay Packers (10-6)

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On the Bubble

8. Atlanta Falcons (9-7)

(x)-clinched playoff spot, (z)-clinched division

AFC Playoff Picture

Kathryn Riley/Getty Images

FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - DECEMBER 28: Derwin James Jr. #3 of the Los Angeles Chargers celebrates following the game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on December 28, 2024 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)

The AFC playoff picture is as follows:

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Division Leaders

1. xz-Kansas City Chiefs (15-1, AFC West)

2. xz-Buffalo Bills (13-3, AFC East)

3. x-Baltimore Ravens (11-5, AFC North)

4. xz-Houston Texans (9-7, AFC South)

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Wild Card

5. x-Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6)

6. x-Los Angeles Chargers (10-6)

7. Denver Broncos (9-7)

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On the Bubble

8. Miami Dolphins (8-8)

9. Cincinnati Bengals (8-8)

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(x)-clinched playoff spot, (z)-clinched division

Lions-Vikings for the NFC North Crown on Sunday Night Football

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - DECEMBER 29: Sam Darnold #14 of the Minnesota Vikings reacts after a throwing a touchdown pass during the second quarter against the Green Bay Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium on December 29, 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

The Minnesota Vikings are one win away from an improbably No. 1 seed in the NFC playoff bracket.

Led by quarterback Sam Darnold, a former third-overall selection who bounced around the league and never had the opportunity to thrive any one offensive coordinator, the team sits at 14-2 entering the final week of the season.

That one win, though, must come at the expense of a Detroit Lions squad that has been the best team in the conference all season long.

The same Lions team that beat Minnesota 31-29 on October 29 and sits at 13-2 entering Monday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers.

The NFL recognizes the enormity of the game, a divisional championship match-up between two of the elite squads in 2024, and flexed the game to the prominent Sunday Night Football spot.

The winner gets the No. 1 seed while the loser will go on the road as the fifth seed in the playoffs and head to either Tampa Bay or Atlanta on Wildcard weekend. That is not the scenario either team or any fan could have imagined when watching their team's win-loss records swell as they did.

Regardless, the difference between a rowdy crowd at home and the unenviable task of traveling south for an away game is one win.

One grueling, hard-fought win.