2022 NFL Playoff Picture Week 12: Which teams are eliminated from the race for a playoff spot?
Every NFL team's goal at the start of the season is to make the playoffs. Now, all 32 teams can't punch their tickets to the postseason, meaning teams will miss out.
With Week 12 kicking off with the Thanksgiving slate of games that saw the Buffalo Bills, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Minnesota Vikings all win, it again shaped the race for many teams' playoff chances.
The seven teams that would represent the NFC if the #NFL playoffs started today.
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At this stage of the season, with seven games remaining, mathematically, no teams are out of playoff contention as of yet, but over the next couple of weeks, that will change.
Heading into Week 12 of the NFL season, which teams are close to being eliminated from playoff contention?
Teams close to elimination from 2022 NFL playoffs race in Week 12
At the time of writing, the only teams with virtually no chance of making the postseason are the 1-8-1 Houston Texans. CBSSports.com has done the math on every team's playoff chances by feeding data to a computer and simulating the rest of the season, and the results are as expected.
The Texans and the Bears have a zero percent chance of making the playoffs. The Atlanta Falcons, the Detroit Lions, the New Orleans Saints, the Green Bay Packers, the Arizona Cardinals (one percent chance), the Los Angeles Rams (0.7 percent chance), and the Carolina Panthers (0.9 percent chance) have under a 12 percent chance.
That takes care of the NFC teams; now, let's shift gears to the AFC.
The Cleveland Browns, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Denver Broncos, and the Las Vegas Raiders all have under a five percent chance of making the postseason.
If the NFL playoffs started today, here’s what they would look like. https://t.co/3qClN65AEz
The New York Jets (33.8 percent) and the Los Angeles Chargers (44 percent) present the best chances for teams not currently occupying a playoff spot to sneak in.
With seven games remaining on the schedule, no team is officially eliminated from the NFL playoffs, so this week's slate of games will have no bearing on the season's outcome. But the Houston Texans are, for all intents and purposes, done and dusted in 2022.