NFL Playoff Picture Week 14: Updated AFC, NFC Standings After Sunday's Games

The NFL playoffs continue to come into focus as two teams clinched a division title Sunday.

Thanks to their 33-27 victory over the Miami Dolphins, the Kansas City Chiefs are AFC West champions for the fifth straight year. The Green Bay Packers, meanwhile, reign supreme in the NFC North after they beat the Detroit Lions 31-24 and the Minnesota Vikings lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In total, four teams have sealed passage to the postseason. Plenty remains up in the air in the home stretch of the regular season.

Here's where things stand across the NFL following Sunday's games.

AFC Standings

Jeffrey T. Barnes/Associated Press

AFC East

• 1. Buffalo Bills (10-3)
• 2. Miami Dolphins (8-5)
• 3. New England Patriots (6-7)
• 4. New York Jets (0-13)

AFC North

• 1. Pittsburgh Steelers (11-2); clinched playoff berth
• 2. Cleveland Browns (9-3)
• 3. Baltimore Ravens (7-5)
• 4. Cincinnati Bengals (2-10-1)

AFC South

• 1. Tennessee Titans (9-4)
• 2. Indianapolis Colts (9-4)
• 3. Houston Texans (4-9)
• 4. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-12)

AFC West

• 1. Kansas City Chiefs (12-1); clinched division
• 2. Las Vegas Raiders (7-6)
• 3. Denver Broncos (5-8)
• 4. Los Angeles Chargers (4-9)

Four games now separate the first-place Buffalo Bills from the third-place New England Patriots after the Bills earned a 26-15 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. While Buffalo still hasn't secured the division, the team has guaranteed the Patriots' stretch of 11 consecutive AFC East titles is over.

The Steelers, meanwhile, have left the door open for the Cleveland Browns to overtake them in the AFC North over the final weeks. Cleveland can get to within one game of its biggest rival with a win Monday night.

That result would put the Baltimore Ravens a full game behind the Miami Dolphins for the conference's final wild-card spot. A Ravens win, on the other hand, would vault Baltimore ahead of Miami for the time being based on having a better record in its division.

The Chiefs are the elite of the AFC, and five teams are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. The conference's middle class is tightly packed together, though, which should culminate in a dramatic final week.

NFC Standings

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

NFC East

• 1. Washington Football Team (6-7)
• 2. New York Giants (5-8)
• 3. Philadelphia Eagles (4-8-1)
• 4. Dallas Cowboys (4-9)

NFC North

• 1. Green Bay Packers (10-3); clinched division
• 2. Minnesota Vikings (6-7)
• 3. Chicago Bears (6-7)
• 4. Detroit Lions (5-8)

NFC South

• 1. New Orleans Saints (10-3); clinched playoff berth
• 2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-5)
• 3. Atlanta Falcons (4-9)
• 4. Carolina Panthers (4-9)

NFC West

• 1. Los Angeles Rams (9-4)
• 2. Seattle Seahawks (9-4)
• 3. Arizona Cardinals (7-6)
• 4. San Francisco 49ers (5-8)

The Packers are on track to claim the No. 1 seed with the New Orleans Saints falling to the Philadelphia Eagles. Green Bay has the tiebreaker over New Orleans after having taken down the Saints in Week 3.

That's pretty good for a team that seemed to be preparing for a post-Aaron Rodgers future with the selection of Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft. Perhaps the front office wanted to light a fire under Rodgers to spur one more Super Bowl run.

The Saints could've won the NFC South on Sunday and came close to doing just that after Jared Cook hauled in a 20-yard touchdown pass from Taysom Hill with 1:24 left in the fourth quarter. The comeback fell short, which was good news for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Week 14 didn't provide much clarity in the NFC West since the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks were both victorious. Should that be the case once again in Week 15, it will significantly raise the stakes when Seattle hosts Los Angeles on Dec. 27 in their penultimate regular-season game.

The Washington Football Team are now in the driver's seat in the NFC East, and the division may not wind up in as dire a state as everyone expected. At one point, a 6-10 champion seemed a plausible outcome. Instead, Washington is 6-7 and riding a four-game winning streak while sitting one game up on the New York Giants.

Projected Playoff Matchups

Wade Payne/Associated Press

AFC

• No. 1 Kansas City Chiefs (bye)
• No. 2 Pittsburgh Steelers vs. No. 7 Miami Dolphins
• No. 3 Buffalo Bills vs. No. 6 Indianapolis Colts
• No. 4 Tennessee Titans vs. No. 5 Cleveland Browns

NFC

• No. 1 Green Bay Packers (bye)
• No. 2 New Orleans Saints vs. No. 7 Arizona Cardinals
• No. 3 Los Angeles Rams vs. No. 6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• No. 4 Washington Football Team vs. No. 5 Seattle Seahawks

Under the new playoff format, the top seed in each conference will receive the only bye in the Wild Card Round. That status was previously afforded to the two best teams.

The Steelers and Saints would both be considered favorites to advance if the playoffs started today, but you wouldn't have to try too hard to argue on behalf of the Dolphins or Cardinals.

Pittsburgh wasn't as good as its 11-0 start indicated, and back-to-back losses emphasize that. Tua Tagovailoa's inexperience could be an issue for the Dolphins in the postseason, but Brian Flores has built a strong Coach of the Year candidacy with how much his squad has improved.

The Cardinals quickly fell to earth after an overtime win over the Seahawks in Week 7. They dropped four of their next five games coming out of a Week 8 bye. Still, Kyler Murray is the kind of disruptive presence who can give an opponent nightmares on a given day.