With the NFL season heading into its halfway point this week, I have some good news for everyone: All 32 teams are still mathematically alive to make the playoffs. And yes, that means even the Titans and Chargers could still make the postseason. I'm guessing they won't, but they could, and that's what matters here.
Heading into Week 9, this is when we finally start to see the contenders separate themselves from the pretenders. But who are the real contenders? Who's actually going to make the playoffs?
To help us figure that out, we had our analytics expert, Stephen Oh, simulate the rest of the 2026 season. There are 151 games left on the regular-season schedule, along with 13 playoff games, and Oh simulated all of them. Not only did he project all eight division winners and the 14 playoff teams, but he also crowned a Super Bowl champion.
With that in mind, let's get to the projections. And just as a reminder, we're projecting what the NFL playoff field will look like at the end of the season. This is NOT the current playoff standings.
The AFC playoff projection underwent some massive changes this week. The Broncos turned the AFC West upside down with their win over the Chiefs. Thanks to that victory, our model now projects that Denver ends up winning the division title for the second straight year.
Here's the projected AFC playoff field (with each team's current record): 1. Bills (6-1) -- AFC East champion 2. Jaguars (5-2) -- AFC South champion 3.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
