Here’s what the NFL playoffs look like, for now

After a dramatic close of play in Week 12’s Monday Night Football between the Seattle Seahawks and the Washington Football Team, we take a look at what the NFL postseason picture looks like for each conference.

At the end of the MNF game, there are six games left to settle the playoff picture definitively, but it is never too early to get an idea of the duels we can expect in January to define the protagonists of Super Bowl LVI on February 13 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

This picture does not change at all with tomorrow’s game, as it is a game between two NFC clubs.

At the moment, the Baltimore Ravens (8-3) hold the top seed after beating the Cleveland Browns (6-6) at home in Sunday night’s matchup. That means it would be Baltimore that would own the only AFC playoff bye day.

The three Wild Card Round matchups would be settled as follows: The seventh-seeded Los Angeles Chargers (6-5) would visit the New England Patriots (8-4), second in the AFC standings. The Buffalo Bills (7-4), seeded sixth in the standings, would have to travel to face the Tennessee Titans (8-4), who are currently third. The Cincinnati Bengals (7-4) would knock on the door of the Kansas City Chiefs (7-4) for the right to advance to the Divisional Round.

Of those three games, the Chargers already fell to the Patriots in Week 8, 27-24; the Bills succumbed 34-31 to the Titans in Week 6; and the Bengals and Chiefs have a date remaining in Week 17 in Cincy.

Believe it or not, this picture changed from what happened at FedEx Field in Monday night’s game. A win by Washington (5-6) left them momentarily in seventh place in the standings, despite their losing record.

At the moment, the rest day would be for the Arizona Cardinals (9-2), who actually had Week 12 off. They will be waiting to know the other three teams that will reach the NFC Divisional Round.

In the Wild Card Round, Washington would visit the Green Bay Packers (9-3) after knocking the Minnesota Vikings (5-6) out of the postseason picture. The San Francisco 49ers (6-5) would have to make the trip to the opposite coast of the country to the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-3), and the Los Angeles Rams (7-4) would have to go on the road to meet the Dallas Cowboys (7-4).

So far, Washington has already lost to the Packers in a Week 7 game, but the other two games would be unprecedented in the current regular season.