NFL Playoff Picture 2014: Latest NFC, AFC Standings and Scenarios

With only three weeks remaining in the 2014 season after Monday night, the NFL playoff picture in both conferences is beginning to come into focus.

Nobody's clinched a playoff spot just yet, but a small handful of teams are only a win or two away. By the time next week wraps up, a few division races could already be over.

Below are the standings for each division and a brief breakdown for the teams still harboring postseason hopes.

AFC Standings

AFC East

Team	W	L	T
New England Patriots	10	3	0
Miami Dolphins	7	6	0
Buffalo Bills	7	6	0
New York Jets	2	11	0

The New England Patriots only have to win one of their next three games to clinch the AFC East. They get the Miami Dolphins, New York Jets and Buffalo Bills to wrap up the regular season, and you have to believe New England can beat at least one of those teams.

The Bills' and Dolphins' best hope of making the postseason is essentially winning the AFC Wild Card, which will be tough. Both teams are a game back of the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Diego Chargers. The Baltimore Ravens, who are seventh in the AFC, also have a game on Miami and Buffalo.

Since the AFC is so tightly packed, it would be premature to write off either team, but they both need some help in the final weeks.

AFC North

Team	W	L	T
Cincinnati Bengals	8	4	1
Pittsburgh Steelers	8	5	0
Baltimore Ravens	8	5	0
Cleveland Browns	7	6	0

The bottom is falling out from under the Cleveland Browns. They looked like a serious playoff contender a couple of weeks ago but have lost three of their last four to fall 1.5 games back of the Cincinnati Bengals.

There's little reason to expect Cleveland's fortunes to change.

Many expect Browns head coach Mike Pettine to replace the ineffective Brian Hoyer with Johnny Manziel. Pettine didn't explicitly say that he'll start Manziel in Week 15, but he certainly intimated as much, per Mary Kay Cabot of the Northeast Ohio Media Group:

"

It's natural to lean the other way (toward Manziel), but we want to make sure we do our due diligence.

Brian missed some throws. The receivers had some routes that were not run properly. We have to perform much better in the passing game. There were some throws that he missed, but it was exaggerated by the guys around him in the pass game. When they're not playing at the level they should be, it's difficult to overcome that.

We're in a results business. We've lost two in a row. We know what the numbers were in the pass game, and for us to be successful, we have to improve.

"

It will likely be too little, too late. The Browns appear to be the only AFC North team out of the playoff hunt, barring a crazy Week 15 development.

The Bengals own a slim lead over the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, and given the nature of Cincinnati's loss to Pittsburgh over the weekend, the advantage is anything but safe.

The Steelers and Ravens currently own the same record, but the former wins the tiebreaker based on division winning percentage.

The AFC North is still completely up in the air, with all four teams playing each other in Week 17. The Bengals also play the Browns on Sunday, with a Cleveland win breathing life into their playoff chances and possibly knocking Cincinnati out of the division lead.

AFC South

Team	W	L	T
Indianapolis Colts	9	4	0
Houston Texans	7	6	0
Tennessee Titans	2	11	0
Jacksonville Jaguars	2	11	0

This is the easiest division to forecast. There's only a slim chance the Indianapolis Colts don't win the AFC South up two games with three weeks to go. In fact, Indy can lock it up on Sunday if it beats the Houston Texans.

And if the Texans fall to 7-7, their postseason hopes would take a massive hit.

The importance of the AFC South clash isn't lost on head coach Bill O'Brien.

"This game right here is a playoff game," he said on Monday, per Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle. "We’ve got to go out there and have fun, practice, practice hard, fly around and we have to go out there and be ready to play our best football game. Because if we don’t play our best football game, we’re not going to win."

The Colts play the Dallas Cowboys on the road in Week 16, so it's plausible that the Texans could win in each of the next two weeks and go into a tie with Indianapolis.

More than likely, though, the AFC South will be decided by the end of the week.

AFC West

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

The Denver Broncos are in the exact same situation as the Colts. They play the San Diego Chargers on Sunday, with the Chargers two games back in the AFC West. A Broncos victory means Denver wins the division, while San Diego and Kansas City would fight over a wild-card berth.

