Washington playoff picture, Week 15

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December 14, 2022

by Steve Thomas

This week, Washington is in the 6th slot in the NFC playoff seedings, which equates to the second wild card spot, by virtue of having a better NFC East winning percentage than the New York Giants.  The complete NFC playoff seedings are:

  1. Philadelphia Eagles, 12 – 1 (clinched playoff birth)
  2. Minnesota Vikings, 10 – 3
  3. San Francisco 49ers, 9 – 4
  4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 6 – 7
  5. Dallas Cowboys, 10 – 3
  6.  Washington, 7 – 5 – 1
  7.  New York Giants, 7 – 5 – 1

The teams currently on the outside looking in are, in order:

  1. Seattle Seahawks, 7 – 6
  2. Detroit Lions, 6 – 7
  3. Green Bay Packers, 5 – 8
  4. Carolina Panthers, 5 – 8
  5. Atlanta Falcons, 5 – 8

Therefore, realistically, Washington’s playoff competition at this juncture is the Giants and the Seahawks.  The Seahawks have a tough home game against the 49ers this weekend, so if you’re a Washington fan, root for San Francisco.  If Washington defeats the Giants and the Seahawks lose, the Washington truly would be in pretty good shape, with a game lead and the tie breaker over New York and a game and a half lead over Seattle.

Things get a bit dicey if the worst happens, meaning that the Giants defeat Washington and Seattle gets a win over the 49ers.  At that point, Washington would be in 8th place, on the outside looking in, with the Giants having a game lead and the tiebreaker in 6th place, and Seattle in 7th with a game and a half lead over Washington.

So, Washington fans, your principal rooting interest outside of the Giants game should be for San Francisco to defeat Seattle.  The latter is the Thursday night game this week, so we’ll know more about where Washington stands before Washington takes the field Sunday night.