With one more week of the regular season, their are many teams still fighting for a spot in the postseason. There is one spot up for grabs in the AFC, while the NFC currently has three openings. Denver, New England, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Kansas City all have AFC playoff berths, while Seattle, Carolina, and San Francisco own NFC playoff berths.
Let’s take a look at the possible scenarios for next week.
DENVER BRONCOS
Denver clinches home-field advantage throughout AFC playoffs with:
1) DEN win OR
2) NE loss
New England clinches a first-round bye with:
1) NE win OR
2) CIN loss + IND loss
New England clinches home-field advantage throughout AFC playoffs with:
1) NE win + DEN loss
Cincinnati clinches first-round bye with:
1) CIN win + NE loss
Indianapolis clinches first-round bye with:
1) IND win + NE loss + CIN loss
Baltimore clinches a playoff spot with:
1) BAL win + SD loss OR
2) BAL win + MIA loss OR
3) PIT loss + SD loss + MIA loss
Miami clinches a playoff spot with:
1) MIA win + BAL loss OR
2) MIA win + SD win
Pittsburgh clinches a playoff spot with:
1) PIT win + BAL loss + MIA loss + SD loss
San Diego clinches a playoff spot with:
1) SD win + BAL loss + MIA loss
NFC
Seattle clinches NFC West and home-field advantage throughout NFC playoffs with:
1) SEA win OR
2) SF loss
New Orleans clinches a playoff spot with:
1) NO win OR
2) ARI loss
New Orleans clinches NFC South and a first-round bye with:
1) NO win + CAR loss
Carolina clinches NFC South and first-round bye with:
1) CAR win OR
2) NO loss
Carolina clinches NFC South and home-field advantage with:
1) CAR win + SEA loss + SF win
San Francisco clinches NFC West and first-round bye with:
1) SF win + SEA loss
San Francisco clinches NFC West and home-field advantage with:
1) SF win + SEA loss + CAR loss
Arizona clinches a playoff spot with:
1) ARI win + NO loss
Philadelphia clinches NFC East with:
1) PHI win/tie
Dallas clinches NFC East with:
1) DAL win
Chicago clinches NFC North with:
1) CHI win/tie
Green Bay clinches NFC North with:
1) GB win
[H/T ESPN]