NFL Standings 2016: Week 15 Records, Playoff Scenarios, Wild Card Review

The NFL's playoff picture remains, in a word, messy. But that's a good thing for fans, as the final weeks of the season will present an enormous amount of drama and intrigue.

Below, we'll attempt to break down the full playoff picture, going through the standings and potential routes to the postseason for the various contenders. Then we'll offer predictions for the final playoff teams.

Bring on the madness.

Division	Team	W	L	T
Division	Team	W	L	T
Division	Team	W	L	T
Division	Team	W	L	T
East	New England Patriots	11	2	0
East	Miami Dolphins	8	5	0
East	Buffalo Bills	6	7	0
East	New York Jets	4	9	0
North	Pittsburgh Steelers	8	5	0
North	Baltimore Ravens	7	6	0
North	Cincinnati Bengals	5	7	1
North	Cleveland Browns	0	13	0
South	Houston Texans	7	6	0
South	Tennessee Titans	7	6	0
South	Indianapolis Colts	6	7	0
South	Jacksonville Jaguars	2	11	0
West	Kansas City Chiefs	10	3	0
West	Oakland Raiders	10	3	0
West	Denver Broncos	8	5	0
West	San Diego Chargers	5	8	0

The AFC playoff picture is like a jigsaw puzzle that has been halfway finished. Things are starting to take shape, but there are still a lot of shapes and entire sections of the puzzle left to be uncovered.

Very little is certain. Barring a meltdown, the New England Patriots will win the AFC East. After that, everything is up for grabs.

Let's start in the AFC West, the best division in football this season. The Kansas City Chiefs control their own destiny after beating the Oakland Raiders twice this season and the Denver Broncos once already, with another matchup against the Broncos to come. They'll also face the Tennessee Titans and San Diego Chargers.

If Kansas City wins out, it will win the division and secure a first-round bye (and potentially the top overall seed in the AFC). 

Lose once, however, and the Chiefs will leave the door open for the Raiders to sneak in and take the division. The Raiders will face the Chargers, Indianapolis Colts and Broncos down the stretch.

Speaking of the Broncos, the team remains in the Wild Card picture and would be the final team in the playoffs if the postseason began today. More on that to come.

In the AFC North, the Steelers hold a one-game lead over the Baltimore Ravens, with contests against the Cincinnati Bengals, Ravens and Cleveland Browns to come. The Ravens, meanwhile, will face the Philadelphia Eagles, Steelers and Bengals down the stretch.

The Ravens, not the Steelers, control their own destiny, however. Win out, and they'll finish 10-6, with the win over the Steelers dropping Pittsburgh to 10-6 at best. In that scenario, Baltimore would have a perfect 6-0 record in the AFC North and would have the head-to-head tiebreaker over Pittsburgh, having beaten them twice.

If Pittsburgh beats Baltimore but both teams still go 2-1 down the stretch, meanwhile, things will get interesting. In that scenario, the teams will have identical records, divisional records, conference records and will have split the head-to-head matchup. The tiebreaker would then go to the team with the better record against common opponents. 

The AFC North might get hectic down the stretch, in other words.

The AFC South could be just as complicated, although Houston is in the stronger position. Even if the Texans lose one of their next two games against the Jacksonville Jaguars or the Bengals, they can still win the division in Week 17 by beating the Tennessee Titans, which would give them the head-to-head tiebreaker.

It gets better for Houston, though. If they win their next two games and Tennessee loses one of two, Houston will clinch the division as well. That's because the Texans can't finish with a worse divisional record than the Titans and would win the South based on divisional record if the two teams finish with the same record.

So basically, Tennessee has to either win out or finish with a better record than Houston to win the division. The Titans won't be winning the tiebreaker.

That brings us to the Wild Card picture.

Oakland sits in a strong position. It could even lose its remaining three games and still have a chance to get in, so let's go ahead and pencil the Raiders into the No. 5 spot for now.

That will leave a number of teams, including the Broncos, Dolphins, either the Steelers or Ravens (depending on which team doesn't win the division) and the Texans or Titans (again, whichever team doesn't win the division) in the running for a Wild Card position.

