NFL Playoff Picture: Eagles Locked In As NFC No. 3 Seed, Bears Get First-Round Bye

Here’s how the playoff picture is shaping up on the NFC:

The Bears will be the second seed with the Eagles falling out of contention.

What does this mean for the NFL playoff picture?

First, the Eagles are now locked into the No. 3 seed. They can’t move up or down next week which means they’re not getting a bye. If they had won, they’d be playing for a first round bye. Now that the bye is officially out of the picture, they can rest their guys in Week 17. So the loss is bad but it’s not the worst thing in the world.

That would give them a one-game lead on the Bears -- which they’ll need because Chicago owns the tiebreaker -- and move them into the second spot in the NFL playoff picture. If the Eagles lose either of these next two games, or the Bears win, they’ll be locked into the third seed.

Philly could also be in the running for the top seed, although that’s more difficult. If they win twice and Chicago loses or ties, Atlanta loses and New Orleans loses or ties, they’d get the top seed. If they win twice and Atlanta loses, New Orleans loses or ties then Philly would clinch a strength of victory tiebreaker over Atlanta.

The Patriots are the only ones who have sealed up their playoff spot with the No. 1 seed. The Steelers, Chiefs, Ravens and Jets are still fighting for playoff seeds while the Colts are just trying to get in.

Here are a few of the clinching scenarios in the AFC for Week 17:

The Rams would be hosting the Saints. Yes the Rams, a 7-8 team, would be hosting the defending Super Bowl champs. I think New Orleans would be favored if that game took place.

The lowest seed would then face the Falcons in Atlanta and the Bears would host the other game.

So the first matchup we’d have would be the Jets-Chiefs. For the Chiefs, it’s probably the best matchup you could hope for with the Jets, at times, struggling. The Jets would probably be favored but the Chiefs have a chance to end the season undefeated at home so they won’t be an easy out.

The second AFC matchup in the wildcard round would be the Ravens-Colts. This would be an excellent game between two very good teams. The Ravens have been tough all year while the Colts had to overcome a slow start. The Colts have one more week to clinch their playoff spot with a victory.

Here’s a look at how things are currently looking in the NFC playoff picture:

First, the Falcons can clinch the NFC South and the No. 1 seed with a victory in one of their last two games. Two Falcons losses with two Saints victories would give New Orleans the NFC South title.

First, the Patriots have the No. 1 seed and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They’re two games ahead of the Steelers with one to play. With the weather we’ve seen this year, playing in New England won’t be the easiest thing in the world for either team.

Second, the Steelers need a win against Cleveland next week or a Baltimore loss to clinch the No. 2 seed. A Steelers loss and a Ravens victory slides Pittsburgh all the way down to the sixth seed so this is an important game.

A 10-win season would be Kansas City’s first since 2005 and only its third since 1998. They’ve already secured their first winning season since 2006 and first division title since 2003.

The Chargers will miss the playoffs for the first time in five years, and they did it despite ranking in the top two in both offense and defense for almost the entire season. Wow.

The Packers’ 45-17 shellacking of the Giants provided some clarity to a couple of different aspects of the NFL playoff picture in the NFC.

With the loss, the Packers now have just one last step to making it two straight playoff berths: win next week over the Bears, and the Packers will be one of the NFC’s two wild card teams. Lose, and the Packers need a little help to get back to the postseason.

And they lost.