Playoff Races Now Approach

The NFL's 2017 season is now hitting the stretch for the playoffs, and that pressure has shown.

The meltdown of Kansas City's season was personified when Marcus Peters threw a referee's flag into the grandstands.    The switch of playcalling on offense by the Chiefs helped in that they scored 31 points in one of the games of the year..............

................but Alex Smith's inability to seize control to win the game showed again, and suddenly San Diego is in position to steal the division.

If that scenario sounds familiar, it is, albeit the last time San Diego helped cost the Chiefs the AFC West was 2013 in the immortal Seyi Ajirotutu game.  


Here are the top seeds in the AFC -

North - Steelers - bye
East - Patriots - bye

South - Titans
West - Chiefs

WC1 - Jaguars
WC2 - Ravens

Remaining teams at .500 -
Chargers
Bills
Raiders


While in the NFC -

North - Vikings - bye
East - Eagles - bye

West - Rams
South - Saints

WC1 - Seahawks
WC2 - Panthers


Remaining teams .500 or better -
Falcons
Lions
Packers
Cowboys


So realistically we have four spots in the AFC with seven teams in contest, and three in the NFC with five teams in contest.   Every Seahawk win knocks the Packers further and further away from a playoff spot while San Diego is the big challenger to the faltering Chiefs and the South is a Titans-Jaguars showdown that may come down to Week 17; and the way both teams are playing both look like playoff locks.  

So the games remaining mean a lot to a number of teams -


Falcons over Saints - The Falcons are fighting for their playoff lives and need to just tie the Seahawks in standings with the head-to-head tiebreaker as their trump.    This rivalry has been 5-5 the last five seasons with a 3-2 home record for the Falcons in that span.   The Saints with their sweep of the Panthers - presently ahead of the Falcons in playoff seedings - all but have the division.


Bills over Colts - The Colts now have nothing to play for in a season that resembles 1997 all over again.   The Bills, though, aren't in that much better shape with Tyrod Taylor showing why he was benched even before getting hurt against the Patriots.


Vikings over Panthers -  The Vikings, for the moment the top seed in the NFC, more and more look like a machine and the Panthers loss at New Orleans ended any realistic hope of the division. 


Packers over Browns -  0-16 is now in play for the Browns and the Packers are actually in a playoff race.   The failure of the Browns as an organization just gets worse and worse, with no hope in sight - and the rumor of recruiting of Peyton Manning to take over the team will only intensify.


Chiefs over Raiders -  The Chiefs have faltered badly, but the Raiders are 6-6 for a reason and the Chiefs showed improvement, especially on offense; we think this will help them here.


Forty-Niners over Texans -   Jimmy Garoppolo's debut game wasn't much to write home about but it was a win, and now Garoppolo gets a Texans team whose collapse has gone unnoticed with the eye-popping fall of the Chiefs.


Bengals over Bears -  The Bears blew it against the Niners and Mitchell Trubisky's rookie season slogs onward toward a forgettable end.   The Bengals come off the ugliest loss in years, both in terms of on-field play and also in on-field violence.


Lions over Buccaneers -   The Bucs put up a whale of a fight at Green Bay and it wasn't enough.    Detroit failed yet again against a quality team and the Lions' playoff chances are gone.   Taking on a team with an outright losing record is what the Lions need here; an injured thumb is not what Matthew Stafford needed.


Jaguars over Seahawks -  Upending the NFC's top seed shows the Seahawks are racing to the playoffs, and they've won nine of their last eleven games against AFC teams.   But this is not the Jaguars team that was easy pickings for the last four years; this is a solid outfit that's got the playoffs in sight and the last time the Seahawks traveled east to the AFC South it ended ugly.


Chargers over Redskins -  San Diego has momentum, the Redskins don't.    Suddenly Philip Rivers is playing like the franchise power he's long been, while Kirk Cousins looks like a petulant child.  


Titans over Cardinals -  The Titans have secured back-to-back seasons .500 or better for the first time since the 2006-09 period where they won 39 games.    Their last two times against the Cardinals, oddly,  were in Tennessee and both were stunning finishes in Vince Young's game-winning touchdown in 2009 and Ryan Fitzpatrick's overtime INT after erasing a 34-17 gap in 2013.    Blaine Gabbert has one career game against the Titans and it was a loss.   The Cards' playoff chances are unrealistic.


NY Jets over Broncos - History has been stood on its head in Denver - this is the 20th anniversary of the Broncos' stunning first Superbowl win, and on this anniversary the Broncos have collapsed into irrelevance.   The Jets still have a slim playoff shot and face a Broncos team that has been outscored 421 to 108 since their bye week.  


Rams over Eagles -  The Eagles are shellshocked after a nowhere performance at Seattle and their West Coast swing goes to LA, with a playoff bye now possible for the Rams.   


Cowboys over NY Giants -  Peter Hermann and Mariska Hargitay may be hired as NY Giants coaches at this rate; Ben McAdoo certainly appears dead now, though the benching of Eli Manning was overdue after years of mediocrity and the angry sentiment for him is annoying.    The Cowboys' playoff hopes are slim.


Ravens over Steelers - The Ravens have the playoffs in their sights and suddenly look strong enough to upend the Steelers, winners of the last two meetings but losers of nine of the last fourteen.  


Patriots over Dolphins -   The Patriots are headlong toward the top seed again and the Dolphins are playing out the string.   Ding-Dong Suh hit Brady late several times the previous meeting, a rarity given he never even gets to Brady traditionally.   The suspension of Gronkowski is surprising given his lack of retaliatory antics in the past.  


And thus are we off through December.