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<\/p>\nWeek 15 was impactful on the injury front in the NFL. We also found out a lot about each NFC playoff team. The high-flying offenses didn\u2019t disappoint, while the teams that lean on their defenses took a step back.<\/p>\n
The fourth and ninth-seeded teams swapped places, as did the second and seventh-seeded teams. Here\u2019s a look at the NFC playoff picture after 15 weeks.<\/p>\n
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Current NFC Playoff picture<\/p>\n
1) Los Angeles Rams 11-3 (6-3 in the NFC)
2) Chicago Bears 10-4 (6-3)
3) Philadelphia Eagles 9-5 (7-3)
4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7-7 (5-5)
5) Seattle Seahawks 11-3 (6-3)
6) San Francisco 49ers 10-4 (8-2)
7) Green Bay Packers 9-4-1 (7-2-1)<\/p>\n
The Rams scored over 40 points for the second game in a row. They did sustain a serious injury to wide receiver Davante Adams, but that just meant more targets for Puka Nacua. The Rams threw for 368 yards and ran for 159. Their offense operates at a level that resembles the 2023 Niners. Their defense has plenty of holes, but if you\u2019re not scoring every time, it doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
Speaking of offenses that are clicking, Ben Johnson has the Bears in a groove. They didn\u2019t have their top wideout, Rome Odunze, against the Browns, but it didn\u2019t matter. Rookie Luther Burden is coming into his own, while DJ Moore and Colston Loveland give Caleb Williams weapons to score on anybody. Caleb Williams continues to progress, but it\u2019s the running game and the offensive line that will be the reason Chicago is the team nobody wants to play in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
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The Eagles blanked Kenny Pickett and the Raiders. However, we didn\u2019t learn anything new about them. If anything, the NFC East should be looked at negatively after the Cowboys lost to the Vikings. Philly still looks like a one-and-done team in the postseason.<\/p>\n
The same is true for whoever wins the NFC South. It looks like nobody wants to win. The Bucs lost to the Atlanta Falcons, but are here because the Panthers lost to the Saints. What a sad sentence to type. If I\u2019m one of the NFC West teams, I\u2019m positioning myself to be in the fifth seed.<\/p>\n
Seattle won a game without scoring a touchdown. They averaged 2.3 yards per carry and played a quarterback who hadn\u2019t thrown a pass in the NFL since 2020. Football is fluid, and the more I see from Seattle, the more I see cracks in this team. As electric as they are defensively, the offense leaves a lot to be desired. Sam Darnold feels inevitable, and not in a positive way.<\/p>\n
The Packers\u2019 loss to the Broncos was only a footnote in Week 15. They lost Micah Parsons, who was their game changer and difference-maker on defense. Now, their pass rush reverts to ordinary, and their secondary is more likely to get exposed\u2014as they did against a lowly Broncos offense. I went from thinking the Packers would make a deep playoff run with Parsons to pivoting to Green Bay being lucky to hold onto the No. 7 seed.<\/p>\n
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Green Bay travels to Chicago, then plays the Ravens, and will play a feisty Vikings team in Week 18. I don\u2019t think the Packers make the playoffs. More on that later.<\/p>\n
The 49ers path to the #1 seed<\/p>\n
Green Bay\u2019s loss was huge for the 49ers\u2019 path to the No. 1 seed. Now, the Niners need the Rams to lose Thursday to Seattle and win out. Likely? Not really. The 49ers currently have a 17 percent chance to win the division, per ESPN\u2019s FPI.<\/p>\n
Never say never. The Rams won\u2019t have Davante Adams. They\u2019re also on the road, and it\u2019s a short week. Plus, the last time these two teams played, Los Angeles\u2019s offense looked mortal. Despite Sam Darnold turning the ball over four times, Seattle still had a chance to win. Their physicality can give the Rams fits.<\/p>\n
