Kansas City (11-3) at Seattle (8-6)
NFC South champion New Orleans gets homefield edge for the conference playoffs by winning here, though it can happen in other ways, too. Pittsburgh’s situation is precarious: The Steelers snapped a three-game slide by beating New England, but has no postseason guarantee yet. There are scenarios for them to secure the division, and others, with two losses, that keep them from making the postseason.
Pittsburgh’s previous victory in New Orleans came in 1990. The Saints are 5-1 in the Superdome, averaging 38 points. Drew Brees’ 74.9 percent completion rate leads the NFL. He holds the single-season record at 72 percent. During their six home games, Brees has completed 77.7 percent (153 of 197) for 1,925 yards (320.8 per game) with 20 TDs and one interception.
Although the Chiefs are safely into the postseason and in strong position, one loss could sink them to a wild card. Their prolific offense leads the league in points per game (35.6), yards per play (6.78) and yards per game (427.3). But it will be tested in Seattle, which had quite a misstep in a loss at lowly San Francisco last Sunday, but has a physical, aggressive defense and top-ranked running game.
Yet it’s KC defensive tackle Chris Jones who has the gaudiest numbers. He had 2½ sacks last week and has at least one sack in
Indy is another AFC wildcard contender that probably needs two victories, which would include the finale at Tennessee. Andrew Luck, like Watt, is having a monster return season from injury, and needs 49 yards passing for a fourth 4,000yard season.
“I’ve been a part of teams where you sit and say, ‘ We need this to happen with this.’ It doesn’t work like that,” Luck says. “You’ve got to handle your own business.”
That means trying to shut down RB Saquon Barkley, who needs seven catches to break Reggie Bush’s record for receptions (88) by a rookie. Barkley is tied with former Colts star Edgerrin James for second-most games with 100 yards from scrimmage by an NFL rookie (12). He also needs 191 scrimmage yards to join James and Eric Dickerson as the only rookies with 2,000 yards from scrimmage.
Buffalo (5-9) at New England (9-5)
For the third straight week, the Patriots can secure their 10th straight AFC East crown. Considering their success against Buffalo, well, here are the numbers:
—Patriots will be looking for their 26th season sweep over the Bills and 14th series sweep since
Chicago’s turnaround season has brought its first playoff berth since 2010 as NFC North champs. With two victories, the Bears could find themselves with a first-round bye, but more likely will be seeded third.
Matt Nagy is Chicago’s first rookie coach with 10 wins since George Halas went 10-1-2 in 1920, the first year for the franchise then known as the Decatur Staleys. The Bears lead the NFL in takeaways (35), turnover margin ( plus13), interceptions (26) and points off turnovers (107).
Niners TE George Kittle has 1,154 yards receiving and needs 26 more to post the most for San Francisco since Terrell Owens had 1,300 in 2002.
The Vikings can clinch a wild card with a win and help despite a stagnant offense. And Detroit’s offense is worse.
The Lions have not scored more than 22 points since Oct. 21, and Minnesota has an NFL-best 47 sacks. Minnesota sacked Lots of excitement in Cleveland, with hopes the