Just four weeks remain in the NFL’s regular season! Week 14 saw some surprising results that had major impacts on the playoff picture as teams jockeyed for position in crowded divisional and wild-card races. In the AFC, there’s a three-way tie for the seventh and final playoff spot. And in the NFC, a tie is all that separates the Giants and Commanders from the Seahawks.
The final stretch of this football season should be all kinds of fun. Here’s a look at the biggest changes to the postseason picture from Week 14, using insights from SI Tickets’ postseason reservations.
Panthers Push Back Into NFC South Picture
Undoubtedly, the 5–8 Panthers have been aided by competing in the NFL’s weakest division. But Carolina is quietly playing excellent football, and, after Week 14’s results, now sit just one game out of the division lead in the NFC South. Carolina scored 30 points for just the second time all season Sunday against the Seahawks, riding a dominant ground game (223 yards rush) and a mistake-free passing attack to a critical road win in Seattle.
The Panthers may still have only a 22% chance of making the playoffs, per FiveThirtyEight, but even those odds seem remarkably positive, considering how much Carolina has gone through during the season. They dealt away their best offensive player in Christian McCaffrey, went through four quarterbacks and navigated a midseason coaching change. That’s why Conor Orr wrote that interim coach Steve Wilks deserves a real look for the team’s long-term coaching vacancy. And with the team’s final four games of the season all against teams currently under .500, things could look even better for Wilks and the Panthers by the end of the month. That’s why divisional-round ticket reservation prices on SI Tickets for the Panthers jumped 128% this week.
Giants Fading After Strong Start
One of the feel-good stories of the first two months of the NFL season was the Giants’ impressive start to the Brian Daboll era. New York’s 6–1 run positioned it well for the playoffs and gave the team some breathing room, but recent struggles have eliminated much of that early-season positivity heading down the stretch.
The Giants’ divisional-round ticket reservation prices dropped by 94% after Sunday’s embarrassing 48–22 loss to the Eagles. New York is now tied with the Commanders for the NFC’s last playoff spot and faces Washington this weekend on the road. That game feels like a must-win if the Giants want to finish the first season of the Daboll era with a playoff berth, especially after the teams tied in their first meeting two weeks ago.
Trouble for Tua, Dolphins?
The Chargers handed the Dolphins their second consecutive loss Sunday night in prime time and made Tua Tagovailoa all sorts of uncomfortable in the process. The breakthrough third-year QB never looked like himself Sunday, completing just 10 of his 28 passes under constant duress from a short-handed Chargers defense that neutralized one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL. The result? A 23–17 loss for Miami that pushed it to just one game clear of the playoff cutline in the AFC. Divisional-round reservation prices for the Dolphins dropped 89% on SI Tickets.
If Miami does get to the playoffs, it’ll have earned it. Three of the team’s remaining four games are against division rivals, starting Saturday night with a huge showdown against the Bills. After a Week 16 tilt with the Packers, Miami will close with the Patriots and Jets, both of whom sit one game behind the Dolphins as things stand today.
A Sleeper in the AFC South
One of the more surprising results of the week came in Nashville, where the Jaguars took down the Titans 36–22 to make things interesting in the AFC South. All the more impressive: The Jags torched one of the better defenses in the NFL despite getting almost nothing on the ground from Travis Etienne. Instead, it was perhaps the best performance of Trevor Lawrence’s career, dicing up the Tennessee defense for nearly 400 yards passing and three touchdowns.
Jacksonville remains two games out in the AFC South but now at least has a puncher’s chance heading into the season’s final four weeks. And if they can make up ground in the next three weeks, the Jags will get the opportunity to play for a division title in Week 18 on their home field against these same Titans. Jags’ divisional-round reservation prices climbed 51%, while their Super Bowl ticket reservation prices jumped a whopping 101%.
Are the Vikings Pretenders or Contenders?
Minnesota could have locked up the NFC North title with a win over the Lions on Sunday. Instead, the Vikings got handled by a surging Detroit team, creating more questions about whether this group is among the NFC’s elite and leading to a 26% drop in the team’s Super Bowl ticket reservation prices on SI Tickets.
There’s no debating how impressive Minnesota’s 10–3 start has been. You don’t get to a record like that by accident. But the Vikes have shown some deficiencies lately against some of the better teams in the NFC, including the 40–3 blowout loss last month at the hands of the Cowboys. The Lions have played among the NFC’s best teams lately and took it to a Minnesota defense that has struggled recently.
