Bears No. 1 NFC seed; Steelers plummet

The Chicago Bears have moved into the top seed in the NFC playoff picture following a win and a loss by the Los Angeles Rams. Two division have new teams in first place after Sunday’s action. Several teams, including the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans, are making late-season pushes for a playoff berth. Every week

The Chicago Bears have moved into the top seed in the NFC playoff picture following a win and a loss by the Los Angeles Rams.
Two division have new teams in first place after Sunday’s action.
Several teams, including the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans, are making late-season pushes for a playoff berth.

Every week for the duration of the 2025 regular season, USA TODAY Sports will provide timely updates to the NFL‘s ever-evolving playoff picture − typically starting Sunday afternoon and then moving forward for the remainder of the week (through Monday’s and Thursday’s games or Saturday’s, if applicable. And, when the holidays roll around, we’ll be watching then, too).

What just happened? What does it mean? What are the pertinent factors (and, perhaps, tiebreakers) prominently in play as each conference’s seven-team bracket begins to crystallize? All will be explained and analyzed up to the point when the postseason field is finalized on Sunday, Jan. 4.

Here’s where things stand with Week 13 underway:

NFC playoff picture

1. Chicago Bears (9-3), NFC North leaders: With back-to-back victories over winning adversaries − in conjunction with the Rams’ stunning loss Sunday − the Bears have now rocketed to the top of the conference. Chicago’s 6-2 record in NFC games sends LA (4-3) down a spot. Remaining schedule: at Packers, vs. Browns, vs. Packers, at 49ers, vs. Lions

2. Los Angeles Rams (9-3), NFC West leaders: Carolina snapped their NFC-high six-game winning streak in rainy Charlotte, a loss that dropped LA out of the conference’s top spot. Remaining schedule: at Cardinals, vs. Lions, at Seahawks, at Falcons, vs. Cardinals

3. Philadelphia Eagles (8-4), NFC East leaders: Two losses in a row not only mean a lot more scrutiny but − beware − a team that could fall into the Cowboys’ clutches in the division if it’s not careful. Remaining schedule: at Chargers, vs. Raiders, at Commanders, at Bills, vs. Commanders

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-5), NFC South leaders: They narrowly beat Arizona to narrowly maintain their half-game lead over Carolina in the division. Remaining schedule: vs. Saints, vs. Falcons, at Panthers, at Dolphins, vs. Panthers

5. Seattle Seahawks (9-3), wild card No. 1: All three of the ‘Hawks’ losses are against NFC opponents, including two in the division − defeats that won’t serve them well in the tiebreaker department. Seattle’s Week 11 loss to the Rams meant they couldn’t move up Sunday … but they are otherwise tied for first place in the NFC West. Remaining schedule: at Falcons, vs. Colts, vs. Rams, at Panthers, at 49ers

6. Green Bay Packers (8-3-1), wild card No. 2: They merely maintained their standing (for now) with their Thanksgiving win at Detroit, but a loss would have dropped them from the field entirely. A thin margin for the Pack to be sure … yet they remain just a half-game off the NFC North lead, too. Remaining schedule: vs. Bears, at Broncos, at Bears, vs. Ravens, at Vikings

7. San Francisco 49ers (9-4), wild card No. 3: They now have a 1½-game lead on their wild-card pursuers after Sunday’s win, but are only a half-game behind the Rams for the NFC West lead. Remaining schedule: BYE, vs. Titans, at Colts, vs. Bears, vs. Seahawks

8. Detroit Lions (7-5), in the hunt: Getting swept by the Packers further entrenches Detroit, which could have moved into a wild-card slot with a Turkey Day win, on the outside of the field. Huge game this Thursday night with Dallas. Remaining schedule: vs. Cowboys, at Rams, vs. Steelers, at Vikings, at Bears

9. Dallas Cowboys (6-5-1), in the hunt: Three wins in a row further fuels playoff aspirations in Big D. Week 14’s game in Detroit looms as massive − and potentially must-win − for the Cowboys and Lions. Remaining schedule: at Lions, vs. Vikings, vs. Chargers, at Commanders, at Giants

