NFL Standings 2018: Saints, Rams, Chiefs, Patriots, Steelers, Bears Cruising To Playoffs In Week 12

The 2018 NFL playoff picture is starting to become pretty clear as the season enters Week 12. While no one has clinched a postseason berth just yet, several teams are all but assured to be playing in January.

With their historic win over the Kansas City Chiefs (9-2) Monday night, the Los Angeles Rams (10-1) have a magic number of one to win the NFC West. All Kansas City has to do is defeat the Oakland Raiders (2-8) twice to ensure themselves an 11-win season, at worst. The New England Patriots (7-3) are cruising toward a 10th straight AFC East title. The Super Bowl favorite New Orleans Saints (9-1) have a three-game lead in the NFC South.

The Pittsburgh Steelers (7-2-1) are starting to run away with the AFC North. They’ve got a 2.5-game lead over both the Baltimore Ravens (5-5) and Cincinnati Bengals (5-5).

It would be surprising to see the Chicago Bears (7-3) miss the playoffs at this point. They’ve got a 1.5-game lead in the NFC North over the Minnesota Vikings (5-4-1), whom they just defeated pretty handily. It might only take nine wins to clinch the second NFC wild-card spot.

The Washington Redskins (6-4) are the only first-place team that doesn’t have more than a one-game lead in the division. They aren’t even favored to win the NFC East because of the season-ending injury to Alex Smith. The Dallas Cowboys (5-5) are given the best odds to represent the NFC East in the playoffs after winning two straight games.

The Houston Texans (7-3) are two games in front of both the Indianapolis Colts (5-5) and Tennessee Titans (5-5) for the AFC South lead. Houston hosts Tenneesse Monday night in a key divisional matchup.

The Los Angeles Chargers (7-3) and Carolina Panthers (6-4) seem like pretty good bets to make the playoffs as wild-card teams.

No NFL playoff team won fewer than nine games last year. Every division winner went 10-6 or better.