Ten teams — the Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks, New York Giants, New England Patriots, Oakland Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, and Miami Dolphins — have clinched playoff spots for 2017. Four more are battling for the final two openings, while most of the 10 teams already in the playoffs are jostling for seeding and byes.
A Sunday Night Football matchup between the Packers and Lions will determine the NFC North winner, with the loser potentially getting bounced from the playoffs altogether or grasping on to a wild card berth.
The Falcons, Seahawks, Raiders, and Chiefs are all looking to join the Patriots and Cowboys as teams who get to avoid playing in the Wild Card round, while the Patriots look to secure their home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Here are all the current playoff clinching scenarios for the upcoming week, courtesy of the NFL.
The Seahawks kept rolling with a dominating win themselves, blowing out the Ravens 35-6 in Baltimore. Russell Wilson has the Seattle offense clicking at historic levels and the defense did their job in taking the Jimmy Clausen-led offense out of the game.
Elsewhere, the Saints knocked off the Buccaneers 24-17, the Browns dominated the 49ers 24-10 and the Rams outlasted the Lions in an ugly game, 21-14. Oh, and by the way, the Chargers, Titans, Ravens, Lions, and 49ers were all eliminated from NFL playoff contention.
New Orleans continued their Jekyll and Hyde season Sunday with a nice road win over the Buccaneers, but while they’ve been wildly inconsistent this year, Drew Brees has largely remained the constant. A testament to Brees’ consistency, the future Hall of Famer threw for 300-plus yards for the 93rd time in his career per ESPN Stats and Info, which ties Peyton Manning for the most in NFL history. Amazing.