Tag: NFL Playoff Picture

Seattle Seahawks’ Week 16 Rooting Guide

Seattle Seahawks’ Week 16 Rooting Guide

The Seattle Seattle Seahawks have a difficult matchup in Week 16, hosting the NFC-best 12-2 Minnesota Vikings. Seattle’s postseason chances are beginning to dwindle. They forfeited control of the NFC West last weekend. As things stand, the Seahawks would benefit greatly from some positive results in other games on Sunday. With that in mind, we’ve compiled your Week 16 rooting guide.

Jets over Rams

The Los Angeles Rams currently own the same record as the Seahawks at 8-6, but are currently in pole position in the NFC West as a result of defeating Mike Macdonald’s club in Week 9. A victory for Seattle paired with a loss for Sean McVay would place the Seahawks back atop the division. Unfortunately, relying on the New York Jets to execute the upset isn’t overly favorable.

Panthers over Cardinals

The Seahawks have already swept the regular-season series with the Cardinals, but they remain in the hunt at 7-7 and one victory behind Seattle. A loss on Sunday to the Carolina Panthers would essentially remove the Cardinals from the conversation. The Bryce Young-led Panthers have displayed sneaky-good improvement in recent showings.

Dolphins over 49ers

The 6-8 San Francisco 49ers need a miracle to catch the Seahawks and Rams in the NFC West, but alas, they remain alive until mathematically eliminated. This weekend, they’re traveling to face the Miami Dolphins. An incredibly disappointing campaign for Kyle Shanahan would reach its merciful end with a loss.

Eagles over Commanders

The 9-5 Washington Commanders are the only wild-card holder Seattle has a realistic chance of catching. After losing three consecutive contests, Dan Quinn’s squad is back on the winning track, capturing victories in three straight outings. The 12-2 Philadelphia Eagles may prove too much to handle, however.

Giants over Falcons

The 7-7 Atlanta Falcons are in a similar position to the Seahawks. They’re currently on the outside looking in, but remain in contention for both their division and a wild-card spot. Rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is making his debut start for the Falcons against the New York Giants on Sunday. Head coach Raheem Morris is hoping he can provide a much-needed spark.

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Seahawks win over Vikings in Week 16 would mean more than a victory in Week 17

Seahawks win over Vikings in Week 16 would mean more than a victory in Week 17

The Seattle Seahawks’ postseason hopes suffered a massive setback following Sunday Night Football’s 30-13 Week 15 loss to the Green Bay Packers. The Los Angeles Rams took over control of the NFC West division as a result. Seattle’s playoff chances plummeted to 37.2% to win the division, and 35.1% to make the postseason, per Brady Henderson and ESPN Analytics.

Seahawks fans have begun looking ahead to a potentially NFC West division-deciding showdown with the Rams in the Week 18 regular-season finale, but not so fast. Mike Macdonald’s club possesses two important games before that, with the Minnesota Vikings this weekend, and the Chicago Bears in Week 17. According to Brian Nemhauser, a victory over the Vikings would achieve more to increase Seattle’s playoff chances than a triumph over the Bears would.

Defeating the Vikings would give the Seahawks a strength of victory tiebreaker over Rams even if they’re upset by the Bears a week later, per Nemhauser. Beating Chicago and losing to Minnesota would not achieve the same. The Seahawks must approach the Vikings contest this weekend with a win-and-in mindset.

The 12-2 Vikings have won seven consecutive contests. Seattle is facing another must-win situation at Lumen Field. Hopefully they handle that scenario better than they did in Sunday’s Packers embarrassment.

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Here’s how the Chargers can clinch a playoff berth in Week 16

The Los Angeles Chargers can clinch a playoff spot in Week 16.

The Chargers can clinch a playoff spot in Week 16.

Here’s how:

  1. Win over Broncos + Dolphins loss or tie to 49ers + Colts loss or tie to Titans
  2. Tie + Dolphins loss to 49ers + Colts loss to Titans + Bengals loss or tie to Browns

The Bolts are 8-6 and currently hold the No. 7 seed in the AFC, with three games left to be played in the regular season.

