NFL Playoff Standings 2021: Records, Postseason Scenarios and Wild Card Review

The road to Super Bowl LV is set.

Week 17 came close on Sunday night and dropped the curtains on the 2020 regular season in the process. All 14 playoff tickets have now been disbursed, and everyone knows what's standing between them and a world title.

After scanning the postseason standings, we'll review playoff scenarios and preview the Wild Card round.

NFL Playoff Standings

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AFC

1. Kansas City Chiefs (14-2)

2. Buffalo Bills (13-3)

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4)

4. Tennessee Titans (11-5)

5. Baltimore Ravens (11-5)

6. Cleveland Browns (11-5)

7. Indianapolis Colts (11-5)

NFC

1. Green Bay Packers (13-3)

2. New Orleans Saints (12-4)

3. Seattle Seahawks (12-4)

4. Washington Football Team (7-9)

5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5)

6. Los Angeles Rams (10-6)

7. Chicago Bears (8-8)

Postseason Scenarios

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The simplest scenario is for chalk to hold.

If all higher seeds are victorious on Wild Card Weekend, then the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs would respectively host the Washington Football Team and the Tennessee Titans in the Divisional Round. The New Orleans Saints would host the Seattle Seahawks, and the Buffalo Bills would welcome in the Pittsburgh Steelers.

But these are the NFL playoffs, a winner-take-all tussle every week. It's where the safest prediction is unpredictability. Chalk probably isn't prevailing across the board, in other words.

Luckily, the chaos created inside the lines doesn't make the scheduling too tricky. The highest remaining seed hosts the lowest remaining seed in each conference. So, if the lone upset in the NFC this weekend saw the Los Angeles Rams topple the Seahawks, then the Ramps would be headed to Green Bay, while Washington visited New Orleans.

Wild Card Preview

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Fan bases left out of the festivities may not agree, but it's hard to find many complaints with the first weekend slate of the 2020-21 postseason.

Drew Brees trying to solve the Chicago Bears' stingy defense? Sign us up. Jonathan Taylor and Philip Rivers attempting to knock off Josh Allen and the red-hot Buffalo Bills? Yes, please. Even Washington's uber-talented defensive front locking horns with Tom Brady should be exquisite.

But the other three matchups have particularly piqued our interest.

Two attach playoff stakes to divisional rivalries. The Seahawks and Rams, NFC West foes, split their season series at one win apiece. Same goes for AFC North rivals, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, which adds some extra intrigue with the Steelers' late skid (1-4 to finish the season) and the Browns' second-half surge (6-2 to secure their first playoff berth since 2002).

Finally, the Titans-Ravens collision is our early favorite for game of the week.

These teams tangled in the Divisional Round last season, when the then-sixth-seeded Titans shocked the top-seeded Ravens, 28-12. Baltimore proved powerless against Derrick Henry (30 carries for 195 yards), and Lamar Jackson couldn't turn lofty yardage totals (365 through the air, 143 on the ground) into points due in no small part to uncharacteristic mistakes (two interceptions and a lost fumble).

The Titans now carry the higher seed into the matchup, so it'll be fascinating to see how each side fares with the roles reversed.