NFC Playoff Picture - Wk 15

NFC PlayOff Picture - Week 15


Week 15 felt like it lasted 10 days, especially for the Los Angeles Rams with all of their COVID-19 issues. But as difficult of a week as it was, they actually benefited from the results.

After beating the Seahawks on Tuesday night and seeing the Cardinals and Buccaneers both lose in Week 15, the Rams are now tied with Arizona, Tampa Bay and Dallas at 10-4.

The Cardinals still own the tiebreaker over the Rams in the division, but Los Angeles is now in position to potentially host a playoff game in the first round if it can overtake Arizona.

Here’s a look at the current playoff picture entering Week 16, which is quite different than it was a week ago.


NFC Standings
Packers (11-3)
Cowboys (10-4)
Buccaneers (10-4)
Cardinals (10-4)
Rams (10-4)
49ers (8-6)
Vikings (7-7)
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Eagles (7-7)
Saints (7-7)
Washington (6-8)
Falcons (6-8)

The Rams didn’t move an inch in the playoff picture as far as seeding goes, but they absolutely gained ground on two teams above them in the conference. With their Week 15 win, the Rams are now 10-4, tying the Cardinals and Buccaneers, who both lost this week.

That means if the Rams are able to overtake the Cardinals in the division, they’ll also jump the Buccaneers for the No. 3 seed based on head-to-head tiebreaker. Those losses by Tampa Bay and Arizona to inferior teams were massive for the Rams’ hopes of earning a home playoff game.

At the top of the conference, the Packers remained the No. 1 seed, but the Cowboys moved all the way up to No. 2 from No. 4 a week ago. The Bucs and Cardinals all slipped one spot as a result.


Playoff Matchups if the season ended today
1. Packers: first-round bye

2. Cowboys vs. 7. Vikings

3. Buccaneers vs. 6. 49ers

4. Cardinals vs. 5. Rams

This sure got interesting. Rather than the Rams traveling to Dallas to take on the Cowboys in the first round, as they were projected to do before this week’s results, they would now go down to Arizona to face the Cardinals.

The Cowboys would host the Vikings and the Buccaneers would face the 49ers in Tampa Bay, so there was a shakeup in the projected playoff matchups following Week 15.

Seeing as they already beat the Cardinals once and have had their number for years, the Rams would probably rather face them than Dallas or Tampa Bay.


Up Next
Packers: vs. Browns (7-7)
Cowboys: vs. Washington (6-8)
Buccaneers: at Panthers (5-9)
Cardinals: vs. Colts (8-6)
Rams: at Vikings (7-7)
49ers: at Titans (9-5)
Vikings: vs. Rams (10-4)

This is going to be a tough week in the NFC for just about all of the current playoff contenders. It’ll be especially difficult for the West teams, wit the Cardinals facing the Colts, the Rams visiting the Vikings and the 49ers traveling to Tennessee. All three of those opponents are at or above .500 entering Week 16.

The Rams would love for the Colts to beat the Cardinals and the Panthers pulling off a massive upset in the NFC South would help the Rams, too. Washington will need to get some of its players back from COVID to have a shot against Dallas, but if everything goes according to plan, the Rams could be the No. 2 seed by the end of next week.

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BeachBoy