NFC Playoff Table: Week 8

The NFC playoff race got shaken up a bit this week, becoming more muddled in spots, and clearer in others. The Giants look like the favorite to win the NFC East, but New Orleans, Seattle and St. Louis all stumbled. That means the Vikings are still a favorite for a Wild Card berth, but rather then taking control of their own destiny, they instead laid an egg against the Patriots, leaving them tied with the Rams and Cowboys for the sixth best record in the NFC. Luckily for the Vikings, they chose to get destroyed by an AFC team, preserving their 4-1 conference record, and leaving them with the tiebreakers. And they should keep those tiebreaker, with 5 games left against NFC teams with losing records, and a home game against the Rams. Those games, along with their home game against a mediocre Jets team (no wins over teams with winning records) mean that the Vikings should 1) finish at least 10-6 and 2) finish with tiebreakers over their competition.

Of course, this all depends on whether or not the Vikings have the ability to stop teams from doing what the Patriots just did to them. That, and if Brad Childress remembers when calling plays that he has a good running back and a bad quarterback. His first chance to do so is on Sunday against San Francisco. I'll have a preview up tomorrow.

[Once again, due to formatting issues, the playoff table is done the page. Sorry about that.]








Formatting issues are....










A) Annoying









B) Obnoxious











C) Not easy to fix









D) All of the Above












The correct answer is....









D) All of the Above

Team	Record	NFC Record	Tiebreakers	Tiebreaker Games Left	Division Games Left	Opponents Left
MIN	4-3	4-1	SEA, CAR	STL	GB, @GB, @DET, @CHI	NYJ, ARZ, @SF
NYG	5-2	5-1	ATL	@CAR, NO	DAL, PHI, WAS	HOU, CHI, @JAX, @TEN
PHI	4-4	3-3	NONE	CAR, ATL	WAS, @WAS, @NYG, @DAL	TEN, @IND, BYE
DAL	4-3	2-2	CAR	NO, @ATL	@NYG, PHI, @WAS	ARZ, IND, TB, DET
NO	5-2	4-1	PHI	@DAL, @NYG	@ATL, CAR @TB	@PIT, CIN, SF, WAS
ATL	5-2	3-2	NONE	DAL, @PHI	NO, CAR, @TB	@DET, CLE, @BAL, @WAS,
CAR	4-4	2-3	NONE	STL, @PHI, NYG	TB, @ATL, @NO	@WAS, PIT, BYE
SEA	4-3	4-2	NYG	NONE	STL, @SF, @AZ, SF	OAK, GB, @DEN, SD, @TB
STL	4-3	3-2	NONE	@CAR, @MIN	@SEA, SF, AZ	KC, CHI, @OAK, WAS