The 2022 regular season is over, and the NFL playoff picture is now set in stone. On Saturday, the Kansas City Chiefs secured the AFC’s No. 1 seed, while the Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Tennessee Titans to win the AFC South. Let’s take a look at what the rest of the NFL playoff picture looks like following Sunday’s Week 18 action.
NFL Week 18 Playoff Picture
Following Sunday Night Football, both the AFC and NFC playoff fields are set. Here’s where things stand heading into the Wild Card Round.
AFC Playoff Picture
1. *Kansas City Chiefs
2. Buffalo Bills
3. Cincinnati Bengals
4. Jacksonville Jaguars
5. Los Angeles Chargers
6. Baltimore Ravens
7. Miami Dolphins
NFC Playoff Picture
1. *Philadelphia Eagles
2. San Francisco 49ers
3. Minnesota Vikings
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
5. Dallas Cowboys
6. New York Giants
7. Seattle Seahawks
NFL Wild Card Schedule
Saturday, Jan. 14
- Seattle Seahawks at San Francisco 49ers
4:30 p.m. ET | FOX - Los Angeles Chargers at Jacksonville Jaguars
8:15 p.m. ET | NBC
Sunday, Jan. 15
- Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills
1 p.m. ET | CBS - New York Giants at Minnesota Vikings
4:30 p.m. ET | FOX - Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals
8:15 p.m. ET | NBC
Monday, Jan. 16
- Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
8:15 p.m. ET | ESPN, ESPN+
Breaking Down the AFC Playoff Field
Kansas City Chiefs Secure No. 1 Seed
This one was simple coming into Saturday. Because the NFL announced that the Bengals-Bills game would not be played, a Chiefs victory over the Raiders gave them the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
However, they may not have home-field advantage throughout the entirety of the playoffs due to the NFL owners voting on a rule amendment to help resolve the issue of the Bengals-Bills game not being made up.
If the AFC Championship Game is the Chiefs vs. Bills, it will be held at a neutral site. If it’s Chiefs vs. anyone else, that game will be held at Arrowhead Stadium. And, of course, if the Chiefs don’t make it, the game will be played at the higher seed’s home field.
The No. 2 and 3 Seeds in AFC
By defeating the Patriots, the Bills have clinched the No. 2 seed in the AFC. They’ll face the division-rival Dolphins in the first round of the playoffs.
Had the Bills lost, the Bengals would have earned the No. 2 seed by virtue of their win over the Ravens. Instead, Cincinnati will remain as the third seed and face a rematch against Baltimore on Wild Card Weekend. Because the Bengals won in Week 18, their opening playoff game will take place in Cincinnati and will not involve a coin flip for game location.
The No. 5 and 6 Seeds in AFC
The Ravens had a lot riding on Week 18. If they won, they would have forced a coin flip to determine the location of a potential Wild Card matchup against the Bengals. If they had won and the Chargers had lost, Baltimore would have moved into the fifth seed.
Instead, the Ravens lost to the Bengals and will remain in the sixth seed, with no coin flip involved. The Chargers will stick in the fifth slot even though they fell to the Broncos on Sunday. LA will now face the AFC South champion Jaguars in the Wild Card round.
The No. 7 Seed in the AFC
Three teams — the Patriots, Dolphins, and Steelers — all had a shot at the AFC’s No. 7 seed heading into Week 18. New England lost to Buffalo, opening up the final spot for the Dolphins, who defeated the Jets with a last-second field goal.
The Steelers also won on Sunday, but they could have only reached the postseason had both the Patriots and Dolphins lost.
Breaking Down the NFC Playoff Field
Philadelphia Eagles Clinch No. 1 Seed
The Eagles needed to defeat the Giants in Week 18 in order to clinch both the NFC East and the conference’s No. 1 overall seed, and they did just that. New York — already locked into the sixth seed — opted to bench most of their starters, giving Philadelphia an easy win.
Now, Jalen Hurts will get to take the week off and rest his shoulder sprain, which cost him Weeks 16 and 17 (both Eagles losses). Philadelphia will play the lowest remaining NFC seed in the Divisional Round.
If the Eagles had lost, the 49ers could have overtaken them for the top seed in the conference. If both Philadelphia and San Francisco had lost, the Vikings would have had a shot at the first seed.
The Nos. 2, 3, and 4 Seeds in NFC
Both the 49ers and the Vikings won in Week 18, so nothing will change for them — San Francisco remains at No. 2, and Minnesota sticks at No. 3.
The 49ers will face the NFC’s seventh seed, the Seahawks. Meanwhile, the Vikings will play the Giants, whom they beat 27-24 in Week 16.
The Buccaneers already clinched the NFC South last week, and they didn’t have an opportunity to move out of the fourth seed. As such, their starters didn’t play the entire game in a loss to the Falcons. Tampa Bay will face Dallas in the first round of the postseason.
The No. 5 and No. 6 Seeds in the NFC
If a few things had broken right for the Cowboys, they would have had a shot at the NFC East title and the No. 1 seed in the NFC. But given that Dallas lost, and Philadelphia and San Francisco won, the Cowboys will stay in the No. 5 seed, where they’ve been for most of the season. They’ll play the Bucs on Wild Card Weekend, a rematch of their Week 1 contest.
The Giants clinched the sixth seed in Week 17, so they had nothing to play for on Sunday. They benched almost all of their starters and subsequently lost to the Eagles. They’ll face the Vikings in the first round of the playoffs.
The No. 7 Seed in the NFC
The Seahawks pulled out a dramatic overtime win over the Rams on Sunday, meaning their playoff hopes were still alive entering Sunday night’s Lions-Packers game. Seattle needed a Lions victory to hold onto the seventh seed, and that’s exactly what they got as Detroit took down Green Bay in the final regular-season contest of the year.
Because Seattle won, Detroit had already been eliminated from playoff contention and nominally had nothing to play for. But Dan Campbell’s squad played as hard as ever, and two Kerby Joseph interceptions of Aaron Rodgers helped the Lions end the year with a winning record for the first time since 2017.
Now, Seattle will travel to San Francisco to play the division-rival 49ers for the third time this year. San Fran won both of their previous meetings with the Seahawks.