Standings entering week 15

Bold indicates clinched playoff berth. Italics indicate elimination from playoffs.

      NFC                                 AFC
1 GB (10-3)y 1 1 KC (12-1)y
2 NO (10-3)x 2 PIT (11-2)x
3 LAR (9-4)2 3 BUF (10-3)
4 WAS (6-7) 4 TEN (9-4)8
5 SEA (9-4) 5 CLE (9-4)9
6 TB (8-5) 6 IND (9-4)
7 ARI (7-6) 7 MIA (8-5)10
8 MIN (6-7)k 3 8 BAL (8-5)k
9 CHI (6-7)k 9 LV (7-6)k
10 DET (5-8)k 4 10 NE (6-7)k
11 SF (5-8)k 5 11 DEN (5-8)k
12 NYG (5-8) 12 HOU (4-9)ke 11
13 PHI (4-8-1) 13 LAC (4-9)ke
14 DAL (4-9)6 14 CIN (2-10-1)ke
15 ATL (4-9)ke 7 15 JAX (1-12)ke
16 CAR (4-9)k 16 NYJ (0-13)ke

x Team has clinched a playoff berth
y Team has clinched division title
e Team is eliminated from playoff contention
k Team is knocked out of division title contention

1GB wins the tiebreak over NO on head-to-head.
2LAR wins the tiebreak over SEA on head-to-head (1-0).
3MIN wins the tiebreak over CHI on head-to-head (1-0).
4DET wins the tiebreak over SF/NYG on conference record (4-6 vs 3-6/4-7).
5SF wins the tiebreak over NYG on head-to-head.
6ATL wins the tiebreak over CAR on division record (1-3 vs 1-4). DAL wins the tiebreak over ATL on head-to-head.
7ATL wins the tiebreak over CAR on division record (1-3 vs 1-4).
8TEN wins the tiebreak over IND on division record (4-1 vs 2-2).
9CLE wins the tiebreak over IND on head-to-head.
10MIA wins the tiebreak over BAL on conference record (5-4 vs 5-5).
11HOU wins the tiebreak over LAC on strength of victory (13-39 vs 7-44-1).

Clinching Scenarios

NFC

NO clinches the NFC South division title with:
         1) NO win
OR 2) NO tie + TB tie
OR 3) TB loss

 

TB clinches a playoff berth with:
         1) TB win + MIN/ CHI tie

 

SEA clinches a playoff berth with:
         1) SEA win/tie
OR 2) MIN/ CHI tie

 

LAR clinches a playoff berth with:
         1) LAR win/tie
OR 2) MIN/ CHI tie

 

AFC

KC clinches a first-round bye and home-field advantage with:
         1) KC win + PIT loss + BUF loss/tie

 

PIT clinches the AFC North division title with:
         1) PIT win
OR 2) PIT tie + CLE tie
OR 3) CLE loss

 

BUF clinches the AFC East division title with:
         1) BUF win
OR 2) BUF tie + MIA tie
OR 3) MIA loss

 

BUF clinches a playoff berth with:
         1) BUF tie + BAL tie
OR 2) BAL loss

 

TEN clinches a playoff berth with:
         1) TEN win + BAL loss
OR 2) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + CLE win/tie
OR 3) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + BAL tie
OR 4) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + IND loss + 0.5 or more combined wins from (WAS, GB, NO)
OR 5) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + IND tie + WAS win
OR 6) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + 1 or more combined losses from (BUF, CIN, NYJ, SF, ARI)
OR 7) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + 0.5 combined losses from (BUF, NYJ) + IND loss/tie
OR 8) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + 0.5 combined losses from (BUF, NYJ) + WAS win/tie
OR 9) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + 0.5 combined losses from (BUF, NYJ) + 1.0 or more combined wins from (GB, NO)
OR 10) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + 0.5 combined losses from (ARI, SF) + IND loss/tie
OR 11) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + 0.5 combined losses from (ARI, SF) + 0.5 or more combined wins from (WAS, GB, NO)
OR 12) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + CIN tie + IND loss
OR 13) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + CIN tie + IND tie + 0.5 or more combined wins from (WAS, GB, NO)
OR 14) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + CIN tie + WAS win
OR 15) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + CIN tie + WAS tie + 0.5 or more combined wins from (GB, NO)
OR 16) TEN win + LV loss/tie + MIA loss + CIN tie + 1.5 or more combined wins from (GB, NO)

