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NFL Overreactions Week 13<\/p>\n
USAT’s Prince Grimes gives a quick Thanksgiving recap, and breaks down the best games from NFL Week 13.<\/p>\n
Sports Seriously<\/p>\n
The Chicago Bears have moved into the top seed in the NFC playoff picture following a win and a loss by the Los Angeles Rams.Two division have new teams in first place after Sunday’s action.Several teams, including the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans, are making late-season pushes for a playoff berth.<\/p>\n
Every week for the duration of the\u00a02025 regular season<\/a>,\u00a0USA TODAY Sports<\/a>\u00a0will provide timely updates to the\u00a0NFL<\/a>‘s ever-evolving playoff picture \u2212 typically starting Sunday afternoon and then moving forward for the remainder of the week (through Monday’s and Thursday’s games or Saturday’s, if applicable. And, when the holidays roll around, we’ll be watching then, too).<\/p>\n What just happened? What does it mean? What are the pertinent factors (and, perhaps, tiebreakers) prominently in play as each conference’s seven-team bracket begins to crystallize? All will be explained and analyzed up to the point when the postseason field is finalized on Sunday, Jan. 4.<\/p>\n Here’s where things stand with\u00a0Week 13<\/a>\u00a0complete:<\/p>\n NFC playoff picture<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0Chicago Bears<\/a>\u00a0(9-3), NFC North leaders:\u00a0With back-to-back victories over winning adversaries \u2212 in conjunction with the Rams’ stunning loss Sunday \u2212 the Bears<\/a> have now rocketed to the top of the conference. Chicago’s 6-2 record in NFC games sends LA (4-3) down a spot. Remaining schedule: at Packers<\/a>, vs. Browns<\/a>, vs. Packers, at 49ers, vs. Lions<\/a><\/p>\n 2.\u00a0Los Angeles Rams<\/a>\u00a0(9-3), NFC West leaders:\u00a0Carolina snapped their NFC-high six-game winning streak in rainy Charlotte, a loss that dropped LA out of the conference’s top spot. Remaining schedule: at Cardinals, vs. Lions, at Seahawks<\/a>, at Falcons, vs. Cardinals<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0Philadelphia Eagles<\/a>\u00a0(8-4), NFC East leaders:\u00a0Two losses in a row not only mean a lot more scrutiny but \u2212 beware \u2212 a team that could fall into the Cowboys’ clutches in the division if it’s not careful.\u00a0Remaining schedule: at Chargers, vs. Raiders<\/a>, at Commanders<\/a>, at Bills<\/a>, vs. Commanders<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a>\u00a0(7-5), NFC South leaders:\u00a0They narrowly beat Arizona to narrowly maintain their half-game lead over Carolina in the division. But the schedule is awfully forgiving the rest of the way aside from two meetings with those Panthers<\/a>. Remaining schedule: vs. Saints<\/a>, vs. Falcons, at Panthers, at Dolphins<\/a>, vs. Panthers<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0Seattle Seahawks<\/a>\u00a0(9-3),\u00a0wild card No.\u00a01:\u00a0All three of the ‘Hawks’ losses are against NFC opponents, including two in the division \u2212 defeats that won’t serve them well in the tiebreaker department. Seattle’s Week 11 loss to the Rams meant they couldn’t move up Sunday … but they are otherwise tied for first place in the NFC West.\u00a0Remaining schedule: at Falcons, vs. Colts, vs. Rams, at Panthers, at 49ers<\/p>\n 6.\u00a0Green Bay Packers<\/a>\u00a0(8-3-1),\u00a0wild card No. 2:\u00a0They merely maintained their standing (for now) with their Thanksgiving win at Detroit, but a loss would have dropped them from the field entirely. A thin margin for the Pack to be sure … yet they remain just a half-game off the NFC North lead, too. Remaining schedule: vs. Bears, at Broncos<\/a>, at Bears, vs. Ravens<\/a>, at Vikings<\/a><\/p>\n 7.\u00a0San Francisco 49ers<\/a>\u00a0(9-4), wild card No. 3:\u00a0They now have a 1\u00bd-game lead on their wild-card pursuers after Sunday’s win, but are only a half-game behind the Rams and Seahawks for the NFC West lead.\u00a0Remaining schedule: BYE, vs. Titans, at Colts, vs. Bears, vs. Seahawks<\/p>\n 8.\u00a0Detroit Lions<\/a>\u00a0(7-5),\u00a0in the hunt:\u00a0Getting swept by the Packers further entrenches Detroit, which could have moved into a wild-card slot with a Turkey Day win, on the outside of the field. Huge game this Thursday night with Dallas. Remaining schedule: vs. Cowboys, at Rams, vs. Steelers, at Vikings, at Bears<\/p>\n 9.\u00a0Dallas Cowboys<\/a>\u00a0(6-5-1), in the hunt:\u00a0Three wins in a row further fuels playoff aspirations in Big D. Week 14’s game in Detroit looms as massive \u2212 and potentially must-win \u2212 for the Cowboys and Lions.\u00a0Remaining schedule: at Lions, vs. Vikings, vs. Chargers, at Commanders, at Giants<\/a><\/p>\n 10.