Predicting the full 14-team NFL playoff bracket entering Week 7: NFC East produces a surprise winner — SkimNews
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- NFC East became the first division in NFL history to have all four teams go winless in back-to-back weeks (0-6-2) after the Commanders fell to the 49ers on Monday Night Football in Week 6.
- Giants are projected by analytics expert Stephen Oh's full-season simulation to claim the NFC East at 8-8-1, edging the Cowboys (8-9), with their Week 5 tie against the Commanders potentially serving as the division tiebreaker.
- Jalen Hurts is expected to miss the rest of the Eagles' season due to blood clots, per the article — a blow that reset last week's projection of Philadelphia winning the division.
- AFC playoff field is unchanged from last week, with the Chiefs (5-0), Bills (5-1), Jaguars (4-2), and Ravens (4-2) claiming division titles while the Steelers and Texans both finish 9-8 and miss the cut.
- Bears are projected to finish 10-7 but miss the playoffs anyway, because two losing-record division winners (NFC East and NFC South) crowd the wild-card field to just five slots for the rest of the conference.
- Chiefs are projected to defeat the 49ers 24-23 in Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium, marking the fifth consecutive week Kansas City has been projected to reach the Super Bowl.
- Kyle Shanahan would drop his third Super Bowl to the Chiefs under this projection, extending his personal 0-3 mark against Patrick Mahomes in title games (LIV, LVIII, and now LXI).
Why it matters: If the simulation holds, the Giants would clinch an NFC East title at 8-8-1 — possibly the first sub-.500 playoff team in NFL history — while a 10-7 Bears team watches January from home because two losing-record division winners crowd the wild-card field. The projection also extends Kyle Shanahan's 0-3 mark against Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowls to an unheard-of 0-4.
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