Things are becoming pretty clear in the NFC. There are two dominant forces in the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers with two other teams, the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys, a tier below.
There’s still more than a month of regular season play for that to change, but for now, it’s hard to see another team in the conference making a title push.
The same can’t be said of the AFC.
While injuries seem to have dashed the contender hopes of the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals, there’s no shortage of other who have jumped to fill the void. Even on a week when all four division leaders held serve with wins, the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers somehow just keep winning to keep pace.
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ 24-21 win against the Houston Texans was enough to vault them to the No. 1 seed … for three hours. But with two thirds of the regular season in the books, the Jaguars are one of several AFC teams that look to have a real chance at making noise in January.