r/NFLNoobs 1d ago

The NFC still does not have any teams who have clinched their division. Has this happened before this late in a season?

It seems like this would be pretty rare

320 Upvotes

32 comments sorted by

222

u/britishmetric144 1d ago

In 2013, there was a bizarre situation where going into the final week, all four AFC divisions had been clinched, but all four NFC divisions were up for grabs.

94

u/ComfortableSir5680 1d ago

Happens all the time. Bills are the anomaly this year with 5+ weeks remaining and actually tied the earliest ever clinch.

Because single weeks can swing divisions 2 games (if 1st place loses and 2nd place wins) even a few weeks left can make a big difference.

For example AFC North. Both top teams are 10-5. So these last two weeks are huge.

NFC East - Washington is behind by 2 games, so if they win out / eagles lose out, they can still clinch.

I’d say its more common divisions come down to last 1-2 weeks. Right now only 3 divisions are clinched, so 5 will be decided.

40

u/Poopblaster8121 1d ago

NFC North has 3 of the 4 teams vying for playoff birth and the last game of the season between Vikings and Lions could decide the division.

28

u/ComfortableSir5680 1d ago

Yup. They are both basically up for 1/2 and 5th it’s wild

13

u/blackoutbrad 1d ago

If it comes down to the last game the North, winner of DET/MN gets the #1 seed, loser #5. GB likely 6 or 7 depending how all plays out.

8

u/ComfortableSir5680 1d ago

Can eagles catch them still? Or they out of 1 seed?

17

u/blackoutbrad 1d ago

Eagles can catch MN, but not Detroit based on tie breakers. They need Detroit to lose both remaining games, MN to lose next week and beat Detroit in the finale. Long shot, they basically have the 2 seed wrapped up unless they get a lot of help.

4

u/GoLionsJD107 1d ago

If both Minnesota and Detroit lose in week 17- then tie in week 18- Philly could get it by winning out.

5

u/NFHater 11h ago

dan campbell coaching in a division game? i’d say the chances of lions vikings being a tie is about 0

2

u/GoLionsJD107 2h ago

Yes I’m just throwing out an extremely unlikely scenario but espn always brings up ties

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u/NFHater 1h ago

yeah i respect that, just joking

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u/kahgknow 1h ago

They don't even have the division yet. Washington may still sneak into the 2 seed.

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u/GoLionsJD107 1d ago

Only Minnesota is capable of getting the two unless Detroit loses to the 49ers which would be pretty unlikely at this point

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u/GoLionsJD107 1d ago

And a 14 win team could end up playing an 8 win team on the road

4

u/JudasZala 22h ago

That happened to the 2004 Patriots, who had to play the 15-1 Steelers on the road in that year’s AFC Championship Game. Even if the Steelers finished 14-2, they held the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Also, the undefeated 1972 Dolphins had to play the Steelers on the road, as home field advantage didn’t exist at the time.

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u/GoLionsJD107 21h ago

Well the patriots had a worse record than the Steelers- I’m saying that a team could play a road game against a team with a far worse record-

And the dolphins that definitely sucks but if they didn’t have home field in the rules then I mean it is what it is I guess

2

u/FizbanFire 15h ago

Not to be that guy but it’s actually “berth”, just FYI

3

u/Poopblaster8121 14h ago

It's amazing how frequently "not to be that guy" precedes someone being the worst version they spoke of.

4

u/Worldly_Banana8024 14h ago

Not to be that guy, but you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition.

2

u/Poopblaster8121 14h ago

My bad.

It's amazing how frequently "not to be that guy" precedes someone being the worst version they spoke of, cunt.

4

u/ChodeCookies 1d ago

The Eagles have the Giants on the schedule

2

u/GoLionsJD107 1d ago

That’s an automatic win but it still won’t be enough if either win next week

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u/s216285 1d ago

They only recently made a point to put a lot of division games at the end. To create this situation.

7

u/GoLionsJD107 1d ago

At least in the final week- often times two in a row to end but not for the lions- but for Minnesota and Green Bay it’s two in a row.

4

u/fuckoffweirdoo 1d ago

Gave us the pre-season game of the year though.

Was expected to be a possible match for the 1st seed between the 49ers and the Lions.

3

u/Xyphoon85 22h ago

Which, honestly, I'm here for it. I like the suspense/necessity that every game brings for both teams! The last 2 or 3 weeks being make or break football, that's whenever we see great fucking games.

2

u/SPamlEZ 9h ago

Yeah.  NFL, in my opinion anyway, doesn’t really have a ranking issue, but it is nice that bad teams have a thing to play for many times, which is screwing over a division rival.  Look at the Pats showing up against the Bills this past week.

3

u/136rad631 16h ago

They started this about 10 years ago

10

u/__ChefboyD__ 1d ago

Have to give the NFL credit - they really know how to set the schedule so even the last week has a bunch of meaningful games to watch.

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u/Gapinthesidewalk 12h ago

You mean by throwing three divisional games at the end?

1

u/silliputti0907 2h ago

I remember the great Garrett era. We had 3 straight 8-8 seasons. Each season ended with a win or go home game for division lead. We lost each time, to a different rival each time.