1: CHIEFS beat Packers
Obviously.
2: BENGALS beat Jaguars
3: COMMANDERS beat Dolphins
We’d like for both the Jaguars and Dolphins to lose at some point, to stay ahead of them for seeding purposes. We do have head to head victories over both, but in a multi way tie that includes the Ravens, it would go to conference record first. For that very reason, a Jaguars loss to an AFC team carries slightly more weight than a Dolphins loss to an NFC team. Additionally, the Jaguars have the easier schedule than the Dolphins after this week, so it’s slightly more important for them to get their loss here.
4: RAMS beat Browns
5: CARDINALS beat Steelers
The Browns and Steelers aren’t incredibly threatening, but they are only a game behind the Chiefs in the conference standings, so a loss for both would be nice. A Cardinals win would be the slightly less nice outcome of the two, because it comes with the drawback of helping the Patriots in the Caleb Williams sweepstakes. Speaking of which …
6: PATRIOTS beat Chargers
Root against a divisional rival and hurt the Patriots’ draft positioning? Yes please!
7: BUCCANEERS beat Panthers
8: FALCONS beat Jets
9: COLTS beat Titans
Again, we need all the teams at the bottom of the standings to lose in order to keep Caleb Williams away from the Patriots. The Panthers (or rather, the Bears) have the top spot as of right now. Of the other two games, a Jets loss is slightly more likely to be helpful, as they actually play the Patriots later in the year.
10: TEXANS beat Broncos
Both teams are 6-5, but a Texans win puts them closer to knocking the Jaguars out of the division lead, and they’re more dangerous than either team in this game. Even if the Jaguars do win the division, the Texans are more likely than the Broncos to knock out a contender in the wild card round.
11: SEAHAWKS beat Cowboys
We have the Cowboys’ 5th round pick.
12: SAINTS beat Lions
A Lions loss hurts the Ravens’ strength of victory (although it does carry the drawback of possibly helping to put their 1st round pick ahead of ours if we’re eliminated in the same round of the playoffs as they are).
13: 49ERS beat Eagles
Whereas a Lions loss could hurt our draft pick, a 49ers win helps our draft pick for the same reason.
BYES: Ravens, Bills, Bears, Raiders, Vikings, Giants
I’ve been getting back into my Washington fandom roots (don’t worry, I’m still with Chiefs Kingdom as well), and I can assure you that Miami is going to bury the Commies. Maybe it’s a higher-scoring game than expected with Jaelan Phillips out, which means Sam Howell is safer in the pocket, but that’s really not saying a whole lot. Also the Commies defense is non-existent, which I don’t think is due to a lack of talent because they have great defensive tackles and some underrated pieces in their secondary, but even with JaQ Del Rio fired, I don’t think the coaching will be there to limit anything Mike McDaniel is capable of. And linebackers? What linebackers? Pfft, Raheem Mostert’s gonna be fine.