Since the league moved to a 14-team playoff format in 2021, seven new teams made the playoffs twice (2021 and 2022), six new teams made the playoffs twice (2023 and 2025), and four teams once (2024). Under the old 12-team playoff format installed in 1990, an average of about six new teams made the playoffs every year.
This long history of churn among NFL playoff teams means it’s highly probable that about half teams that made the playoffs in 2025 will miss the playoffs in 2026.
Last season, four NFC
playoff teams changed versus 2024. The Packers, Rams and Eagles repeated as playoff participants from 2024, while the Panthers, Bears, Seahawks, and 49ers made the 2025 playoffs after missing out the previous year. They replaced the Lions, Vikings, Buccaneers, and Commanders, who failed to repeat their playoff appearances from 2024. Coincidentally, that means that 11 of the 16 NFC teams made the playoffs in at least one of the last two seasons.
Seven teams will make the playoffs in the NFC this year, and it’s a virtual certainty that some of last year’s playoff teams will stumble. Or as Bill Parcells once said:
“You never pick up one year where you left off the previous year. Never.”
ESPN recently posted the Draftkings odds for each team to make the Super Bowl, and these are the seven NFC teams with the highest odds:
- LAR: 6-1
- SEA: 11-1
- PHI: 16-1
- GB: 17-1
- SF: 18-1
- DET: 19-1
- CHI: 25-1
Those odds would leave Carolina as the only team not repeating its playoff appearance from last year, though history suggests it’ll be at least three teams failing to repeat.
Which brings us to our question of the day: Last year, the NFC was represented in the playoffs, in order of seeding, by the Seahawks, Bears, Eagles, Panthers, Rams, 49ers, and Packers. Which of these teams do you think are in for a rude awakening in 2026 and will not make it back to the playoffs?
Place your vote in the attached poll. You can vote for up to three teams.
Bonus question: Will the Cowboys make the playoffs?
If you can’t see the poll on your device, feel free to leave your take in the comments section below.
