Nov 17, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) celebrates with wide receiver Jordan Addison (3) after his touchdown against the Tennessee Titans during the first half at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images.
Folks, we are fully entrenched in the second half of the NFL season.
With Week 11 now in the books, there are just seven weeks left in the regular season before we officially know how the NFL playoff picture will look in January. Here is a look at where the playoff races across the NFL currently stand before the second third of the season wraps up this upcoming weekend.
The AFC East is the Buffalo Bills’ division to lose at this point. Miami has shown some life in the weeks since Tua Tagovailoa’s return, but with a win this weekend, Buffalo ensured that they remain four games ahead of Miami with seven games remaining for each team.
The Pittsburgh Steelers snatched a big win over the Baltimore Ravens this weekend, ensuring that they remain on top in the AFC North division. Pittsburgh still has plenty of work in front of them though with five of their final seven games coming against AFC North opponents, including another game against Baltimore in Week 16.
It certainly hasn’t been the breakout year in the AFC that many Houston Texans fans had hoped for, but in the end, they still have a comfortable lead in the AFC South. They’ve already guaranteed a tiebreaker over the Colts as well with two victories over their division rivals earlier this season.
The Kansas City Chiefs no longer have a perfect record as they fell to the Buffalo Bills in another thrilling game between the two AFC heavyweights. As a result, the door is creaking open for the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC West with a matchup looming over the horizon at Arrowhead in Week 14.
If the season ended today, the AFC would give us quite the storyline heading into the Wild Card round. For starters, we would get another Ravens/Steelers matchup which would promise to be an exciting game between the AFC North rivals. Then, Justin Herbert and C.J. Stroud would meet in a battle of two exciting young QBs.
Finally, the Bo Nix/Sean Payton duo in Denver has the Broncos clinging to the No. 7 seed in the conference, and for now, that seed would seal them a date with the Buffalo Bills.
The magical run for the Washington Commanders seems to be running out of steam after a pivotal loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last Thursday. With Washington’s second consecutive loss, Philly now holds a 1.5-game lead in the division along with the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Commanders. Washington has a chance to even the score against their division rivals in Week 16.
Despite the Chicago Bears now being on a four-game losing streak, the NFC North still has the highest winning percentage of all divisions in the NFL. Detroit looks like they might be the most complete team in the league while the Vikings and Packers continue to lurk in the shadows in case a slip-up comes from the NFC’s No. 1 team.
Remember when the NFC South was the talk of the league through the first couple weeks of the season? Well, the division has returned to being the armpit of the NFL with the Falcons’ 6-5 record being the worst among all division leaders in the league.
Few would have predicted that the Arizona Cardinals would be the leaders in the NFC West through 11 weeks, and even fewer would have predicted that the San Francisco 49ers would also be last. Of course, that is not to say that this isn’t an extremely competitive division as all four teams are separated by just one game. Chaos seems inevitable here down the stretch of the season.
To qualify for the playoffs in the NFC, it looks like it might require 10 or at least 11 wins at this point in the season. This conference has been uber-competitive all year, and the Wild Card matchups would be equally so if this were the final seedings with an NFC matchup between the Eagles and Commanders while the Vikings would travel to Atlanta to take on their former QB Kirk Cousins.
Editor’s Note: Statistics for this article were found via Pro Football Reference.