(AFP via Getty)
It’s already Week 15, and the frontrunners for the NFL playoffs have emerged. The cream has mostly risen to the top. If you take a few steps back from the game, extend your arms and make a frame with your fingers, you’ll find it right there – the NFL Playoff Picture. Let’s take a look at the current scene.
On The Bubble
Of course, the bubble is going to burst for many or all of these teams soon. This is for teams who can still mathematically make the playoffs but are not currently in the hunt. There are still nine teams on the bubble at this point. Three of them are in the AFC and six are in the NFC. Grouped together, those teams are:
- Los Angeles Rams (8-6)
- Arizona Cardinals (7-7)
- Indianapolis Colts (6-8)
- Miami Dolphins (6-8)
- Cincinnati Bengals (6-8)
- Atlanta Falcons (6-7)
- San Francisco 49ers (6-8)
- Dallas Cowboys (6-8)
- New Orleans Saints (5-9)
These eight teams would be in the playoffs if the season ended right now. Not all of them are guaranteed to make it. Sometimes the hunter becomes the hunted.
In The Hunt
- Minnesota Vikings (11-2)
- Baltimore Ravens (9-5)
- Denver Broncos (9-5)
- Seattle Seahawks (8-5)
- San Diego Chargers (8-6)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-6)
- Green Bay Packers (9-4)
- Washington Commanders (9-5)
Clinched
It’s a thing of beauty, really. The playoffs themselves have the ability to become magical. Just hearing that one word “clenched” in relation to the playoffs has been known to change the mood of the consumer, for the better or worse. Sometimes it changes lives. These six teams have clinched a playoff spot:
- Kansas City Chiefs (13-1)
- Detroit Lions (12-2)
- Philadelphia Eagles (12-2)
- Buffalo Bills (11-3)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (10-4)
- Houston Texans (9-5)
The Chiefs went into the season favorites to threepeat. That’s something that’s never been accomplished. Patrick Mahomes is a generational talent. Winning the whole thing is difficult to accomplish once in a lifetime. Let’s not pretend this is easy or a given. Dynasties need great quarterbacks, coaches and GMs. The Chiefs have all that. In the future they’ll be considered the dynasty of the 2020s if they already aren’t.
The Lions are certainly not the Lions of old. Jared Goff even has a confident trot about him. He’s the true leader of the team. And Dan Campbell is the most aggressive coach to ever grace the field. Some people think he’s completely out of control. So many people love the guy, too. It makes you wonder if he actually gambles like that in real life.
There are a lot of teams that can still make it but those top teams that clinched are obviously likeliest to meet up in the end.
