With two weeks ahead and after the victory on Monday by the Atlanta Falcons, the six qualifiers for the National Conference playoffs seem clearer, as the Georgia team has a game advantage over the other three squads vying for a postseason spot.
The Falcons currently hold the sixth spot to play in January, ahead of Detroit, Seattle, and Dallas. The first two seeded teams, Philadelphia and Minnesota, already have a ticket bought, while the Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, and Atlanta Falcons only need a win to secure it, although Georgia and Louisiana will face each other.
If the current six playoff teams in the National Conference confirm, only one team would repeat: the conference champions, the Falcons. The other five are teams that did not make the playoffs last season.
In the 2016 season, Dallas, still in contention, Seattle, still alive, Green Bay, eliminated, the New York Giants, with the worst record in the National Conference this season, and Detroit, also in the competition, advanced to the decisive stages.
Philadelphia (with a record of 7-9 in the previous season), Minnesota (8-8), Rams (4-12), New Orleans (7-9), and Carolina (6-10) have taken their places.
The last time something like this happened in the National Conference was between the 2007 and 2008 seasons when, again, only one team, the New York Giants, conference champions that year, repeated in the playoffs, but with five different companions.
In 2007, Dallas, Green Bay, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Washington, and the Giants advanced, but 12 months later they were replaced by Carolina, Minnesota, Arizona, Atlanta, and Philadelphia.
However, the immediate precedent also speaks of the constant changes in the National Conference because between the 2015 and 2016 playoffs, only two teams repeated, Seattle and Green Bay, while the other four changed, Carolina, Arizona, Minnesota, and Washington, replaced by Dallas, Atlanta, Giants, and Detroit.
In that conference, the franchise with the longest time without advancing to the decisive rounds is the Rams, who haven't qualified since 2004, although the curse could end this weekend with a win over Tennessee.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2007), Chicago Bears (2010), and New Orleans (2013) follow, although the Saints could also officially return if they beat Atlanta.
If the six qualifiers are confirmed, in the last three seasons, 13 out of the 16 National Conference teams will have participated in the playoffs, with only the absences of Tampa Bay, Chicago, and San Francisco.
THE CONSTANT AMERICAN CONFERENCE
On the other hand, in the American Conference, the average of teams that repeat between one postseason and another since 2010 is four; that is, 66 percent of the teams regain their place.
Although at the moment, after Week 15, only three teams from 2016 would repeat: New England, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City, while Houston, already eliminated, Oakland, and Miami, about to be mathematically eliminated, would be replaced by Jacksonville, already qualified, Tennessee, and Buffalo, who did not play in January this year.
But with the Patriots in the playoffs continuously since 2009, the American Conference already has a defined spot, and only the other five teams seem to be in dispute, while in the National Conference every season everyone seems to have possibilities.