Who’s Left in the NFL Playoffs?
It’s that time of year again. The NFL Playoffs are in full swing and we’re down to the final four teams. Who’s left in the race for the Lombardi Trophy?
The NFL Playoffs
The NFL playoffs are in full swing and there are only a few teams left vying for the chance to go to the Super Bowl. The Saints, Rams, Chiefs, and Patriots are all still in the running and it should be a great few weeks of football. Let’s take a look at each team’s chances.
The NFC
The NFC playoff picture is looking a lot clearer than the AFC after Week 15, with five of the six teams that will be vying for a trip to the Super Bowl now set. The only thing left to decide is who will be the No. 1 seed in the conference.
The New Orleans Saints are in the driver’s seat after their come-from-behind win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, but they still have some work to do. The Saints need to either beat or tie the Carolina Panthers in Week 16 or have the Los Angeles Rams lose or tie against either the San Francisco 49ers or Arizona Cardinals in order to clinch the top spot.
If the Rams lose or tie one of their remaining games and the Saints win or tie against Carolina, New Orleans will earn a first-round bye. Los Angeles can clinched a first-round bye with a win and a loss by both Green Bay and Dallas.
The Rams will clinch the NFC West title with either a win or a tie against San Francisco in Week 16. Los Angeles can also clinch the division if it loses to San Francisco but both Seattle and Minnesota lose or tie their Week 16 games as well.
The AFC
The American Football Conference (AFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the world. This conference and its counterpart, the National Football Conference (NFC), currently contain 16 teams each, making up a total of 32 teams in the NFL. Both conferences are made up of four divisions: North, South, East, and West.
Currently, the AFC is made up of the following teams:
-The Baltimore Ravens
-The Buffalo Bills
-The Cincinnati Bengals
-The Cleveland Browns
-The Denver Broncos
-The Houston Texans
-The Indianapolis Colts
-The Jacksonville Jaguars
-The Kansas City Chiefs
-The Miami Dolphins
-The New England Patriots
-The New York Jets
– The Oakland Raiders
– The Pittsburgh Steelers
– The Tennessee Titans
These sixteen teams are then divided into four divisions: North, South, East, and West. The team that wins each division automatically makes it into the playoffs. In addition to these four division winners, two more teams from each conference are chosen to play in what are called wild card games. The team with the best record that did not win their division plays at home against the team with the worst record among all division winners. The other wild card game matchup is between the two remaining teams who did not win their division but had one of the next best records. These four teams –the two division winners and two wild card teams– make up what is called “the AFC playoffs”. From here, these four teams compete against each other in a single elimination tournament until only one AFC team remains–the AFC champion. This champion then goes on to play against the NFC champion in what is called “the Super Bowl”–the biggest and most important game in all of American football.
Who’s Left in the NFL Playoffs?
The NFL playoffs are down to the final four teams. In the AFC, the New England Patriots will take on the Jacksonville Jaguars. In the NFC, the Minnesota Vikings will face the Philadelphia Eagles. Let’s take a look at each team’s chances of winning.
The NFC
The National Football Conference (NFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the world. This conference and its counterpart, the American Football Conference (AFC), currently contain 16 teams each, making up a total of 32 teams in the NFL.
The NFC is divided into two divisions, the East and West. Each division currently has four teams, for a total of eight teams in each conference. The NFC East consists of the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, and Washington Redskins. The NFC West consists of the Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, and Seattle Seahawks.
In order to make it to the playoffs, a team must first win their divisional championship game. The divisional champion with the best record in each conference will then earn a first-round bye in the playoffs. The remaining two divisional champions will play each other in what is known as a Wild Card game. The winner of this game will advance to play one of the conference’s top seeds in the Divisional round.
From there, the conference’s top seed will earn another bye week as they await the winner of the Divisional round game between the remaining two divisional champions. The conference championship game will then be played between the two remaining teams, with the winner punching their ticket to Super Bowl LIII.
The AFC
In the AFC, the top-seeded Patriots will take on the upstart Jaguars in the conference championship game. The Jaguars have been one of the surprise teams of the playoffs, but they will have their hands full with Tom Brady and the Patriots. The other game in the AFC will be between the Steelers and the Titans. The Titans have been another surprise team in these playoffs, but they will have to go into Pittsburgh and beat the Steelers if they want to make it to the Super Bowl.
Conclusion
As we enter the Conference Championship round, there are only four teams left in the running for the Lombardi Trophy.
In the AFC, the top-seeded Kansas City Chiefs will host the fifth-seeded Tennessee Titans. The Chiefs are coming off a bye week, while the Titans upset the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional Round.
In the NFC, the second-seeded Green Bay Packers will travel to face off against the third-seeded San Francisco 49ers. The Packers beat the Seattle Seahawks in a close game last week, while the 49ers knocked out the Minnesota Vikings.
So, who’s left in the NFL playoffs? The Chiefs, Titans, Packers, and 49ers.
