NFL 2019 Wild Card: Seahawks, Vikings NFC Favorites, Bills And Raiders Likely to Miss Out in AFC

The NFL regular season is really taking shape and fans can see which teams are likely to make the playoffs and which clubs will sit at home during postseason football. While most NFL franchises are focused on their divisional races, there is an interesting Wild Card picture taking shape in both the NFC and AFC.

In the NFC, two teams stand head and shoulders above their opponents as Wild Card favorites. Meanwhile, the AFC race is still very tight and the two teams currently occupying the Wild Card places will face an uphill struggle to hold on to them.

After their win over the San Francisco 49ers, the Seattle Seahawks are basically shoo-ins for the playoffs. San Francisco still tops the division with an 8-1 record to Seattle’s 8-2 and, despite Monday’s result, are still favorites for the NFC West.

The Seahawks now have an 82 percent chance of making the playoffs and a 43 percent chance of catching the 49ers. The Minnesota Vikings are not quite as assured in their playoff hopes, but still, look unlikely to be supplanted in the standings.

They bested the Dallas Cowboys last week meaning that they now own the better head-to-head record. This is significant as the Cowboys are statistically the most likely NFC team to take over one of the two Wild Card spots.

The Vikings have an 86 percent chance of postseason contention while the Cowboys just have 48 percent. Most of the reason that number is so high is that they still sit atop the weak NFC East with only the Eagles as real challengers for the divisional crown this season. Dallas may be completely out of luck, however, with Philadelphia having a 62 percent chance of postseason football.

The NFC Wild Card looks almost done and dusted at the moment, but the opposite is very much true of the AFC race. The two clubs currently in the AFC Wild Card spots have relatively low playoff chances compared to their NFC counterparts.

The Buffalo Bills have been a big surprise and, although they really aren’t a threat to take home the AFC East title, they are sitting in one of the two Wild Card places. Their 6-3 record is a bit misleading, however, with their second-half schedule significantly tougher than their first half.

This was made even more difficult with their loss to the Cleveland Browns this past week, a team that went into that game at 2-6. The Bills’ playoff chances are rated at 57 percent, thanks in large part to the Pittsburgh Steelers dropping the Thursday night game to the same Browns team.

That reduced the Steelers’ playoff hopes and they now have just a 34 percent chance of postseason football, same as the Indianapolis Colts. Both will hope for a Buffalo stumble in the final weeks and are in decent shape to catch them.

Meanwhile, the chances for the second AFC Wild Card team is even worse. The Oakland Raiders currently occupy a playoff spot but have been given just a 41 percent chance of making the Wild Card game or better.

As far as candidates to supplant either the Bills or Raiders there are a few. The Cleveland Browns have more than doubled their playoff chances with their past two wins. Cleveland now has a 25 percent chance at the postseason, up from 9.4 percent before Thursday’s win.

The Tennessee Titans are sitting at 5-5 and have a 17 percent chance of the playoffs while the Jacksonville Jaguars are favored just slightly more at 21 percent despite owning a 4-5 record.