What I want to do in this space is take a big-picture look at New Orleans. With six games to play, they’re in two races of big significance. Carolina’s controversial win over New England on Monday means the Panthers are just a game back in the NFC South and there’s two New Orleans-Carolina matchups ahead. Whomever wins that fight is going to likely battle Seattle for the #1 overall seed in the NFC playoffs.
There’s some debate going on regarding the San Francisco 49ers’ wild 41-34 win over the New England Patriots on Sunday night, with the argument being whether it means more that the Niners got a win in Foxboro, or that they blew a 31-3 lead in the process and allowed the Patriots to the tie the game. To borrow a phrase from Skip Bayless on ESPN’s First Take, “Are you kidding me?!” The San Francisco win significantly altered the playoff bracket in both conferences and might well be the determining factor in who reaches the Super Bowl—on both sides. So what if they blew a lead?
The NFC playoff picture is reasonably stable at the top, but the push for the final wild-card spot looks wide-open, with seven teams packed within a game of each other in the loss column. Even if we concede playoff spots to Atlanta, Chicago, NY Giants, San Francisco and Green Bay, there’s still one more out there. Today we run down the seven teams with a shot, briefly summarize their strengths and weaknesses to this point and look at the schedule ahead…