Team	W	L	T
Denver Broncos	10	3	0
San Diego Chargers	8	5	0
Kansas City Chiefs	7	6	0
Oakland Raiders	2	11	0

The Chiefs were a serious threat to the Broncos a few weeks ago, but one three-game losing streak later, they're hanging on to the postseason by a thread. They're a game back of the Chargers in the wild-card race and also behind the Texans and Dolphins via tiebreaker.

A big reason for Kansas City's struggles is its failure to find a go-to receiver. Len Dawson might've been the quarterback the last time a Chiefs WR caught a touchdown pass:

Until the Chiefs figure out their offense, they're not a playoff team.

If somebody other than Denver makes the postseason from the West, it will be San Diego.

NFC East

Team	W	L	T
Philadelphia Eagles	9	4	0
Dallas Cowboys	9	4	0
New York Giants	4	9	0
Washington Redskins	3	10	0

No one Week 15 game may be more important than the Philadelphia Eagles vs. the Dallas Cowboys. The two teams are tied atop the NFC East, with Philly owning the head-to-head advantage.

The reason the game is so important is that whoever is on the outside looking in might miss out on the playoffs altogether. Only one game separates the Arizona Cardinals, the top seed in the NFC, and the Detroit Lions, who own the last wild-card spot.

Dallas can also ill afford to go a game behind the Eagles, considering Philadelphia's final two games are against the Washington Redskins and New York Giants, which are extremely winnable. If the Cowboys don't overtake Philly on Sunday, they might not have another chance.

The Cowboys will be heartened to know that the Seattle Seahawks' last seven opponents before Philly lost their next games, according to ESPN Stats & Info:

You can't argue with science.

Sunday night's game should be fantastic.

NFC North

Team	W	L	T
Green Bay Packers	9	3	0
Detroit Lions	9	4	0
Minnesota Vikings	6	7	0
Chicago Bears	5	8	0

Much of the NFC North breakdown depends on Green Bay's Monday night game against the Atlanta Falcons. The Packers would grab a one-game lead over the Lions with a victory, and they play the Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the next two weeks.

There's a chance that when the Packers and Lions meet in Week 17, Green Bay will already have the division sewn up.

However, Detroit plays the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears in its next two games, both of which should be wins. The North might very well come down to the final day.

Either way, it's a good bet that whoever doesn't win the division will at least advance to the postseason as a wild-card team. The Lions own the tiebreaker over the Cowboys on division record right now, and two wins in the next three weeks should be enough to secure a playoff spot.

NFC South

Team	W	L	T
Atlanta Falcons	5	7	0
New Orleans Saints	5	8	0
Carolina Panthers	4	8	1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	2	11	0

The less said about the NFC South, the better. It goes without saying that only one team from the division will make it to the postseason. The Falcons are the only NFC South team not mathematically eliminated from the wild-card hunt, and that could change on Monday night.

The Carolina Panthers can't be counted out completely after their demolition of the Saints. Carolina plays Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Atlanta to close out the season. If the Panthers win all three games—which is possible—they could sneak in through the back door.

The division might come down to the winner of the Falcons-Saints game in Week 16 since the teams could have the same record going in. Atlanta owns the head-to-head, but the second meeting's in New Orleans, so it's hard to tell which team is in the driver's seat.

Perhaps the most interesting storyline is what New Orleans might do in the event it misses the playoffs. Could that spell the end for head coach Sean Payton?

NFC West

The San Francisco 49ers all but removed themselves from the playoff discussion after Sunday's loss to the Oakland Raiders. They finish with the Seahawks on the road and then play the Chargers and Cardinals at home. All three of those games will be extremely difficult, and any one can sink the Niners for good.

Team	W	L	T
Arizona Cardinals	10	3	0
Seattle Seahawks	9	4	0
San Francisco 49ers	7	6	0
St. Louis Rams	6	7	0

As Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group pointed out, the 49ers have rebounded well after dropping two in a row before:

Still, you wouldn't put money on San Francisco making the postseason after yesterday's debacle.

The bigger story is whether the Seahawks can catch the Cardinals. Seattle is making a strong case to be considered the best team in the NFC, while Arizona is the best team in the NFC record-wise. The two teams meet in Week 16 for what should be a juicy matchup.

Some—myself included—have counted out the Cardinals after they lost to Seattle and Atlanta in consecutive weeks. But beating Kansas City at home showed that Arizona isn't going to fade down the stretch.

Beating the Seahawks the second time around would firmly cement the Cards as the cream of the crop in the NFC.