Your Full NFL Playoff Scenario List
Monday, December 22, 2008
I was flipping through Yahoo's Playoff Generator this morning, and figured since I spent 30 minutes breaking down each teams odds at getting in, that I'd put up a thread that breaks down the war entirely. Feel free to correct, add to, and discuss all of what you see below in the comments.
NFC:
New York Giants- Clinched top seed and first round bye with Week Sixteen win over Panthers, will have homefield advantage throughout the Playoffs.
Carolina Panthers- Can clinch the second seed and first round bye with a win over New Orleans, or a Falcons loss. If Carolina loses, and the Falcons win, they will secure the 5th seed
Minnesota Vikings- Can clinch the NFC North with a win against the Giants or a Bears loss on Monday Night (Green Bay), or in Week Seventeen. They have no shot at a Wild Card spot.
Arizona Cardinals- Have locked up the 4th Seed by winning the NFC West. Cannot move up to the 3rd seed under any scenario
Atlanta Falcons- Secured a Playoff spot by beating Minnesota in Week Sixteen. With a win at home against St. Louis, and a Panthers loss in New Orleans, the Falcons will get the 2nd seed and a first round bye. If the Philly beats Dallas, they will end up with the 5th seed, if Dallas wins...they get the 6th spot.
Dallas Cowboys- Win and they're in. With an Atlanta loss against the Rams, and a win, they're the 5th seed. Otherwise they're in the 6th spot.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Has to win at Oakland, and needs losses from both Chicago (in one of their remaining two games) and Dallas. Can only clinch the sixth seed.
Philadelphia Eagles- Need to beat Dallas, have Tampa Bay lose to Oakland, and have Chicago lose on of their next two. Can also clinch if Chicago wins both games and they beat Dallas.
Chicago Bears- Can still win the NFC North with two wins and a Minnesota loss. Can also obtain the 6th seed with two wins, a Vikings win, and losses from Dallas, Atlanta and Tampa Bay.
AFC:
Tennessee Titans- Clinched the top spot and homefield advangage with win over Steelers in Week Sixteen.
Pittsburgh Steelers- Have won the AFC North and have secured the 2nd seed, as well as a first round bye.
Indianaoplis Colts- Have clinched the top Wild Card spot by finishing second in the AFC South.
Denver Broncos/San Diego Chargers- Whoever wins their Week Seventeen Matchup will clinch the 4th seed by winning the AFC West.
Baltimore Ravens- Clinch only clinch the 6th spot. They can do so with a win over the Jaguars in Week Seventeen. They can also get in with a loss as long as the Dolphins beat the Jets, and the Bills beat the Patriots.
Miami Dolphins- Can win the AFC East with a win over the Jets and will have the 3rd seed. Lose and they're out.
New England Patriots- Can win the AFC East, and the 3rd seed, with a win over the Bills and a Jets win over Miami. They can also lock up the 6th seed with a Dolphins win, and a Ravens loss to the Jags.
New York Jets- Can win the AFC East, and the 3rd spot, with a win against the Dolphins and a Patriots loss to the Bills. Can lock up the sixth seed with a win against the Dolphins, a Patriots win, and a Ravens loss
Whew. Is your head hurting as bad as mine at the moment? I can't remember a final two weeks of the NFL Season where this many teams had a shot. It's going to be a fun Week Seventeen!
10 Comments:
The Bears don't need Atlanta to lose to get the sixth seed. In order to the make the playoffs, the Bears need:
to beat Green Bay AND Houston
AND
Minnesota loss or tie (for third seed)
OR
Tampa Bay loss or tie AND Dallas loss or tie (for sixth seed, if Minnesota wins)
How does the Jets need the Pats to win to get the final wild-card spot? They're ahead in divisional and conference play, so it shouldn't matter what the Pats do vs. Buffalo.
@walnuts:
How does the Jets need the Pats to win to get the final wild-card spot? They're ahead in divisional and conference play, so it shouldn't matter what the Pats do vs. Buffalo.
If the Jets win and the Patriots lose, then the Jets win the division and the Ravens get the final wild card spot.
And Jay Cutler still sucks...
walnut, there are three scenarios (among the eight) where the jets get into the playoffs. two of them result with the jets winning the afc east, and one resulting with them having the sixth seed. here's why the jets need the pats to win for them to clinch a wild card spot (also need a ravens loss for this to play out) "NYJ finishes in second place in the AFC East based on head-to-head sweep over MIA; NYJ clinches wild card based on better conference record over BAL".
for those asking about why miami can't win the wild card if they lose is because the ravens beat them earlier in the season and ravens would win the tiebreaker between them.
Actually, Minnesota can get the wild card.
If Chicago wins out, The Eagles, beat Dallas, Oakland beats Tampa Bay AND the Vikings-Giants game ends in a tie then the Vikings and the Eagles both finish at 9-6-1 and the Vikings win the #6 seed based on a better conference record (7-4-1 vs 7-5)
How do the Eagles clinch with Chicago winning out? Even if the Eagles beat Dallas, Chicago winning out would give the Bears a better record than the Eagles.
JFein is correct. The Eagles need both the Bears and the Bucs to each lose a game.
I actually got it now. The wording was vague to me. Chicago can win the NFC North and the Eagles can still get in with a Bucs loss and an obvious beating of the Cowboys.
Basically in the 3 remaining combined games involving Minnesota and Chicago, there must be one loss by the NFC North team.
arizona locked up the 4th seed, not the 3rd