This, as you might imagine, makes the AFC Wild Card picture pretty complicated, at least for the second berth. It gets even more interesting when you consider that both Denver and Miami still have to play the Patriots, who will likely be fighting down to the wire for home-field advantage in the playoffs and will have a stake in beating both teams.

Denver and Miami, then, should be focusing on one goal: Winning out. Throwing a loss into the mix down the stretch is an easy way to miss the playoffs based on a tiebreaker. 

AFC Predictions

Let's start with the easy stuff. The Patriots and Chiefs are going to take the top two berths in the AFC, with the Pats securing home-field advantage.

The Steelers are one of the hottest teams in the NFL, and they'll close the season with three more wins.

With Oakland securing the fifth seed, that leaves just one playoff spot up for grabs.

Don't bet on Denver securing it. The Broncos face the Patriots at home, the Chiefs on the road and the Raiders at home down the stretch. They aren't going to win out and likely will lose at least two of three.

That will put Miami in the driver's seat, but Ryan Tannehill might not play again this season. That makes it hard to bet on the Dolphins securing a postseason bid, too.

Keeping that in mind, don't count the Ravens out of swooping in and securing a postseason bid. Even if the Ravens lose to the Steelers and lose the division, which they likely will, the Broncos' schedule and Tannehill's injury still put Baltimore in excellent position to snag the final Wild Card spot.

Here's how the final seeding will look:

1. New England
2. Kansas City
3. Pittsburgh
4. Houston
5. Oakland
6. Baltimore

Division	Team	W	L	T
Division	Team	W	L	T
Division	Team	W	L	T
Division	Team	W	L	T
East	Dallas Cowboys	11	2	0
East	New York Giants	9	4	0
East	Washington Redskins	7	5	1
East	Philadelphia Eagles	5	8	0
North	Detroit Lions	9	4	0
North	Minnesota Vikings	7	6	0
North	Green Bay Packers	7	6	0
North	Chicago Bears	3	10	0
South	Atlanta Falcons	8	5	0
South	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	8	5	0
South	New Orleans Saints	5	8	0
South	Carolina Panthers	5	8	0
West	Seattle Seahawks	8	4	1
West	Arizona Cardinals	5	7	1
West	Los Angeles Rams	4	9	0
West	San Francisco 49ers	1	12	0

The NFC, at the moment, is a bit less complicated than the AFC. With the exception of the NFC South, the playoff seedings are currently based solely on record, with the Dallas Cowboys still holding the top spot. The New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are currently holding the Wild Card spots, though Washington, the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers are certainly in the running.

In the South, the Atlanta Falcons maintain the division lead with the best win percentage in common games, according to ESPN. Both teams are currently 3-1 in the division and 6-3 in the conference, with a split in their two matchups against each other.

Atlanta closes with San Francisco, Carolina and New Orleans, while Tampa Bay will face Dallas, New Orleans and Carolina to close out the season.

The Cowboys remain the only team to have clinched a playoff spot.

In the Wild Card race, the Giants appear to be in a strong position, but they still have a game against the Detroit Lions, and NFC East showdowns against the Eagles and Redskins on the schedule. That matchup against Washington could be with a playoff spot on the line, though Washington still has to face Carolina and Chicago, both winnable games.

Minnesota, meanwhile, still has Indianapolis, Green Bay and Chicago on the schedule, while Green Bay has to face Chicago and Detroit.

Washington, Minnesota and Green Bay all need some help, though the NFC North is still technically up for grabs. The Lions certainly have a tough stretch to close the season, with games against the Giants and Cowboys on the road and one more against the Packers at home. Lose all three, and either the Vikings or Packers could steal the division. Few teams will have more of a say in the overall NFC playoff picture than Detroit.

NFC Predictions

Detroit is going to lose two in a row before beating Green Bay to close the season and secure the NFC North. Atlanta will win out to secure the NFC South, though Dallas and Seattle will still finish with better records and take the bye weeks.  

The Giants will win two of three down the stretch, securing a playoff berth. The Wild Card will be fascinating, with the Buccaneers losing two of three to close the season, knocking them out of the playoff picture when Washington wins two of three and sneaks past them in the standings. With Minnesota and Green Bay each losing once down the stretch as well, Washington will secure the final playoff berth.

Here's how the final seeding will look:

1. Dallas
2. Seattle
3. Atlanta
4. Detroit
5. New York
6. Washington

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