Here’s the AFC playoff picture with standings as we head into Week 16:

1. Chiefs (13-1)

2. Bills (11-3)

3. Steelers (10-4)

4. Texans (9-5)

5. Ravens (9-5)

6. Broncos (9-5)

7. Chargers (8-6)

8. Colts (6-8)

9. Dolphins (6-8)

10. Bengals (6-8)

AFC playoff matchups if the season ended today:

  • No. 2 Bills vs. No. 7 Chargers
  • No. 3 Steelers vs. No. 6 Broncos
  • No. 4 Texans vs. No. 5 Ravens

49ers dreary season summed up by place in NFL power rankings

The 49ers are in an embarrassing spot in the USA TODAY NFL power rankings.

The San Francisco 49ers’ rough 2024 season can be perfectly summed up by where they landed in the post-Week 15 NFL power rankings from USA TODAY.

While power rankings don’t hold weight in terms of a team winning a Super Bowl, they give a good snapshot of how a team looks from the 30,000-foot, national perspective.

USA TODAY dropped the 49ers to No. 19 overall in the rankings, which is a fine spot for a 6-8 team that is 1-4 in its division. It’s who’s around San Francisco that really drives home where their various stumbles this season have left them in the NFL pecking order.

Just ahead of the 49ers at No. 18 are the Atlanta Falcons – losers of four in a row before somehow sneaking past the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday to cap Week 15.

Just behind the 49ers at No. 20 are the Dallas Cowboys – a laughingstock that is now tied with San Francisco in the standings.

The Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots are the three teams just behind Dallas, signaling the realm the 49ers could fall into with another bad loss or two in their final three games.

As for the rest of the NFC West, they’re all way in front of San Francisco. The Arizona Cardinals are at No. 15, one spot behind the No. 14 Seattle Seahawks. The division-leading Los Angeles Rams are at No. 9.

In a year where the division was imminently winnable, instead of sitting way above the rest of the NFC West, San Francisco is looking up at them while slumming it with the Cowboys and Falcons.

Ouch.

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Seahawks’ postseason odds plummet following Packers setback

Seahawks’ postseason odds plummet following Packers setback

The Seattle Seahawks entered Sunday’s primetime contest versus the Green Bay Packers in pole position in the NFC West. Having enjoyed a four-game win streak, Mike Macdonald’s club went into Sunday possessing a 55.5% chance to make the playoffs, according to ESPN’s Analytics department. Their predictive model gave Seattle a 51.8% chance to win the division title.

Unfortunately, the Seahawks were swept aside 30-13 by the Packers on Sunday Night Football. That setback had a dramatic impact on Seattle’s updated postseason odds. The Los Angeles Rams have moved into first place in the NFC West. Seattle’s latest playoff now stands at 37.2% to win the division, and 35.1% to make the postseason, per Brady Henderson and ESPN Analytics.

It’s rare that a team possesses a better opportunity to win the division than claim a wild-card spot, but that’s the situation the Seahawks find themselves in. As Henderson laid out above, the Washington Commanders currently possess a one-game lead for the third-and-final wild card spot, and have two more NFC wins for tiebreaker purposes. Whereas the Seahawks still possess a potentially NFC-West-deciding showdown with the Rams during Week 18’s regular-season finale.

Macdonald’s attention now shifts to a difficult matchup with the surging 12-2 Minnesota Vikings in Week 16. The Seahawks must stay within one victory of their arch rival Rams to increase their chances of Week 18 being a win-and-in scenario. Seattle must quickly recover from Sunday’s setback to keep their postseason dreams alive.

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Vikings clinch playoff berth, Rams jump into playoff picture

A look at the NFC playoff race with three weeks left in the season.

Week 15 is complete and the NFL playoff race is heating up in the NFC. The Minnesota Vikings officially punched their ticket to the postseason, securing three teams’ places in the playoffs in the conference, joining the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles.

Three teams — the Carolina Panthers, New York Giants and Chicago Bears are all eliminated from playoff contention.

There two changes in the playoff standings in Week 15. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers moved up from the No. 4 seed to No. 3 and the Los Angeles Rams took over the NFC West lead, knocking the Seattle Seahawks out of the playoff picture currently, and moving into the No. 4 seed.

Let’s have a look at the current standings in the NFC.

