NFL Playoff Scenarios: Which NFC Bubble Teams Are in Trouble?

There are a number of teams hovering just outside of the NFC playoffs, and all have a real statistical chance to make it in. However, it's going to take hard work and a bit of luck to get there.

Generally speaking, these teams are not in control of their own respective destinies, which isn't an advantageous place to be with just two games remaining in the regular season.

But that's not the only reason the following four NFC teams are in trouble when it comes to their playoff hunt. In these slides, I will detail just why.

Chicago Bears (7-7)

The Chicago Bears are on the verge of nabbing themselves a postseason berth, but it's going to take a lot for the team to clinch.

First, they have to face—and defeat—both the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings in the final two weeks of the regular season while also hoping the Detroit Lions or Atlanta Falcons manage zero wins in that time frame.

Additionally, the Seattle Seahawks win the tiebreaker with the team, and thus need to fall to one or both of their opponents in Weeks 16 and 17, the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals.

But if all that didn't seem hard enough, there are also injury issues on offense that the Bears still have yet to overcome.

While it's looking more and more likely that running back Matt Forte, who injured his MCL in Week 12, will return for Week 17, quarterback Jay Cutler won't be ready to play until, and if, the team makes the playoffs.

That means the Bears need to rely on Josh McCown, who is set to replace the ineffective Caleb Hanie this week. To be sure, McCown is an upgrade over Hanie, but he's no Cutler, and running back Marion Barber, who has his strengths, is no Forte.

With the Bears' usually tough defense unable to make up for the offense's glaring deficiencies, it's the most uphill of battles for Chicago to reach the playoffs, especially with so much of the burden now out of their hands.

New York Giants (7-7)

The New York Giants are in even more dire straits than the Chicago Bears, even though there's still a chance the team could end the year at the top of the ever-changing NFC East division.

For the Giants to nab that spot, the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys both would have to lose their two remaining games and both the Seattle Seahawks and Chicago Bears, who hold tiebreaker advantage over the Giants, would have to drop at least one of their final two.

At 7-7, the Giants have only shot themselves in the foot this season. Though they've been as bitten by the injury bug as any team, they managed to win six of their first eight games, but then dropped five of their following six.

New York is a team known for their second-half collapses and this year is no different.

Though the team boasts elite-level talent, the players haven't been able to come together as a unit at the same time down the stretch, and this has significantly harmed their chances to make the playoffs.

The Giants' playoff hopes now hinge not just on their own performance, but on the performances of their division and conference-mates.

That's not a good position to be in heading into Week 16.

Philadelphia Eagles (6-8)

With the right combination of wins and losses among their NFC East division-mates, the Philadelphia Eagles could potentially win the division with an 8-8 record.

However, for the early-season favorites to win it all, that's simply cold comfort. The Eagles went into their Week 7 bye at 2-4, and though they've had moments when it all seemed to turn around, they couldn't sustain success for more than two games at a time before notching another loss.

The Eagles are in a particularly advantageous position for their record, with two divisional games remaining on their schedule. Because of this, the NFC East still very much up in the air.

If the Eagles can win their last two games and the New York Giants lose to the New York Jets this week but beat the Dallas Cowboys in Week 17 and if the Cowboys lose out, the Eagles will improbably win their division and head to the postseason.

That may be their only way to do it. As a wild-card team, the Eagles have the most outside of shots.

Even if the Eagles win this week, it takes just a single Dallas win to knock them out of contention for the NFC East title. Also, there is little chance that the six teams ahead of them in the wild-card race will all lose out—especially with a number of those teams playing each other in the season's final weeks.

Though the Eagles are on a two-game win streak and look tougher than they have all season, it might just be too little too late for the one-time "dream team" to earn a playoff spot this year.

Arizona Cardinals (7-7)

At least the Philadelphia Eagles have a chance to get into the playoffs by winning their division. The Arizona Cardinals are far less fortunate.

As one of a logjam of 7-7 teams angling for a wild-card berth, the Cardinals have the most outside chance of earning one.

The Cardinals had nothing but trouble in the early part of the season, dropping six of their first seven games. They rebounded well, winning all but one of their next seven, but by then the damage to their postseason hopes had already been done.

The San Francisco 49ers took an early NFC West divisional lead and never looked back, leaving both the Cardinals and the also-7-7 Seattle Seahawks left behind weeks ago.

Seattle, the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants all have head-to-head advantages over the Cardinals in any wild-card tiebreak scenario, and there's also the matter of the two teams currently occupying those two playoff spots—the Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions—also boasting better records than Arizona at present.

The Cardinals also don't have the advantage of two divisional games to close out their season, as the Seattle Seahawks have.

They have just one opportunity—against those Seahawks in Week 17—to improve their NFC West record and otherwise just have to hope for the outside chance that five teams crumble badly enough to allow them to squeak into the postseason.

It's more likely that the Cardinals will just have to hope for better luck next year, because the odds are heavily against them making the playoffs this season.