Storyline Update: Goodell must be hating life right now.

NFC first.  We're down to seven teams for six spots, after Dallas and Detroit lost to be eliminated.

1. Philadelphia (12-2, plays tomorrow night at home against Oakland in the MNF finale).  Bye clinched.  Clinches homefield throughout and the #1 seed with one win or a Minnesota loss.
2. Minnesota (12-3):  Has clinched nothing but the NFC North.  Still needs a win or Carolina not to win the NFC South at 12-4.  To get the #1, Philly must lose twice and Minnesota defeat Chicago.
3. Los Angeles Rams (11-4):  Won the NFC West.  Can do no better than here, though, with the head-to-heads all against them above.
4. New Orleans (11-4):  Has clinched only a playoff berth.  Can do no better than the #3 anyway, and, if Carolina beats Atlanta and they lose to Tampa, Carolina vaults everybody unless Minnesota wins.  A win or a Carolina loss gets the NFC South.
5. Carolina (11-4):  See the New Orleans thing for the situation.  A win and a New Orleans loss means they can jump all the way to the #2 if Minnesota also loses.  A win and a New Orleans loss alone probably gets them the #3.
6. Atlanta (9-6):  Must either beat Carolina or have Seattle lose to get the #6, can do no better.

Only other team in it is Seattle at 9-6, needs a win over Arizona AND an Atlanta loss.

AFC is quite a bit more confusing, but it's all at the wildcards:

1. New England (12-3):  Wins the #1 with a win or one Pittsburgh loss.  Bye clinched.
2. Pittsburgh (11-3, plays Houston in the Christmas Bonus game with the NFL Network tomorrow):  Needs two wins and a New England loss to the Jets for the #1.  However, needs one win to avoid Jacksonville cropping up.  They do get a bye week next week with the Browns.
3. Jacksonville (10-5):  Unless Pittsburgh loses twice, nothing more to do.  Division clinched.
4. Kansas City (9-6):  Nothing more to do.  Division clinched.
5. Baltimore (9-6):  At least has the outright position, so a win in Week 17 gets them the #5 and Kansas City.
6. Tennessee (8-7, conference tiebreaker over the Bills and Chargers):  Win and in, lose and they need the other two to lose as well.
7.  Buffalo (8-7):  Needs a win and either Tennessee or Baltimore to lose.
8.  Los Angeles Chargers (8-7):  Needs a win and both Buffalo and Tennessee to lose.

And that's the entire playoff picture.  15 teams for 12 spots, and NO GAME worthy of the final game -- so the NFL has announced there won't be one.

For the first time since the flex scheduling and the like, there will be NO LATE GAME.  NBC gets no game for the last of the season, because there's no game worthy of it.  Late word had the Carolina-Atlanta game being flexed, and that probably was the closest call.

There are already five irrelevant games next week.  If Philadelphia wins Monday, their Week 17 game goes irrelevant. Minnesota kicks early (so does Philly), Carolina/Atlanta kicks late (so doNew Orleans and Seattle (and the Rams, but that game is irrelevant)).

So that's five or six games relevant in the NFC, and a lot of that is schedule manipulation.

New England and Pittsburgh kick early.  (The Pittsburgh game is relevant either way -- for the #1 if they win Monday, for the #3 if they lose Monday.)  Jacksonville/Tennessee kicks late, relevant for Tennessee at minimum.  Baltimore, Buffalo and the Chargers also kick late, so that whole wild-card situation goes in the 4 PM slot.

Six relevant games, again, ALL schedule manipulation.

So they had to manipulate the schedule, moving three CBS games in that wild-card mess in the AFC to the 4 PM slot.

Roger Goodell must be hating life.