The NFC race is wide open in 2022, with six weeks remaining in the regular season. For a long time, earning a bye week was paramount to representing the conference in the Super Bowl. For eight straight seasons, from 2012 through 2019, a team that earned a bye week made it to the Super Bowl. That’s changed with the addition of the seventh playoff seed over the last two seasons. The shift means only the top seed has a bye and since the conference has been won by teams needing to get through all three rounds of the playoffs. First Tom Brady and the Bucs went from the wild-card spot and last year Matt Stafford led the NFC West-champion Rams to the Lombardi.
Will this be a new trend or just a blip? Regardless, every team will fight to win the No. 1 seed, even if those who fall short have reasons to remain confident. The Dallas Cowboys are a team firmly in the hunt, but will still need some help in getting there. Currently the No. 5 seed, Dallas needs to handle their business in the final stretch plus see both the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles to lose one more game than them. If that happens, the Week 16 tilt between Dallas and Philadelphia will be for the sought-after prize.
Here’s our predictions for how the rest of the season will go for the nine teams with realistic shots of making the playoffs from the NFC.