Heading into the final week of the NFL season, not only are there still multiple playoff spots, but only two of the 14 seeds have been confirmed. I mean, there should be some serious drama this weekend.
To give you an idea of all that can happen in Week 18, we’re going to predict 14 teams and the seeding those 14 will get in the playoffs. Predictions are based on data from SportsLine.com’s Numerical Calculator Stephen Oh. Oh entered some numbers into his SportsLine computer to simulate the rest of his NFL season. Using these numbers, we were able to not only calculate the playoff chances of every team, but also predict the entire playoff field for him.
One very important thing to keep in mind this week is that the Bills-Bengals rematch is currently not scheduled.The game was scheduled to take place on Monday but was postponed after Dummer Hamlin went into cardiac arrest in the field. The game is currently not scheduled, so these predictions were made assuming the Bills-Bengals game would not be rescheduled. That means Cincinnati and Buffalo will only play his 16 games, and every other team will play his 17 games.
If the NFL officially reschedules games, we will update our predictions accordingly.
Note: Remember, this is a prediction based on how the rest of the regular season will play out. If you want to see a breakdown of current playoff standings and playoff photos, Please click here.
AFC playoff predictions
Here is a list of playoff chances for all other AFC teams (percentage chances of making the playoffs are listed in brackets): Patriots (36%), Titans (28.3%), Steelers (19.8%), Jets (elimination), Raiders (elimination), Browns (elimination), Colts (elimination), Broncos (elimination), Texans (elimination)
Note: The 7-9 Titans have a better chance of making the playoffs than the 8-8 Steelers, and Tennessee still have a shot at winning the AFC South title.
NFC playoff predictions
Here is a list of playoff chances for all other NFC teams (percentage chances of making the playoffs are listed in brackets): Seahawks (23.5%), Lions (10.5%), Commanders (elimination) Panthers (elimination), Saints (elimination), Falcons (elimination), Cardinals (elimination), Rams (elimination), Bears (elimination)
Wild card round projection
AFC
(7) (2) Bills Dolphin
(6) Ravens (3) Bengals
(4) Jaguar (5) Charger
good bye: Chiefs
NFC
(7) Packers (2) 49ers
(6) Giants at (3) Vikings
(5) Cowboys at (4) Buccaneers
good bye: Eagles
