Updated NFC Playoff Picture after Week 17 early games
Here’s a look at the updated NFL Playoff Picture, NFC Playoff Picture, and NFC Wild Card standings after Week 17 early games.
It’s a new year, but the same old chaos exists in the NFL Playoff Picture.
Just when it appeared things were settling into place in the NFC, everything has gone haywire after Christmas. The Philadelphia Eagles are falling apart without Jalen Hurts, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are slowly coming to life on offense, and
More important, after Week 17 there is only one playoff ticket left to be punched and a handful of teams fighting for it.
Since losing Jalen Hurts, the Eagles are 0-2 and are now in danger of not only losing the No. 1 seed in the NFC but falling back into the Wild Card. The Dallas Cowboys remain hot on the heels of Philly with one game left in the season to capitalize on a late-season stumble by their rivals.
After two straight losses, the Eagles still control their path to the No. 1 seed but need to beat the Giants next week to do so. What looked like a race that was locked up weeks ago will now go down to the final week of the season. The Vikings can steal the No. 1 seed by beating the Packers and Bears, and with a Cowboys loss next week.
If we’re talking teams that could secure the No. 1 seed, the Cowboys need a win next week and a loss by the Eagles to jump the Vikings and win the top spot in the bracket.
Meanwhile, amid the chaos atop the NFC, the 49ers are keeping an eye on the Vikings in a bid to secure the No. 2 seed. San Francisco has gone the complete opposite way of the Eagles after losing its starting quarterback as Brock Purdy has strapped the team onto his back and carried them to an undefeated record on his watch.
Below the fold, the Wild Card picture in the NFC isn’t any less chaotic. The New York Giants clinched one of the two remaining spots leaving just one Wild Card left for as many as three teams fighting to sneak into the playoffs.
The calendar has turned to a new year, but the NFL Playoff Picture is anything but settled and the final stretch o the season will kick 2023 off with all sorts of carryover chaos from how things ended in 2022.
