NFL Playoff Picture: Looking At The Postseason Landscape Heading Into Week 17, 2022

Fantasy leagues are coming to a close, which means one thing, the NFL Playoffs are around the corner. We’re another week closer to finding out which 14 teams we’ll see competing to play at Super Bowl LVII in February, so check out our look at the playoff picture entering Week 17. We’ve had another three teams eliminated this week. Joining the Houston Texans, Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals in watching the playoffs from the sofa will be the Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta Falcons and Cleveland Browns.

RELATED: Dimers' NFL Bet Hub features best bets and props for every game of the 2022-23 season

If you do decide to bet, we suggest doing that with DraftKings Sportsbook, where you can turn $5 into $150 if your moneyline bet wins. That means you can take a heavy favorite and get huge plus-money odds on them to win. 

This time last week we had six teams locked in and they’ve been joined by another three teams this past Christmas weekend.

Over in the AFC, we’ve had three sides join the 12-3 Kansas City Chiefs, who won the AFC West and the 12-3 Buffalo Bills, who secured the divisional title this past weekend by beating the Bears. They’ve been joined by two teams from the AFC North, the 11-4 Cincinnati Bengals and 10-5 Baltimore Ravens. The Bengals qualified after beating the New England Patriots, with the Ravens locking in a spot after not only winning but other teams losing to aid their progress. The Bengals and Ravens are still battling it out for the divisional title though.

Also joining them are the 9-6 Los Angeles Chargers, who had a lot of fortune to seal their spot. They needed the Patriots, New York Jets and Las Vegas Raiders all to lose, which they did, before beating the Colts in primetime on Monday.

Over in the NFC, we’ve only had no change at all. The 13-2 Minnesota Vikings had already won the NFC North and clinched the divisional title, as had the 11-4 San Francisco 49ers in the NFC West. The 13-2 Philadelphia Eagles and 11-4 Dallas Cowboys are still in the same position, having both sealed playoff berths but still battling for the NFC East title.

If the season ended today, we’d also see the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins reaching the playoffs from the AFC and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Giants and Washington Commanders managing to make it in the NFC.

The NFL teams whose playoff picture will be determined in Week 17

The Bills have already won the division but they stand a chance of securing the first-round bye in the AFC. It might have to wait until next week though, with them needing to not only beat the Bengals on MNF but for the Broncos to beat the Chiefs.

Speaking of the Bengals, they’ll lock in the AFC North title if they beat the Bills in that Monday Night Football clash, although they’ll need the Pittsburgh Steelers to do them a favor on SNF and beat the Ravens on the road. Another one which might boil down to next week.

The 8-7 Dolphins have their quarterback in concussion protocol, so this could be tricky, but they can lock in a playoff berth if they beat divisional rivals, the Patriots, and the Jets lose on the road in Seattle.

Over in the NFC we should see some more movement on the playoff front this week. The Eagles can win the NFC East if one of two things happen, they either beat the New Orleans Saints, or the Cowboys fail to win. Not only that but a win for the Eagles would see them wrap up their status as the No. 1 seed and clinch the bye. Although they could also do that if the Cowboys, 49ers and Vikings all lose.

Tom Brady’s 7-8 Buccaneers can win the NFC South if they beat the Carolina Panthers at home on Sunday.

We could also see the 8-6-1 Giants in the playoffs if they beat the Colts on Sunday. There are a number of ways for them to still make it even if they lose. They’d need either the Commanders and Seattle Seahawks to lose, the Commanders, Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers to lose, or the Lions, Seahawks and Packers to lose. If you can wrap your head around that then I’m impressed.

Finally, we could also see a fourth NFC East team secure a spot. The 7-7-1 Commanders need to not only beat the Browns, but also need the Lions, Seahawks and Packers all to lose.

While those are the only teams who can clinch a spot this week, there are others alive in the hunt. Those being the Jaguars, Patriots, Jets, Tennessee Titans, Steelers and Raiders in the AFC. Over in the NFC, we have the Seahawks, Lions, Packers, Panthers and Saints all holding slight hopes of reaching the playoffs.