The Eagles and the Rams had two things in common Sunday. Both were 8-2 and jumped to 21-0 leads. But while the Eagles failed to score again and lost to the Cowboys 24-21 to drop to the second seed at 8-3 in the NFC , the Rams routed Tampa Bay 34-7 to boost their record to 9-2 and take the top seed with six games left. The way the Eagles are struggling, the Rams now seem favored to go to the Super Bowl. But the Eagles did beat the Rams early in the season, so they would get the tiebreak if they can tie the Rams.
The Rams, though, still face a challenge to win their division. Seattle is second in the division at 8-3 and barely lost to the Rams, 21-19, and still have a game left with the Rams. San Francisco is 8-4 after beating Carolina 20-9 on Monday night and split with the Rams, so the division race is wide open. San Francisco is trying to make the playoffs even though its two star defensive players, Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, are out for the year with injuries. Seattle and San Francisco are the fifth and seventh seeds and all three could make the playoffs. Seattle beat Tennessee, 30-24, last week.
–The other two NFC division leaders are the 8-3 Bears, who beat the Steelers 31-28, and the 6-4 Bucs, who lost to the Rams and suffered another setback when quarterback Baker Mayfield suffered an injury to his non throwing shoulder and watched the second half in a sling. The three current wild-card teams are Seattle, Green Bay and San Francisco. The Lions are currently the eighth seed at 7-4. The Lions had to go to overtime to beat the Giants, 34-27, last week. Green Bay beat Minnesota 23-6 last week and is 7-3-1.
–The Patriots rallied to beat the Jets to boost their record to 10-2, the best in the NFL and the current top seed in the AFC. The Broncos had a bye and dropped to the second seed at 9-2, while the Colts lost to the Chiefs 23-20 in overtime and dropped from first to third seed at 8-3. The Colts had a 20-9 lead over the Chiefs in the fourth and still lost, raising questions about whether the Colts are as good as their record. The Chiefs win kept them alive at 6-5 so they can’t beat counted out. The other division leader in the AFC is Baltimore, which beat the Jets to boost its record to 6-5. The three wild-card teams are the Chargers, Jaguars and Bills. The Steelers fell to eighth seed at 6-5 with a 31-28 loss to the Bears but still have two games left with the Ravens that will likely decide the division winner. The Chargers are the fifth seed at 7-5 after having a bye while the Jaguars are the sixth seed after overcoming four Trevor Lawrence turnovers to beat the Cardinals in overtime, 27-24. Coach Liam Coen said he is not going to apologize for victories that boosted their record to 7-4. Buffalo is the seventh seed at 7-4 seed after losing to Houston, 23-19. The Texans, Steelers and Chiefs are all tied at 6-5 and fighting to get a late season surge and make the playoffs.
–Shedeur Sanders made his NFL debut a success by leading the Browns to a 24-10 win over the Raiders. Sanders now has as many wins as top pick Cam Ward, even though Sanders dropped to the fifth round in the draft and is now trying to prove the scouts make a mistake not taking hm earlier.
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