\u00a0Carolina Panthers<\/a>\u00a0(7-6), in the hunt:\u00a0The upset of the Rams on Sunday reaffirms the Panthers as an outfit to be reckoned with, though they didn’t gain any ground in the wild-card or divisional races (on a day when they could have gone into first place had Tampa Bay lost). Remaining schedule: BYE, at Saints, vs. Buccaneers<\/a>, vs. Seahawks, at Buccaneers<\/p>\n AFC playoff picture<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0New England Patriots<\/a>\u00a0(11-2), AFC East leaders:\u00a0The first team in the league to 11 wins thanks to Monday night’s rollover of the Giants, the Pats are in a very tight race with Denver, the teams’ airtight tiebreakers set to take effect once New England’s bye is over.\u00a0Remaining schedule: BYE, vs. Bills, at Ravens, at Jets, vs. Dolphins<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0Denver Broncos<\/a>\u00a0(10-2), AFC West leaders:\u00a0Denver held a one-game advantage in the common-games tiebreaker with New England \u2212 the difference being the Patriots’ Week 1 loss to the Raiders \u2212 before the Pats won Monday night.\u00a0Remaining schedule: at Raiders, vs. Packers, vs. Jaguars<\/a>, at Chiefs, vs. Chargers<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a>\u00a0(8-4), AFC South leaders:\u00a0Their win in Nashville coupled with Indy’s loss moves the Jags into first place by virtue of the common-games played tiebreaker, which they own by a one-win advantage. Slide back later, and victories over the Chiefs and Chargers could serve them well when it’s time to sort out tiebreakers. Remaining schedule: vs. Colts, vs. Jets, at Broncos, vs. Colts, at Titans<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0Baltimore Ravens<\/a>\u00a0(6-6), AFC North leaders:\u00a0A sloppy performance against the Bengals<\/a> briefly cost them first place in the division and a slot in the projected playoff field \u2212 but Pittsburgh’s loss Sunday conferred it back, the Ravens currently with one additional win over the Steelers in the common-games tiebreaker. Remaining schedule: vs. Steelers, at Bengals<\/a>, vs. Patriots, at Packers, at Steelers<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0Los Angeles Chargers<\/a>\u00a0(8-4), wild card No. 1:\u00a0They looked fairly fresh while taking out the Raiders in their return from the bye. Then QB Justin Herbert got hurt<\/a>. But the Bolts’ 7-2 record in AFC games currently renders them the top-seeded wild card.\u00a0Remaining schedule: vs. Eagles<\/a>, at Chiefs, at Cowboys, vs. Texans<\/a>, at Broncos<\/p>\n 6.\u00a0Indianapolis Colts<\/a>\u00a0(8-4), wild card No. 2: They’ve dropped three of their past four to fall off the conference pace … and have now ceded first place in the AFC South to Jacksonville after Sunday’s loss to Houston. Though they beat the Chargers in Week 7, the three-way tiebreaker (conference record) currently takes precedence, and the Colts are 6-3 in those contests. The schedule doesn’t let up the rest of the way out.\u00a0Remaining schedule: at Jaguars, at Seahawks, vs. 49ers, vs. Jaguars, at Texans<\/p>\n 7.\u00a0Buffalo Bills<\/a>\u00a0(8-4), wild card No. 3:\u00a0They got back into the win column at Pittsburgh, thus hanging on to the AFC’s final projected wild-card spot. A 5-3 record in conference games leaves Buffalo behind the Chargers and Colts in the wild-card seeding.\u00a0Remaining schedule: vs. Bengals, at Patriots, at Browns, vs. Eagles, vs. Jets<\/p>\n 8.\u00a0Houston Texans<\/a>\u00a0(7-5), in the hunt:\u00a0They’ve won five of six, including four in a row. If they want to win the AFC South for a third straight year, the Texans likely need to sweep the Colts \u2212 and they took their first step toward that with Sunday’s win at Indy \u2212 while continuing their surge.\u00a0Remaining schedule: at Chiefs, vs. Cardinals, vs. Raiders, at Chargers, vs. Colts<\/p>\n 9.\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>\u00a0(6-6), in the hunt:\u00a0They’re virtually tied with the Ravens … but won’t be after next weekend’s trip to Baltimore. A 5-3 record in AFC games does slot the Steelers ahead of K.C. (3-4) for now. Remaining schedule: at Ravens, vs. Dolphins, at Lions, at Browns, vs. Ravens<\/p>\n 10.\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>\u00a0(6-6), in the hunt:\u00a0Not only will they almost certainly not win the AFC West for the first time since 2015, they could miss the postseason for the first time since 2014 \u2212 Andy Reid’s second year in K.C. And don’t forget they’ve lost to the Broncos, Chargers, Bills and Jags, who are all ahead of them. Remaining schedule: vs. Texans, vs. Chargers, at Titans, vs. Broncos, at Raiders<\/p>\n NFL teams eliminated from playoff contention in 2025<\/p>\n \u25b6\u00a0New York Giants<\/a><\/p>\n \u25b6\u00a0Arizona Cardinals<\/a><\/p>\n \u25b6\u00a0New Orleans Saints<\/a><\/p>\n \u25b6\u00a0Tennessee Titans<\/a><\/p>\n \u25b6\u00a0Las Vegas Raiders<\/a><\/p>\n