NFC Standings:

North
Chicago 6-1
Green Bay 5-3
Minnesota 5-3
Detroit 3-4

South
Atlanta 7-0
Tampa Bay 3-4
New Orleans 2-5
Carolina 1-6

East
New York 6-2
Philadelphia 3-4
Dallas 3-4
Washington 3-5

West
San Francisco 6-2
Arizona 4-4
Seattle 4-4
St. Louis 3-5





The realistic competition for the NFC Wild Card race looks like Green Bay, Minnesota, Arizona, and Seattle, all who have played 8 games. Philly and Dallas are still in it too. Assuming Detroit beats Jacksonville, that would put Detroit at 4-4 after 8 games.

Green Bay: Detroit has to play Green Bay twice still. Splitting the two games against them would go a long way towards keeping pace in the Wild Card race.

Minnesota: Detroit has lost to Minnesota once and has one game left against them. If Detroit can win the remaining game, it puts them on even footing. Minnesota's schedule doesn't get any easier either.

Seattle: Detroit beat Seattle head to head and would hold the first tie breaker over them. Seattle realisitically has to finish with a better record than Detroit to beat them out for a WC slot.

Arizona: Detroit will play Arizona this season. Once again, a Detroit win here would be very good for their playoff chances.

Philly: Philly is at 3-4 with a loss to Detroit.

Dallas: Dallas is the only team on this list that Detroit won't see this season. At 3-4, they're alive too, but there's nothing Detroit can do about them.

In summary: The beginning of the season didn't go as well as we would have liked, but even at 3-4, Detroit has a good shot at making the playoffs. All they have to do is win. There is a lot of football left to play, but Detroit is alive.