Week 13 shakes up AFC and NFC standings

With the Los Angeles Chargers and Atlanta Falcons plus the Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals squaring off in the early window on Sunday and the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens in the late window, you knew at least three NFL teams that entered the day in playoff position were going to lose. The results are shuffling the standings in the NFC and AFC. The Atlanta Falcons, the Arizona Cardinals, and Baltimore Ravens lost those matchups.

Despite the Falcons’ loss, they will stay in first place in the NFC South. They swept the season series against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and own the tiebreaker if both teams finish the week at 6-6.

The NFC West continues to stay close as the Arizona Cardinals lost to fall to 6-6 and stay a game back in the division and Wild Card. The Seattle Seahawks won to move to 7-5 and in control of the division.

Speaking of the NFC Wild Card, the Minnesota Vikings’ late win has them in firm command of that race, a game back of the Lions in the NFC North, and a game ahead of the Green Bay Packers in both the NFC North and the Wild Card. The Washington Commanders also won to remain in the seventh and final spot in the NFC, 1.5 games ahead of the Cardinals heading into Washington’s bye.

Both AFC division leaders in action on Sunday afternoon won their games, with the Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers beating divisional opponents to stay fourth and third in the AFC, respectively. The Buffalo Bills won a convincing victory in the blinding snow of Western New York.

In the AFC Wild Card race, the Indianapolis Colts stayed within one game of the Denver Broncos with a gutsy late-game win. The Ravens’ loss moved them from fifth to sixth, as the Chargers pass them. Denver remains seventh despite an overall tie with Baltimore because the Ravens beat the Broncos this year.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday featured the top two teams in the NFL with the NFC-leading Detroit Lions and AFC-leading Kansas City Chiefs both picking up wins. The win clinched a playoff spot for the Chiefs, the first in the NFL in 2024.

Here are the standings as of right now:

AFC standings following Week 13

1. x-Kansas City Chiefs (11-1)
2. xy-Buffalo Bills (10-2)
3. Pittsburgh Steelers (9-3)
4. Houston Texans (8-5)
5. Los Angeles Chargers (8-4)
6. Baltimore Ravens (8-5, win over DEN)
7. Denver Broncos (8-5, loss to BAL)
8. Indianapolis Colts (6-7)
9. Miami Dolphins (5-7)
10. Cincinnati Bengals (4-8)
11. Cleveland Browns (3-9, 3-4 AFC, SOV 19 wins)
12. New York Jets (3-9, 3-5 AFC, win over TEN)*
13. Tennessee Titans (3-9, 3-4 AFC, SOV 16 wins, loss to NYJ)
14. New England Patriots (3-10)* eliminated
15. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-10)*
16. Las Vegas Raiders (2-10)* eliminated

Note: In the three-way tie between Cleveland, New York, and Tennessee, the Jets are eliminated first because of a worse AFC record, then the Titans are eliminated because of their worse strength of victory. But the tiebreaker starts over after that, which is why the Jets’ win over Tennessee factors into the standings.

NFC standings entering Week 14

1. Detroit Lions (11-1)
2. Philadelphia Eagles (10-2)
3. Seattle Seahawks (7-5)
4. Atlanta Falcons (6-6, 2-0 vs TB)
5. Minnesota Vikings (10-2)
6. Green Bay Packers (9-3)
7. Washington Commanders (8-5)
8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-6, 0-2 vs ATL, 6-3 NFC)
9. Arizona Cardinals (6-6, win over LAR, 3-5 NFC)
10. Los Angeles Rams (6-6, loss to ARI)
11. San Francisco 49ers (5-7, win over DAL)
12. Dallas Cowboys (5-7, loss to SF)
13. New Orleans Saints (4-8, 2-3 NFC South, 3-5 NFC)
14. Chicago Bears (4-8, 2-5 NFC)*
15. Carolina Panthers (3-9)
16. New York Giants (2-10)* eliminated

Teams with an asterisk have been eliminated from their divisional races.
Teams with an “x” have clinched a playoff spot
Teams with a “y” have clinched their division

Key playoff picture takeaways from Week 13

Which NFL teams have clinched playoff spots?

When they moved to 11 wins, the Kansas City Chiefs became the first NFL team in the NFL to clinch a playoff spot. The Buffalo Bills clinched the AFC East on Sunday night, ensuring a home playoff game.

Monday night doesn’t change the standings

No matter which result was the outcome, the Monday night game was going to keep the standings in tact via tiebreakers. Still, getting into a better position is always a good thing.