NFC playoff standings in Week 16

  1. Detroit Lions, 12-2
  2. Philadelphia Eagles, 12-2
  3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 8-6
  4. Los Angeles Rams, 8-6
  5. Minnesota Vikings, 12-2
  6. Green Bay Packers, 10-4
  7. Washington Commanders, 9-5

In the mix are the 8-6 Seahawks, the 7-7 Arizona Cardinals and 7-7 Atlanta Falcons.

The Lions, Eagles and Vikings all have the same record. The Lions hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Vikings to give them the division lead, and they have a better conference record than the Eagles (8-1 vs. 7-2), which gives Detroit the edge for the No. 1 seed.

The Rams hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over Seattle, giving them the division lead despite having the same 8-6 record as Seattle.

Tampa leads Atlanta by a game. The Bucs must maintain a better record than the Falcons. Atlanta beat them twice this season and own a head-to-head tiebreaker.

Week 15 results that mattered

  • The Lions had their winning streak snapped as they lost to the Buffalo Bills 48-42.
  • The Eagles beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-13 at home.
  • The Bucs beat the L.A. Chargers 40-17, scoring 30 unanswered points after trailing 17-10. Baker Mayfield threw four touchdown passes.
  • The Rams beat the San Francisco 49ers 12-6 on Thursday night.
  • The Vikings blew out the Chicago Bears 30-12 on Monday night, allowing the Bears to convert on third down once in 12 attempts.
  • The Packers blew out the Seahawks 30-13 in Seattle.
  • The Commanders survived a 20-19 win over the New Orleans Saints, who after scoring a touchdown as time expired in the game, failed to convert the two-point conversion that would have given them the win.
  • The Cardinals snapped a three-game losing streak with a 30-17 win over the New England Patriots, behind 110 rushing yards and two touchdowns by James Conner.
  • The Falcons snapped a four-game skid with an unimpressive 15-9 road win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

Week 16 key games in NFC playoff race

  • The Lions are on the road against the Bears.
  • The Eagles are on the road against the Commanders.
  • The Bucs play the Cowboys on the road.
  • The Rams play the New York Jets on the road.
  • Minnesota is on the road against the Seahawks.
  • The Packers host the Saints on Monday night.
  • The Cardinals play the Panthers on the road.
  • The Falcons are at home against the struggling Giants.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.

 

NFL playoff picture: Who’s in, out or clinched ahead of Week 16?

A look at the playoff picture this week.

After Week 16, we’ll have a couple more weeks of NFL action to decide who’s facing whom in the postseason, as the road to Super Bowl 59 will truly be locked in.

But for now, if you’re wondering what the playoff picture looks like, you’ve come to the right place.

A few teams have already been eliminated (sorry to your squad if you root for them, but here’s the NFL Draft order right now to help!), but we’ll split it into the NFC and AFC and see who’s up, who’s down and who’s in between as of right now:

AFC playoff picture

In right now:

1. Kansas City Chiefs (clinched a playoff spot)

2. Buffalo Bills (clinched a playoff spot)

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (clinched a playoff spot)

4. Houston Texans (clinched a playoff spot)

5. Baltimore Ravens

6. Denver Broncos

7. Los Angeles Chargers

Out but looming:

8. Indianapolis Colts

9. Miami Dolphins

10. Cincinnati Bengals

NFC playoff picture

In right now:

1. Detroit Lions (clinched a playoff spot)

2. Philadelphia Eagles (clinched a playoff spot)

3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

4. Los Angeles Rams

5. Minnesota Vikings (clinched a playoff spot)

6. Green Bay Packers

7. Washington Commanders

Out but looming:

8. Seattle Seahawks

9. Atlanta Falcons

10. Arizona Cardinals

11. San Francisco 49ers

12. Dallas Cowboys

13. New Orleans Saints

Who’s been eliminated from the playoffs?

New England Patriots

Las Vegas Raiders

New York Giants

Cleveland Browns

Jacksonville Jaguars

New York Jets

Tennessee Titans

Chicago Bears

Carolina Panthers

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NFL playoff picture: What are Chargers’ chances of making postseason after loss to Buccaneers?

Find out how the loss to the Buccaneers affected the Chargers’ chances of playing beyond the regular season.

The Chargers lost to the Buccaneers on Sunday. They fell to 8-6, as did their percentage of making the playoffs.

