NFL Playoff Picture If Season Ended Today

The folks at ESPN are lucky the Dallas Cowboys are hosting Week 9’s edition of “Monday Night Football.” If we told you that the Week 9 Monday night game featured two teams that are not currently part of the playoff picture, you’d assume it’s a dud matchup. And Dallas hosting the Arizona Cardinals is a dud matchup on paper. Good thing for ESPN that the Cowboys will bring in ratings no matter what.

But the winner of that game still is on the outside looking in. If the season ended today, neither would be in the playoffs.

Meanwhile, it was a great bye week for the Philadelphia Eagles. While Jalen Hurts and his teammates got to enjoy a quiet Sunday of rest, they moved into the NFC’s top seed by virtue of the Green Bay Packers getting upset by the Carolina Panthers. Inthe AFC, despite losing their second game of the season, the Indianapolis Colts remain the No. 1 seed. And with their loss to the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs are currently out of the playoff picture, replaced in the No. 7 seed by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

AFC Playoff Seeding

1. Indianapolis Colts
2. New England Patriots
3. Denver Broncos
4. Pittsburgh Steelers
5. Buffalo Bills
6. Los Angeles Chargers
7. Jacksonville Jaguars

AFC Wild Card Round (Colts get bye):
Jaguars at Patriots
Chargers at Broncos
Bills at Steelers

NFC Playoff Seeding

1. Philadelphia Eagles
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
3. Seattle Seahawks
4. Green Bay Packers
5. Detroit Lions
6. Los Angeles Rams
7. San Francisco 49ers

NFC Wild Card Round (Eagles get bye):
49ers at Buccaneers
Rams at Seahawks
Lions at Packers

Here’s a breakdown of the NFL’s tiebreaking procedures.