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Week 18\u2019s matchup could come down to the No. 1 seed. Equally as important, it could determine who gets the fifth or sixth seed. The higher seed will face the NFC South champion and likely avoid the Rams until the NFC Championship. The fifth-seed\u2019s chances to make a deep playoff run, where they\u2019d face the Bucs\/Panthers in the Wild Card and then get the Bears\/Eagles \u2014 if the higher seed advances\u2013 would be significant. There is still an eternity left, but the fifth seed will matter.<\/p>\n
NFC teams still in the hunt for the playoff picture<\/p>\n
8) Detroit Lions 8-6 (5-5)
9) Carolina Panthers 7-7 (5-4)
10) Dallas Cowboys 6-7-1 (3-6-1)<\/p>\n
No team benefited more than the Lions, despite losing to the Rams. Their offense remains dangerous, and that\u2019ll be what gets Dan Campbell\u2019s squad into the playoffs.<\/p>\n
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Detroit hosts the Steelers in Week 16, travels to Minnesota, and then goes to Soldier Field in Week 18 for a game that\u2019ll determine the NFC North winner. I think the Lions win out and miraculously get the No. 2 seed. They are still the one team that can beat the Rams. They were up double-digits on Sunday, with plenty of chances to win.<\/p>\n
Thanks for coming out, Carolina. The Panthers will have to win two of the final three against the Bucs(twice) and the Seahawks. While it\u2019s certainly possible, it just does not seem like a team that will do what needs to be done in the clutch.<\/p>\n
Dallas\u2019s defense is atrocious, and it shouldn\u2019t be long until they\u2019re eliminated from playoff contention. Not only would the Cowboys need to win out, but they\u2019re hoping the Eagles lose to Washington twice and the Bills. Good luck with that.<\/p>\n
Simulated NFC playoff picture<\/p>\n
Using ESPN\u2019s playoff simulator and going through each of the remaining games for each NFC playoff team, here\u2019s how I think it\u2019ll turn out:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ridiculous? Of course. Far-fetched? Kinda. But that\u2019s the NFL. Not many people would have predicted that the Bucs and Panthers would lose this week. Seattle is begging to lose with that offense. The Lions look like a playoff team when I watch them. They just so happened to go against the Rams. It\u2019s difficult to see them losing to teams unlikely to stop them.<\/p>\n
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Green Bay falls completely out of the playoff picture here, while the 49ers find a way to sweep Seattle in Week 18 and secure the fifth seed. Funny how things change in a week. I\u2019m sure this picture will look completely different a week from now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Week 15 was impactful on the injury front in the NFL. We also found out a lot about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[254,215,232,1036,391,590,230,5430,113,1475,7,41,345,2514,2513,570,1014,58,491,233,1867,87704,6,428,236,109,6202,1088,525,2495,1878,252,261,1672,426,250],"class_list":{"0":"post-602711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-bay-packers","8":"tag-atlanta-falcons","9":"tag-bills","10":"tag-broncos","11":"tag-caleb-williams","12":"tag-chicago-bears","13":"tag-colston-loveland","14":"tag-cowboys","15":"tag-davante-adams","16":"tag-detroit-lions","17":"tag-dj-moore","18":"tag-football","19":"tag-green-bay","20":"tag-green-bay-packers","21":"tag-greenbay","22":"tag-greenbaypackers","23":"tag-kenny-pickett","24":"tag-los-angeles","25":"tag-los-angeles-rams","26":"tag-micah-parsons","27":"tag-minnesota","28":"tag-nfc-playoff-picture","29":"tag-nfc-west-teams","30":"tag-nfl","31":"tag-packers","32":"tag-panthers","33":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","34":"tag-playoff-team","35":"tag-puka-nacua","36":"tag-raiders","37":"tag-rome-odunze","38":"tag-sam-darnold","39":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","40":"tag-seattle-seahawks","41":"tag-seed","42":"tag-steelers","43":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}