NFL standings 2015: Will the Panthers and Patriots ever lose?

There are now five 6-0 teams in the NFL -- Carolina, Cincinnati, Denver, Green Bay and New England -- which sets an NFL record for the most 6-0 teams after seven weeks of the season. It’s a reminder that professional sports leagues keep a ridiculous number of conditional statistics and an indictment of the current state of parity in the NFL.

Out of all five of those teams, the only one that has any real competition within their own division is the Carolina Panthers. They’re trailed by the 6-1 Atlanta Falcons, who narrowly escaped the Music City with a 10-7 win over the Titans. Coming into Sunday’s games, the Panthers had a 54.9 percent chance of winning the AFC South, according to Football Outsiders. Atlanta’s chances were 42.8 percent.

Compare that to how the other undefeated teams’ odds for winning their divisions:

Cincinnati: 83 percent
Denver: 89.1 percent
Green Bay: 86.1 percent
New England: 72.5 percent

The Falcons host the Buccaneers and go on the road to play the 49ers before their Week 10 bye. The Panthers get another primetime game next week, a Monday nighter at home against the wayward Colts (who might have been your preseason pick to win the AFC Championship) before hosting Green Bay. The AFC South race could narrow even more before those two teams play each other in December.

That won’t be true for the four other undefeated teams in their division races.

The Patriots turned away their most credible threat in the AFC East on Sunday, beating a suffocating Jets defense through the air. They’ll host the resurgent Dolphins next week, but interim head coach is going to have come up with better gimmicks than Oklahoma drills and black practice jerseys to rally his team past Tom Brady and Co. After that, the Pats are in cruise control until a Week 12 game against the Broncos in Denver.

SB Nation presents: The resurgent Dolphins embarrassed the Texans on Sunday

For all the hand-wringing over Peyton Manning’s substandard season, it still doesn’t look like any other team in the AFC West is a real threat. Kansas City and San Diego are terrible, and wouldn’t stand a chance against Denver’s defense. Oakland got within six points in Week 5, but the win gave the Broncos some breathing room in the event of the Raiders making a run at the division title.

The Vikings sit two games behind the Packers. They’re best chance for sneaking into the division race is hoping Green Bay loses back-to-back road games against the Broncos and Panthers.

The Steelers and Bengals play next week in Pittsburgh, a game that would have carried a little more weight if the Steelers had managed to beat the Chiefs this week. Ben Roethlisberger might be back, which doesn’t hurt their chances of winning. But a win would only go so far in the Steelers’ favor. They’d still have two more losses than the Bengals and chasing them all the way to their Week 14 rematch in Cincinnati.

That’s four division races nearly settled before Halloween, barring freakish circumstances like a quarterback injury or something of that magnitude.

The other divisions

As for the other four divisions, the AFC South and NFC East are headed for a winner-by-default situation. We’ll be lucky to have an 8-8 team representing the AFC South at the rate things are going there. Most of us thought the NFC East would be Dallas’ to lose this year, before Tony Romo and Dez Bryant got hurt. Now, they’re in last place, and have to play Seattle, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay before Romo is eligible to come back in Week 11.

That leaves the NFC West, where the Cardinals are currently leading and enjoying a 76.8 percent chance of winning the division. Although they beat the Ravens Monday night, a loss to the Browns next week (ha ha) would put them at 5-3 going into their Week 10 game at Seattle. If the Seahawks beat Dallas next week, they’d be 4-4, with a Week 9 bye, going into that game.

A more realistic version of events would have the Cardinals with a two-game lead going into Week 10, which is still enough to keep the division race tight if the Seahawks really have found their way. Don’t count out the Rams entirely either. This week’s win over the Browns could be a sign that they’ve finally learned how to beat inferior teams. We’ll know for sure with a schedule that includes the 49ers, Bears and Ravens over their next four games.

SB Nation presents: Todd Gurley continues to destroy the NFL