The NFC continues to be the more interesting conference of the two with a number of teams still in position for various seeds. One loss by any of the top teams could shuffle the entire conference seeding for the playoffs and there’s only two weeks left in the regular season. Below is a break of the NFC NFL playoffs outlook after Week 15.
NFC NFL Playoffs Outlook After Week 15
- Seattle Seahawks (11-3)
- Green Bay Packers (11-3)
- New Orleans Saints (11-3)
- Dallas Cowboys (7-7)
- San Francisco 49ers (11-3)
- Minnesota Vikings (10-4)
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks got help when the Atlanta Falcons upset the San Francisco 49ers on the game’s final play. Seattle also took care of the Carolina Panthers, although the Panthers did give them a scare late in the game. It was a huge win for the Seahawks, but Pete Carroll‘s team has a huge finale meeting with San Francisco looming and it looks like that game may decide who wins the NFC West, and most likely the number one seed.
Green Bay Packers
Green Bay exacted their revenge on their NFC North rival Chicago Bears by eliminating from playoff contention, much like Chicago did to Green Bay a season ago. Their win also gives them 11 wins on the season and, currently, a first-round bye.
Green Bay firmly controls its own destiny for both the NFC North title and a first-round bye. if they win their final two games of the season they capture the division title and would finish no worse than the number two seed. Losing one of their remaining two games could definitely cost them the number two seed and a first-round bye.
New Orleans Saints
New Orleans took care of business handily on Monday Night Football against the Indianapolis Colts with Drew Brees setting the all-time passing touchdowns record. The Saints are an extremely dangerous team at home, but due to their loss against San Francisco, they’re going to need some help to leap over at least Green Bay in the standings.
New Orleans poses a threat in the playoffs but the Saints will most likely have to get it done on the road if they’re going to get to the Super Bowl. However, their fate hasn’t been decided just yet. They could still obtain a first-round bye.
Dallas Cowboys
Dallas finally got back in the win column when they obliterated the Los Angeles Rams and proved that they might be a team to be feared if they actually make it into the playoffs. While that win was huge for the Cowboys the Philadelphia Eagles are still hanging around in the NFC East.
In fact, for Dallas, their path has more or less been laid out for them. If the Cowboys beat Philly this week they’ll be NFC East champs. If Dallas loses this week they won’t control their own destiny in Week 17.
San Francisco 49ers
Whether you’re against a Wild Card team with a better record than a division leader or not, San Francisco will have to climb out of the Wild Card hole if they’re going to finish as the NFC West winner. They let a bad Falcons team upset them on the final play of the game and that put a huge hurt on both the division and No. 1 seed with two weeks to go.
Just like for Seattle mentioned earlier, San Francisco will have the grandest of opportunities to avenge their epic loss to the Seahawks and regain what was theirs, to begin with: the division and No. 1 seed.
Minnesota Vikings
While Minnesota may be the final Wild Card team in the playoffs, by no means will they be an easy out in January. They forced nine takeaways on Sunday against the lowly Los Angeles Chargers, and Kirk Cousins has been fantastic this season.
With a win on Monday Night Football against the Packers, Minnesota could potentially win the NFC North in the final week. However, Cousins has yet to win (0-8) on Monday Night Football during his career and he will be facing a Green Bay team looking for a statement win.
Teams That Could Be on the Move
With four teams sitting with 11 wins, a number of changes in seeding could be forthcoming in two weeks’ time.
San Francisco and Seattle have the clearest paths by winning out to end the season. With two more wins, the 49ers would secure the NFC West and number one seed seed due to their wins over Green Bay and New Orleans, and, in this scenario, Seattle.
Conversely, Seattle has the same path as San Francisco by winning both of their final two games of the season.
Green Bay does have a shot at the top seed but would need some help from both San Francisco and Seattle.
New Orleans needs losses by Green Bay, Seattle and San Francisco to get the number one seed.
Dallas has no shot at anything other than the number four seed should they make it in as the NFC East champions.
Minnesota could secure the number three seed with a win over Green Bay and a Green Bay loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 17, but there is no scenario where the Vikings could obtain the number one or two seed.
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