The San Francisco 49ers didn’t play this week, but still found a way to win. They can thank the Detroit Lions for that.
The 49ers and Vikings are tied at 6-1 and have identical conference records at 4-1. They don’t have enough common opponents yet to get to that tiebreaker’s four minimum, so it goes to Strength of Victory. The teams the 49ers have beaten sit at a .427 winning percentage while the Vikings are at .409. That can change on Sunday night and Monday, so we will update.
NFC playoff standings
1. San Francisco 49ers
(6-1, strength of victory .427)
2. Minnesota Vikings (6-1, strength of victory .409)
3. New York Giants (4-2-1)
4. Carolina Panthers (3-4)
5. Detroit Lions (5-2, 2-0 NFCN)
5. Chicago Bears (5-2, 0-2 NFCN)
7. Green Bay Packers (5-3)
8. Seattle Seahawks (4-3)
9. Los Angeles Rams (4-4)
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-5, win over ATL, 1-0 vs DAL+ARZ, 3-2 NFC)
11. Atlanta Falcons (3-5, loss to TB, 3-3 NFC record)
12. Arizona Cardinals (3-5, 1-0 vs DAL+ARZ, 2-4 NFC)
13. Dallas Cowboys (3-5, 0-2 vs TB+ARZ, loss to ARZ)
14. New Orleans Saints (2-5, 1-3 NFC)
15. Philadelphia Eagles (2-5, 1-4 NFC) Sunday Night Football
16. Washington Commanders (1-4-1) Sunday Night Football
Explaining the cluster of NFC teams at 3-5
First, you get to one team per division, so the Falcons and Buccaneers are against each other. Tampa has a win over Atlanta, so they have the tiebreaker.
Tampa vs. Arizona vs. Dallas is a head-to-head tiebreaker where Atlanta and Arizona move on since they both have wins over Dallas. The Bucs are 3-2 in the NFC vs. the Cardinals at 2-4, so Tampa is the 10 seed.
Then the Falcons go into a three-way tiebreaker with the Cardinals and Cowboys. It goes straight to NFC record, where the Falcons are 3-3 and the Cardinals and Cowboys are 2-4. Atlanta is the 11 seed.
The Arizona Cardinals beat the Cowboys, so they win the head-to-head tiebreaker in the two-way decision. Arizona is 12th, and the Cowboys are 13th.
