The New England Patriots have wrapped up home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs and have nothing to play for in Week 17. The Philadelphia Eagles are locked into the NFC No. 3 seed and likewise have nothing to play for.
But for the seven other teams that have clinched playoff spots, their seeds will be determined on Sunday. And seven more teams are still vying for the three remaining playoff positions.
The NFL released the final Week 17 playoff scenarios, and we’ll try to lay them out as simply as possible here.
The Kansas City Chiefs have already clinched the AFC West and the only question is whether they’re the No. 3 or No. 4 seed. The New York Jets have already clinched a wild card spot and the only question is whether they’re the No. 5 or No. 6 seed.
The AFC South champion will be the Colts (if they win or the Jaguars lose) or the Jaguars (if they win and the Colts lose). The AFC North champion will be the Steelers (if they win or the Ravens lose) or the Ravens (if they win and the Steelers lose).
The AFC North runner-up will get a wild card berth, while the AFC South runner-up is out of the playoffs.
In the NFC, the Bears are the only team that has clinched a first-round bye. They can still clinch home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs, but they’ll need to win and hope that both the Falcons and Saints lose.
Speaking of the Falcons and Saints, they both could still earn home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs and need just two home wins to reach the Super Bowl -- or they could earn the No. 5 playoff seed and need to win three road games to reach the Super Bowl.
For the Falcons, a win earns the No. 1 NFC seed. For the Saints a win and a Falcons loss earns the No. 1 seed, but a loss or a Falcons win makes them No. 5.
The Packers, Giants and Buccaneers are all vying for the No. 6 seed and the right to play at Philadelphia in the wild card round of the playoffs. The Packers just need to win, the Giants need a win and a Packers loss, and the Bucs need to win and have both the Packers and Giants lose. If all three teams lose, the Packers back into the playoffs.
Finally, the last game of the regular season is for the NFC West title: The Rams-Seahawks winner goes to the playoffs and hosts the NFC No. 5 seed, which, as you know if you’ve been following all of this, is probably the Saints.
