By Jeff Kerr
The NFL is heading into the home stretch of the season with the conference races heating up. The Philadelphia Eagles have tied the Detroit Lions for the top seed in the NFC, but the Lions currently hold the tiebreaker due to having a better conference record. There are still plenty of games to sort out the race for home-field advantage in the NFC, especially since the Minnesota Vikings also tied the Lions for first place in the NFC North thanks to their win over the Chicago Bears on Monday night.
The Eagles, Lions and Vikings are all tied for first, but the Lions hold the tiebreaker over both teams.
The Atlanta Falcons stayed alive in the NFC South race thanks to their win over the Las Vegas Raiders. Atlanta is one game back of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the division lead (and has the head-to-head tiebreaker).
In the AFC, the Kansas City Chiefs lead the Buffalo Bills by two games for the top seed in the conference — yet Buffalo has an easy schedule to end the season. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens have set themselves up for another battle for first in the AFC North next week while the Denver Broncos are on the verge of clinching a playoff berth after a Week 15 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
Meanwhile, the Steelers and Texans are the latest to clinch playoff berths. Pittsburgh gets in despite losing to the Eagles, while Houston took down the Dolphins to win the AFC South. It needed help as the Broncos downed the Colts.
Below is a breakdown of the conference standings with Week 15 nearly in the books.