While the Baltimore Ravens appear to be clearly the best team in the AFC at the moment, the top five teams in the NFC are extremely competitive with one another. The conference currently has three 10-2 teams in the Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints, along with the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers who are battling it out for the NFC North Division title.
The Saints have already clinched the NFC South and cannot be caught by the 5-7 Carolina Panthers or the 5-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The fact that they are waltzing into the postseason can be somewhat detrimental though. This means that Drew Bees and company will not have a critical game to play for at least another month. Getting the Saints mentally prepared for the postseason will be a significant challenge for Saints head coach Sean Payton.
The Saints do have a juicy matchup this weekend against the 49ers, who found themselves drop out of first place this past weekend in the NFC West. However, this is a much bigger game for San Francisco, who are battling for a divisional title with the Seahawks than it is for the Saints.
In the NFC North, the Packers (9-3) have a one game lead over the Vikings (8-4). Down the stretch, give the slight edge to Green Bay. Both teams play all teams within the division in December. However the Packers get to play the 3-9 Washington Redskins and the Vikings get to play the 4-8 Los Angeles Chargers.
Remember to keep in mind, even though the Saints, 49ers, Seahawks, Packers and Vikings appear to have the top five records at the moment in the NFC, they will not be seeded one through five come playoff time. That is because two of the aforementioned squads will not have the luxury of winning their division and will need to get into the playoffs as a wildcard. They will also have to go to either Dallas or Philadelphia (the NFC East champion) in the first week of the playoffs.
