Chart: All 64 Potential NFC Seeding Outcomes
There's been a lot of talk about the injustice of an 11-5 Arizona Cardinals team not making the playoffs—a distinct possibility!—but we could also have a 12-4 team as the 5 seed and an 11-5 team as the 6 in the NFC.
Via RedZone host Scott Hanson, we have the 64 potential seeding outcomes in the NFC following the conclusion of Week 17. It's like a trade evaluator but much more fun and practical. (View a larger version below.)
Depending on how things shake out, we could wind up with the 49ers as the top seed with a first-round bye and the Panthers backing into the playoffs as a 6 seed. It's actually not even that crazy. If Seattle (hosting St. Louis) and Carolina (at Atlanta) lose their games and San Fran (at Arizona) wins, the Hawks and Panthers—who enter the weekend as the top two seeds in the NFC—finish five and six.
Some more: Green Bay will either wind up the 4 seed or out of the playoffs and the Eagles share the same all-or-nothing fate with the 3 seed. You should, incidentally, be rooting for the Eagles to get that 3 seed because it's a pretty good bet they'd wind up playing the Saints, which would be fun.
Most of these outcomes are pretty common sensical when we think about it for more than five seconds—and a lot of the wonkiness has to do with the priority given division winners—but it's still pretty neat to see it all mapped out, even if it requires both sides of your brain to work together simultaneously to get things straight.
Take a look at the whole thing here:
[ @ScottHanson]
Photo credit: Getty
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