Chargers firm up wild card position, Falcons slip in division

The Chargers held off a late Falcons drive to secure a critical road win. LA climbs into a tie with the Ravens for the time-being, but most importantly they have firmed up their wild card positioning. The Falcons loss gives the Bucs a chance to climb into a tie. Atlanta has the head-to-head tiebreaker, but the Bucs have an easier schedule to close out the season.

Colts get bold and it pays dividends

The Colts struggled all day long against an awful Patriots squad, but they looked like were going to force overtime in the closing seconds. Anthony Richardson led them on a 19-play drive and found Alec Pierce to potentially tie the game. Instead of kicking the extra point, Anthony Richardson went up the middle to score the two-point conversion and take home the must-win game.

Vikings escape with comeback win over Cardinals

Arizona looked like the better team for most of the day, but they struggled enough in the red zone that it cost them in the end. The Vikings scored late to take the lead and stopped Kyler Murray on the final drive to get a critical win. Minnesota improved to 10-2 and remains a game back of Detroit in the NFC North.

Seahawks take “control” of the NFC West

The Seahawks won an ugly one over the Jets and with the Cardinals loss, Seattle is now in first place in the NFC West. They hold a one-game lead over the Cardinals and await the Rams and 49ers results to see if they can gain further ground.

Commanders firm up final wild card spot

The Commanders had no trouble with the Titans, rolling to a 42-19 win at FedEx Field. Washington needs help in the division, but they have a 1.5-game lead for the final wild card berth. They need help to get up to sixth with Green Bay 1.5 games up on them there.

Texans handle their business in AFC South

Houston nearly blew a 23-6 lead against Jacksonville, but they held on late and got some key conversions with the ground game to secure the win. They have a two-game lead over the Colts atop the division.

Steelers maintain division lead with shootout win over Bengals

Cincinnati gave Pittsburgh a tough time, but the Steelers offense was too much in a 44-38 win. Pittsburgh will be watching Ravens-Eagles this afternoon to see if they can expand their lead beyond a half game.

Rams tighten up NFC West race, Saints lose ground in divisional race

The Rams struggled early but they put two touchdowns on the board in the fourth quarter to hold off the Saints. LA improved to 6-6 and is tied with the Cardinals a game back of the Seahawks in the NFC West. The Saints dropped to 4-8 and are now two games back of the Falcons for first place in the NFC South.

Eagles ride Saquon Barkley to huge win over Ravens

The Eagles won a tough fight with the Ravens, pulling away late after Saquon Barkley punched in a fourth quarter touchdown. An inter-conference matchup does not usually have a big impact on tiebreakers, but this was big for each team’s divisional positioning and overall conference standing. The Eagles have a 2.5-game lead on the Commanders in the NFC East and are one game back of the Lions for the top seed in the NFC. The Ravens drop to 1.5 games back of the Steelers in the AFC North, and slip to sixth in the overall AFC standings, a half game back of the Chargers.

Bucs escape Charlotte with overtime win

Tampa Bay needed everything they could get to secure a win over Carolina. Baker Mayfield led them on a game-tying drive to close regulation, and the Bucs managed to force a huge fumble when it looked like the Panthers were going to drive for the game-winning score. With the win, the Bucs move into a tie with the Falcons atop the AFC South. Atlanta holds the tiebreaker with the head-to-head sweep.

The Lions will wait one more week to clinch a playoff berth

With the Detroit Lions at 11-1, you might expect easy clinching scenarios like in the AFC, but that’s not the case. The second-place Minnesota Vikings are only one game behind the Lions in the NFC North, so they can’t win the division for a while. Detroit had a wild card clinching scenario, but they needed the Seahawks to lose or tie the Jets. Seattle won in the Meadowlands and so Detroit will wait another week to punch their postseason ticket.

Which NFL teams have been eliminated from the playoffs?

With their Thanksgiving Day loss, the Giants dropped to 10 losses on the year and were officially eliminated from the playoff race. They are the first team to be out in 2024. On Friday, the Raiders joined them with their tenth loss of the season and they are also eliminated. On Sunday, the Patriots joined them with a loss and wins by the Chargers and Texans.

If the Denver Broncos win on Monday night, they will eliminate the Jacksonville Jaguars from the playoffs.

The Miami Dolphins play an easy schedule, but they need to be perfect to make the playoffs

The Miami Dolphins at 5-7 pretty much need to run the table to make the postseason at 10-7 in a packed AFC. They only face one team the rest of the way with a winning record, so it’s doable, but they have lost their margin for error.

Green Bay Packers keeping the heat on the NFC North

The NFC North is continuing to stay very crowded, with just two games separating first and third. There are still multiple division contests to be played, adding to the intrigue, and the Lions face the high-flying Buffalo Bills in a couple weeks and a potentially desperate 49ers squad in Week 17. This is far from over.