According to NFL.com, Los Angeles has an 88% chance of making the playoffs. With the Bolts’ loss, they dropped to the seventh seed, and the Broncos moved into the sixth seed.

Here’s a look at the division standings entering Week 16:

1. Chiefs (13-1) *clinched division*

2. Broncos (9-5)

3. Chargers (8-6)

4. Raiders (2-11)

And a look at the playoff picture:

*There are (7) available Playoff spots

1. Chiefs (13-1)

2. Bills (11-3)

3. Steelers (10-4)

4. Texans (9-5)

5. Ravens (9-5)

6. Broncos (9-5)

7. Chargers (8-6)

8. Colts (6-8)

9. Dolphins (6-8)

10. Bengals (6-8)

AFC playoff matchups if the season ended today:

  • No. 2 Bills vs. No. 7 Chargers
  • No. 3 Steelers vs. No. 6 Broncos
  • No. 4 Texans vs. No. 5 Ravens

NFL playoff picture, Week 15: Dolphins down to long shot scenario

A Chargers loss means the door to the playoffs is still cracked for the Dolphins, but it’s certainly not looking likely.

The Miami Dolphins’ 20-12 loss to the Houston Texans likely ended the team’s playoff hopes.

The setback dropped the Dolphins to 6-8 on the year and both the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos improved to 9-5. The only saving grace for Miami is that both the Los Angeles Chargers and Indianapolis Colts lost Sunday.

With all the AFC results from Week 15 now in the books, here are the conference standings with three weeks left in the regular season:

  1. Kansas City Chiefs: 13-1
  2. Buffalo Bills: 11-3
  3. Pittsburgh Steelers: 10-4
  4. Houston Texans: 9-5
  5. Baltimore Ravens: 9-5
  6. Denver Broncos: 9-5
  7. Los Angeles Chargers: 8-6
  • Indianapolis Colts: 6-8
  • Miami Dolphins: 6-8
  • Cincinnati Bengals: 6-8

For the Dolphins, it’s pretty simple now: one more loss will almost certainly eliminate them from playoff contention.

If Miami wins out by beating the 49ers, Browns, and Jets to get to 9-8, they’d own a tiebreaker against any teams other than the Texans and Colts. That means the Dolphins need Indianapolis to lose at least once in the final three weeks against the Titans, Giants, and/or Jaguars.

But the real long shot is that the Dolphins need either the Ravens or Broncos to lose out, or the Chargers to lose two of their last three. Baltimore finishes the year against the Steelers, Texans, and Browns, Denver faces the Chargers, Bengals, and Chiefs, and the Chargers end the year with the Broncos, Patriots, and Raiders.

The odds of any of that coming to fruition and the Dolphins playing in the postseason? NFL.com puts it at about a six percent chance.

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What’s at stake for the Seahawks on Sunday Night Football?

What’s at stake for the Seahawks on Sunday Night Football?

The Seattle Seahawks have as big a game as they get in the regular season tonight on Sunday Night Football. Every game against the Green Bay Packers is a must-see event for the 12th Man, especially under the lights of prime time. But what we have here in Week 15 is not your average meeting between these teams.

Seattle is hosting Green Bay in what is essentially a playoff preview. Right now, the Seahawks are the No. 3 seed in the NFC, while the Packers are the No. 6 seed. Should the regular season magically end right now, these teams would play this exact game at Lumen Field in Wild Card Weekend. While the stakes may not be “loser goes home for good,” they are still incredibly high… especially for Seattle.

Simply put, here is what is at stake for the Seahawks:

  • If they win: Seattle remains in first place in the NFC West and stays put at the No. 3 seed. They don’t necessarily improve standings wise, but remaining where they are at is just as important.
  • If they lose: the Seahawks will not only fall to second place in the NFC West, as the Rams will overtake them, they will fall out of the playoff picture entirely.

While Seattle’s season won’t be “over” if they lose, they will find themselves on the outside looking in for the next three weeks of the season where they will be fighting for their lives. Not exactly a spot you want to be in this time of the year.

Additionally, should Seattle lose but end up winning the West, the additional loss will almost certainly knock them out of the No. 3 spot for the playoffs. There is a huge difference between No. 3 and No. 4, who would likely host the Minnesota Vikings.

So yeah, to say the Seahawks need to find a way to win at home tonight is the understatement of the day.

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