National Football League

NFL Playoff Picture: Who's in and who's out after Week 17

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 1:45 a.m. ET

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The final day of the NFL regular season has wrapped up. Here's a rundown of what went down as the NFL playoff picture took its final shape:

• The Seahawks have emerged on top of the NFC logjam. Their 12-4 is better than everyone else's 12-4 in the NFC after Sunday's win over the Rams, so they get the No. 1 slot in the conference. The Packers and Cowboys come in behind them at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively.

• The Carolina Panthers -- who were 3-8-1 after Week 13 -- have won the NFC South and will host a playoff game as a 7-8-1 team. They mauled the Falcons in the underwhelming NFC South title game Sunday, clinching the NFC's No. 4 seed.

• As for the NFC wild cards -- the Cardinals get the No. 5 slot after losing to the 49ers. The Lions come in at No. 6 after their loss in Green Bay. Both teams are 11-5.

• Over in the AFC, the drama for the final playoff spot was resolved in the early wave of games. The Ravens' win over the Browns coupled with the Chargers' loss in Kansas City handed the conference's final berth to Baltimore.

• Peyton Manning and the Broncos still had reason to play Sunday, as a loss to Oakland could have forced Denver to play wild-card weekend. But the Broncos crushed the lowly Raiders to wrap up the AFC's No. 2 seed.

• The Steelers beat the Bengals in the Sunday nightcap to finish their rally to the AFC North title and the No. 3 seed. Cincinnati ended as the No. 5 seed.

Here is how it all shook out.

Records as of Dec. 28, 11:30 p.m. ET.

AFC
No. 1 seed	No. 2 seed	No. 3 seed	No. 4 seed
(12-4)^z East champ	(12-4)^y West champ	(11-5)^x North champ	(11-5)^x South champ
Wild Card No. 1	Wild Card No. 2
(10-5-1)^w	(10-6)^w
Next five	The rest
Texans (9-7)^e Chiefs (9-7)^e Chargers (9-7)^e Bills (9-7)^e Dolphins (8-8)^e	Browns (7-9)^e Jets (4-12)^e Jaguars (3-13)^e Raiders (3-13)^e Titans (2-14)^e
z -- Clinched home-field advantage y -- Clinched first-round bye x -- Clinched division w -- Clinched playoff berth e -- Eliminated from playoff contention