10. Carolina Panthers (7-6), in the hunt: A shocking upset of the Rams on Sunday reaffirms the Panthers as an outfit to be reckoned with, though they didn’t gain any ground in the wild-card or divisional races (on a day when they could have gone into first place had Tampa Bay lost). Remaining schedule: BYE, at Saints, vs. Buccaneers, vs. Seahawks, at Buccaneers

AFC playoff picture

1. New England Patriots (10-2), AFC East leaders: Week 12’s narrow defeat of the Bengals gave the Pats the league’s best record, moving them past Denver and into the conference’s top spot. Good chance they hold onto it when they hit their off week. Remaining schedule: vs. Giants, BYE, vs. Bills, at Ravens, at Jets, vs. Dolphins

2. Denver Broncos (9-2), AFC West leaders: Being idle during Week 12 cost them first place in the conference, but you can bet the break was welcome − especially for a team that will need to be close to fully charged for a brutal four-game stretch at the end of its regular season. They can move back into the top spot, for the time being anyway, with a win Sunday night. Remaining schedule: at Commanders, at Raiders, vs. Packers, vs. Jaguars, at Chiefs, vs. Chargers

3. Jacksonville Jaguars (8-4), AFC South leaders: Their win in Nashville coupled with Indy’s loss moves the Jags into first place by virtue of the common-games played tiebreaker, which they own by a one-win advantage. Slide back later, and victories over the Chiefs and Chargers could serve them well when it’s time to sort out tiebreakers. Remaining schedule: vs. Colts, vs. Jets, at Broncos, vs. Colts, at Titans

4. Baltimore Ravens (6-6), AFC North leaders: A sloppy performance against the Bengals briefly cost them first place in the division and a slot in the projected playoff field − but Pittsburgh’s loss Sunday conferred it back, the Ravens currently with one additional win over the Steelers in the common-games played tiebreaker. Remaining schedule: vs. Steelers, at Bengals, vs. Patriots, at Packers, at Steelers

5. Los Angeles Chargers (8-4), wild card No. 1: They looked fairly fresh while taking out the Raiders in their return from the bye. The Bolts’ 7-2 record in AFC games currently renders them the top-seeded wild card. Remaining schedule: vs. Eagles, at Chiefs, at Cowboys, vs. Texans, at Broncos

6. Indianapolis Colts (8-4), wild card No. 2: They’ve dropped three of their past four to fall off the conference pace … and have now ceded first place in the AFC South to Jacksonville after Sunday’s loss to Houston. And though they beat the Chargers in Week 7, the three-way tiebreaker (conference record) currently takes precedence, and the Colts are 6-3 in those contest. And the schedule doesn’t let up the rest of the way out. Remaining schedule: at Jaguars, at Seahawks, vs. 49ers, vs. Jaguars, at Texans

7. Buffalo Bills (8-4), wild card No. 3: They got back into the win column at Pittsburgh, thus hanging on to the AFC’s final projected wild-card spot. A 5-3 record in conference games leaves Buffalo behind the Chargers and Colts in the wild-card seeding. Remaining schedule: vs. Bengals, at Patriots, at Browns, vs. Eagles, vs. Jets

8. Houston Texans (7-5), in the hunt: They’ve won five of six, including four in a row. If they want to win the AFC South for a third straight year, the Texans likely need to sweep the Colts − and they took their first step toward that with Sunday’s win at Indy − while continuing their surge. Remaining schedule: at Chiefs, vs. Cardinals, vs. Raiders, at Chargers, vs. Colts

9. Pittsburgh Steelers (6-6), in the hunt: They’re virtually tied with the Ravens … but won’t be after next weekend’s trip to Baltimore. A 5-3 record in AFC games does slot the Steelers ahead of K.C. (3-4) for now. Remaining schedule: at Ravens, vs. Dolphins, at Lions, at Browns, vs. Ravens

10. Kansas City Chiefs (6-6), in the hunt: Not only will they almost certainly not win the AFC West for the first time since 2015, they could well miss the postseason for the first time since 2014 − Andy Reid’s second year in K.C. And don’t forget they’ve lost to the Broncos, Chargers, Bills and Jags, who are all ahead of them. Remaining schedule: vs. Texans, vs. Chargers, at Titans, vs. Broncos, at Raiders