NFL Playoff Picture 2018: Week 8 Wild-Card Hunt, Standings and Super Bowl Odds

A good amount of NFL fans already expect to see the Kansas City Chiefs play the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl. 

The two sides, who meet in the regular season November 19 in Mexico City, are generating a ton of Super Bowl buzz because of their electric offenses. 

However, they aren't the only teams worthy of Super Bowl consideration, and in the coming weeks, we'll find out more about the list of contenders lining up underneath the Rams and Chiefs. 

The wild-card picture in the AFC and NFC is starting to take shape as well, but the teams at the forefront of that competition aren't ahead by much after Week 7.

NFL Playoff Picture

AFC 

Division Leaders 

1. Kansas City (6-1) 

2. New England (5-2) 

3. Pittsburgh (3-2-1) 

4. Houston (4-3) 

Wild-Card Race

5. Los Angeles Chargers (5-2)

6. Cincinnati (4-3) 

7. Baltimore (4-3) 

8. Miami (4-3) 

9. New York Jets (3-4) 

10. Tennessee (3-4) 

11. Jacksonville (3-4) 

12. Denver (3-4) 

13. Cleveland (2-4-1) 

14. Indianapolis (2-5) 

15. Buffalo (2-5) 

16. Oakland (1-5) 

NFC

Division Leaders

1. Los Angeles Rams (7-0) 

2. New Orleans (5-1) 

3. Washington (4-2) 

4. Minnesota (4-2-1) 

Wild-Card Race

5. Carolina (4-2) 

6. Green Bay (3-2-1) 

7. Seattle (3-3) 

8. Tampa Bay (3-3) 

9. Detroit (3-3) 

10. Chicago (3-3) 

11. Philadelphia (3-4) 

12. Dallas (3-4) 

13. Atlanta (2-4) 

14. New York Giants (1-5) 

15. Arizona (1-6) 

16. San Francisco (1-6) 

Super Bowl Odds (via OddsShark) 

Los Angeles Rams (+350; Bet $100 to win $350) 

New England (+700) 

Kansas City (+750) 

New Orleans (+1000) 

Minnesota (+1200) 

Los Angeles Chargers (+1600) 

Green Bay (+1800) 

Jacksonville (+2000) 

Philadelphia (+2000) 

Pittsburgh (+2000) 

Baltimore (+2500) 

Chicago (+2500) 

Houston (+3300) 

Atlanta (+4000) 

Carolina (+4000) 

Cincinnati (+4000) 

Dallas (+4000) 

Washington (+5000) 

Detroit (+6600) 

Seattle (+6600) 

Miami (+8000) 

Cleveland (+10000) 

New York Jets (+10000) 

Tennessee (+10000) 

Denver (+15000) 

New York Giants (+15000) 

Buffalo (+25000) 

Indianapolis (+25000) 

Tampa Bay (+25000) 

Oakland (+50000) 

San Francisco (+50000) 

Don't Forget About New England 

It's hard to believe we're calling the New England Patriots an afterthought in the AFC playoff discussion, but they've been put on the back burner because of the success the Chiefs have attained. 

Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Co. won't stumble many more times over the course of the regular season, and because few improvements have been made by the other three teams in the AFC East, a division title is in their future. 

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

What we'll have to keep an eye on over the next nine weeks is how close the Patriots sit behind the Chiefs in the competition for home-field advantage. 

New England, who is one game back of Kansas City after their respective Week 7 games, just has to finish with the same record as the Chiefs to earn the No. 1 seed thanks to its victory at Gillette Stadium in Week 6. 

When you take a glance at New England's remaining schedule, only three of the contests stand out, and two of them are against foes from the NFC North. 

The game that could decide which seed the Patriots end up with comes in Week 15 when they visit the Pittsburgh Steelers in a possible AFC Championship preview. 

If the Patriots control their matchups against their divisional opponents and win at least one of their two games against Green Bay and Minnesota, they should finish 13-3 and put themselves in a good position to return to the Super Bowl. 

Given their postseason experience and expected dominance throughout the rest of the regular season. it's worth taking the Patriots at +700 right now in a Super Bowl futures bet. 

Early-Season Ties Could Make Playoff Picture More Difficult 

Breaking down the playoff picture will be a bit more complicated than usual because of the early-season ties that occurred in games with some high-profile teams. 

Pittsburgh has one less win than Houston, but it has control of the No. 3 seed in the AFC because it possesses a better winning percentage. 

Over in the NFC, Minnesota and Green Bay are on level playing terms because of their Week 2 tie, but whichever team finishes second in the NFC North could have an upper hand in the wild-card race. 

Jeffrey Phelps/Associated Press

At the moment, the Packers are the No. 6 seed in the NFC ahead of four 3-3 teams because their tie created a better winning percentage than Seattle, Tampa Bay, Detroit and Chicago. 

Since the ties are already coming into play, the teams beneath Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Green Bay need to make sure they finish the season with one more win in order to avoid coming up short after Week 17. 

The ties also allow the three teams mentioned above to avoid most of the tiebreakers that come into play at the end of the regular season, which means all they have to do is finish with a better record than the teams below them. 

A fourth team could take advantage of an early-season tie, but Cleveland needs to come out on the right side of one-possession games more often before it can be considered in the playoff discussion.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90