We’ve reached a pivotal point in the 2022 NFL season.
The NFL trade deadline is behind us and we’re hovering around the midway marker, with some teams having played seven games and others with eight under their belts ahead of Week 9. The postseason conversation will pick up before you know it, and the next few weeks could go a long way toward separating the contenders from the pretenders. So far, it’s been a difficult campaign to gauge.
We know the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs remain the class of the AFC, for instance. After that, who’s next? The second tier is littered with teams that have experienced both highs and lows, including the Baltimore Ravens and the defending AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals.
The situation in the NFC is just as murky. It’s tough to find fault in the Philadelphia Eagles’ résumé, seeing as they’re undefeated, and there’s a clear gap between them and the second-best team after eight weeks. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Rams — the two most recent Super Bowl champions — have underachieved. So have the Green Bay Packers. And it now looks like the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys or Minnesota Vikings might be the biggest threats to the Eagles.
Obviously, there’s a lot of football to be played — 10 full weeks, in fact. But that doesn’t mean it’s too early to start examining the NFL playoff picture, just to see who would be in and who would be out if the regular season ended after Week 8 and before Week 9.
Here is the playoff picture in the AFC and NFC, keeping in mind seven teams from each conference — the four division winners plus three wild-card teams — make the postseason.
AFC
1. Buffalo Bills (6-1, first in AFC East)
2. Tennessee Titans (5-2, first in AFC South)
3. Kansas City Chiefs (5-2, first in AFC West)
4. Baltimore Ravens (5-3, first in AFC North)
5. New York Jets (5-3, second in AFC East)
6. Miami Dolphins (5-3, third in AFC East)
7. Los Angeles Chargers (4-3, second in AFC West)
On the bubble:
8. New England Patriots (4-4, fourth in AFC East)
9. Cincinnati Bengals (4-4, second in AFC North)
10. Indianapolis Colts (3-4-1, second in AFC South)
11. Cleveland Browns (3-5, third in AFC North)
12. Denver Broncos (3-5, third in AFC West)
13. Las Vegas Raiders (2-5, fourth in AFC West)
14. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-6, third in AFC South)
15. Pittsburgh Steelers (2-6, fourth in AFC North)
16. Houston Texans (1-5-1, fourth in AFC South)
NFC
1. Philadelphia Eagles (7-0, first in NFC East)
2. Minnesota Vikings (6-1, first in NFC North)
3. Seattle Seahawks (5-3, first in NFC West)
4. Atlanta Falcons (4-4, first in NFC South)
5. Dallas Cowboys (6-2, second in NFC East)
6. New York Giants (6-2, third in NFC East)
7. San Francisco 49ers (4-4, second in NFC West)
On the bubble:
8. Washington Commanders (4-4, fourth in NFC East)
9. Los Angeles Rams (3-4, third in NFC West)
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-5, second in NFC South)
11. Green Bay Packers (3-5, second in NFC North)
12. Arizona Cardinals (3-5, fourth in NFC West)
13. New Orleans Saints (3-5, third in NFC South)
14. Chicago Bears (3-5, third in NFC North)
15. Carolina Panthers (2-6, fourth in NFC South)
16. Detroit Lions (1-6, fourth in NFC North)
