The NFC playoff picture is very exciting entering Week 18 of the season, with plenty of changes to the seedings possible depending on what happens.
Entering Week 18, only two teams are locked into their spots: the 8-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the No. 4 spot in the NFC as the NFC South winners. The New York Giants have the No. 6 spot as the second wild card team. Everything else is up for grabs.
We already went through the scenarios for the final wild card spot in the NFC between the Packers, Lions and Seahawks (see it here).
Now it’s time to look at the race for the Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5 spots, which involves the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys.
EAGLES (13-3, current No. 1, vs. Giants in Week 18)
No. 1 seed with win
No. 1 seed with loss + Cowboys loss + 49ers loss
No. 2 seed with loss + Cowboys loss + 49ers win
No. 5 seed with loss + Cowboys win
49ERS (12-4, current No. 2, vs. Arizona in Week 18)
No. 1 seed with win + Eagles loss
No. 2 seed with win + Eagles win
No. 3 seed with loss + Vikings win
VIKINGS (12-4, current No. 3, at Bears in Week 18)
No. 2 seed with win + 49ers loss
No. 3 seed in all other scenarios
COWBOYS (12-4, current No. 5, at Commanders in Week 18)
No. 1 seed with win + Eagles loss + 49ers loss
No. 2 seed with win + Eagles loss + 49ers win
No. 5 seed with win + Eagles win
No. 5 seed with loss
Here is a helpful guide to show every single scenario for the NFC standings.
There are now 16 scenarios at the top of the NFC.
The #Eagles win the bye in 10 of them.
The #49ers win the bye in 4.
The #Cowboys win the bye in 2.The #Vikings…well, they can still get #2. pic.twitter.com/QjLYmFkUZJ
— Bryan Knowles (@BryKno) January 2, 2023
