NFL Playoff Picture: NFC Comes into Clear View Following Week 14

The NFC playoff picture is remarkably clear with only three weeks left. To kill all of the suspense of the playoff race, I give you the entire NFC playoff seeding for this season.

NFC Division Leaders

NFC East: Dallas Cowboys 7-5

NFC North: Green Bay Packers 13-0

NFC South: New Orleans Saints 10-3

NFC West: San Francisco 49ers 10-3

Outlook

The East is the only division really up for grabs at this point. Dallas can go a long way to clearing that up with a win on Sunday night (the game is currently in the first quarter as a I type).

The Packers and 49ers have both clinched their division. The Saints have a two-game lead on the Falcons and they will not let go of that lead.

That division race is the only real question mark in the NFC playoff picture. As you'll see in the section below, the wild-card spots are set as well.

The Cowboys have the edge in the East with a one-game lead and a slightly easier schedule. Before their season-ending matchup, Dallas will face Tampa Bay and Philadelphia, while the Giants face the Redskin and Jets.

NFC Wild Card Contenders

Atlanta Falcons 8-5

Detroit Lions 8-5

Chicago Bears 7-6

New York Giants 6-6

Outlook

The Falcons are a lock to secure the first wild-card spot. They have two cream puffs on their schedule with the Jaguars and Buccaneers. Those two games sandwich a tough Saints game, but even if the Falcons lose that game, they will be just fine.

The Giants would have to win out to get to that 10-win mark of the Falcons. If they do win out, that means the Cowboys could have no more than nine wins. So cross them off the list.

The Bears are terrible without Cutler. They will not win three of their remaining three games—cross them off the list.

That leaves the Lions. Detroit will capture the second spot. Their remaining schedule looks like this: at Raiders, vs. Chargers and at Packers.

Green Bay will stomp the Lions to finish off their perfect season and drop Detroit to a 6-6 conference record. So even if they beat Oakland and San Diego, they will lose the tiebreaker to the Falcons, as Atlanta's upcoming win against the Bucs will be their seventh conference win.

If the Lions lose to another opponent beside Green Bay, they will still get the wild card.

The Giants already have six conference losses. So they are screwed in a tiebreaker situation.

That leaves only the Bears for the Lions to worry about. And again we are back to the fact that the Bears are currently terrible.

All of that will lead to the NFC playoff seeding looking like this.

Seeding Prediction

No. 1: Packers

No. 2: Saints

No. 3: 49ers

No. 4: Cowboys

No. 5: Falcons

No. 6: Lions