Which of the following NFC teams will make the playoffs: Bucs? Packers? Rams?

In the AFC, you may have a winning record with four weeks remaining in the regular season and yet be on the outside looking in.

A decent team or three will almost certainly miss the playoffs.

In the other meeting, the situation is exactly the opposite. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons, and New Orleans Saints are all 7-6 and battling for the final wild-card berth in the AFC, while the NFC has six teams at 6-7 and fighting for the final postseason spot: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons, and New Orleans Saints.

At the top of the league, it appears that two NFC East clubs, the 10-3 Dallas Cowboys and the 10-3 Philadelphia Eagles, will enter the playoffs, one as the division winner and the other as the top wild-card team. The 10-3 San Francisco 49ers have already won a playoff position and appear to be on their way to winning the West.

In the North, the 9-4 Detroit Lions have a two-game lead over the Minnesota Vikings, the NFC’s lone 7-6 team and the current No. 6 seed.

The Buccaneers, Falcons, and Saints are the three 6-7 teams in the South. One team will win the division and a playoff position, with Tampa Bay presently holding the tiebreaker.

The others are in a pack vying for the last wild-card position, which now belongs to the Packers due to tiebreakers.

With that in mind, here are the six 6-7 clubs for the NFC’s seven playoff slots, listed in order of their current conference ranking.

They’ve practically been here before. They finished 6-7 in Week 14 last season, won the NFC South two years in a row, and have made the playoffs the last three years. The offense is on the rise, owing to an improved ground game led by running backs Rachaad White and Chase Edmonds. Teams should start accounting for this, giving wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin greater opportunity to operate downfield. Safety Antoine Winfield Jr. is also having a breakout year.

They’re still struggling with consistency, particularly on defense. They’ll make big stops at the goal line and create turnovers, but they’ll also make huge mistakes like last week, when Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts scored a 36-yard touchdown or when they only had nine players on the field for Bijan Robinson’s 3-yard touchdown. They’ve suffered defensive injuries, but attention to detail is still a concern.

The quarterback and the schedule. The Vikings game is the lone remaining game against a successful team, and their quarterback situation is a disaster. Jordan Love had found a rhythm before the Giants’ setback on Monday night. If you tried to blitz him, he’d pick it apart. He has the league’s second-best QBR versus the blitz, trailing only Dallas’ Dak Prescott, and he should get back probably his most dynamic player when running back Aaron Jones recovers from a knee injury, possibly this week.

The running game, as in being unable to halt it. They’ve allowed four opponents, most recently the Giants, to rush for more than 200 yards in a game. Not alone have running backs harmed them (see QB DeVito, Tommy). If it comes down to the season finale, will they be able to keep Justin Fields from injuring them with his feet like he has in the past? Concerns have also been raised about the Packers’ ailing receiving corps. Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, and Dontayvion Wicks (their top four receivers) are all hurt.

The Rams look like a different team since their Week 10 bye. Quarterback Matthew Stafford returned from a thumb injury and is playing his best football of the season. Los Angeles is averaging 34.6 points per game in its past three games, victories over the Cardinals and Browns and a loss to the Ravens in Baltimore. The Rams also have only one game remaining against a team with a winning record: Week 18 against the 49ers.

 While the defense has no doubt kept the Rams in several games and shown a lot of improvement since the start of the season, it may be the reason they can’t close out games and make the playoffs. Against a high-powered Ravens offense in Week 14, they showed there’s still improvement to make, allowing two touchdowns of more than 45 yards. The Rams chose to surround tackle Aaron Donald with a young defense, and while they’ve had several rookies play important roles, the unit’s inexperience could be the Rams’ downfall.