*The portions in italics are for TEN or CLE clinching Strength of Victory over MIA (or tying Strength of Victory plus TEN at least tying MIA in Strength of Schedule)

 

Elimination Scenarios

NFC

TB is knocked out of NFC South title contention with:
         1) TB loss
OR 2) TB tie + NO tie
OR 3) NO win

 

ARI is knocked out of NFC West title contention with:
         1) ARI loss/tie
OR 2) SEA win
OR 3) SEA tie + LAR win/tie

 

DAL is knocked out of NFC East title contention with:
         1) DAL loss
OR 2) DAL tie + WAS tie
OR 3) DAL tie + PHI win + NYG loss
OR 4) WAS win

 

DAL is eliminated from playoff contention with:
         1) DAL loss
OR 2) DAL tie + WAS win/tie
OR 3) DAL tie + PHI win + NYG loss
OR 4) WAS win + ARI win/tie

 

PHI is eliminated from NFC East title contention AND playoff contention with:
         1) PHI loss + WAS win

 

DET is eliminated from playoff contention with:
         1) DET loss + ARI win/tie
OR 2) DET loss + MIN win
OR 3) DET loss + CHI win
OR 4) DET tie + ARI win

 

CAR is eliminated from playoff contention with:
         1) CAR loss/tie
OR 2) ARI win/tie

 

SF is eliminated from playoff contention with:
         1) SF loss + ARI win/tie
OR 2) SF tie + ARI win

 

AFC

CLE is knocked out of AFC North title contention with:
         1) CLE loss
OR 2) CLE tie + PIT tie
OR 3) PIT win

 

MIA is knocked out of AFC East title contention with:
         1) MIA loss
OR 2) MIA tie + BUF tie
OR 3) BUF win

 

NE is eliminated from playoff contention with:
         1) NE loss
OR 2) NE tie + LV win
OR 3) NE tie + BAL win

 

DEN is eliminated from playoff contention with:
         1) DEN loss/tie
OR 2) MIA win/tie
OR 3) BAL win/tie
OR 4) LV win/tie

 

Possible Seeds

E simply means the team could still miss the playoffs

                 
WAS:       4   6 7 E
NYG:       4     7 E
PHI:       4     7 E
DAL:       4     7 E
                 
GB: 1 2 3          
MIN:         5 6 7 E
CHI:         5 6 7 E
DET:         5 6 7 E
                 
NO: 1 2 3   5 6 7  
TB: 1 2 3   5 6 7 E
ATL:               E
CAR:             7 E
                 
LAR: 1 2 3   5 6 7 E
SEA: 1 2 3   5 6 7 E
ARI:   2 3   5 6 7 E
SF:           6 7 E
                 
BUF: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 E
MIA:   2 3 4 5 6 7 E
NE:         5 6 7 E
NYJ:               E
                 
PIT: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7  
CLE:   2 3 4 5 6 7 E
BAL:         5 6 7 E
CIN:               E
                 
TEN:   2 3 4 5 6 7 E
IND:   2 3 4 5 6 7 E
HOU:               E
JAX:               E
                 
KC: 1 2 3          
LV:         5 6 7 E
DEN:             7 E
LAC:               E

Team Control

The seed that a team controls is the worst seed that team could get if they win out. These are often mutually exclusive because it is impossible for teams that play each other in future weeks to both win out. If a team changed controlled seed from last week, last week’s seed is noted in parentheses.

Teams that control the 1 seed:
GB(2) KC(2)

Teams that control the 2 seed:
NO(1) PIT(1)

Teams that control the 3 seed:
LAR SEA BUF

Teams that control the 4 seed:
WAS(new) TEN

Teams that control the 5 seed:
CLE

Teams that control the 6 seed:
TB IND(7)

Teams that control the 7 seed:
ARI MIA(6)

Teams that could win out and still miss the playoffs:
NYG(4) PHI DAL MIN(7) CHI DET ATL CAR SF
NE NYJ BAL CIN HOU JAX LV(6) DEN LAC

Want to discuss the playoff picture? Head to the corresponding reddit posts:
NFC Picture
AFC Picture
Tie-Free Scenarios