One week left in the regular season and we still have a lot to decide. We know the 7 playoff teams from the American Conference but nobody knows their seeding. In the National Conference we don't even know all the playoff teams yet.

I'm figuring things out as I type this, so bear with me.

American Conference

San Jose A win @ Honolulu and they earn the #1 seed and the BYE. A loss and it comes down to a tiebreaker. They lose a tiebreaker with Houston and I don't know how a tie with Oklahoma would work out. It would come down to either common games or strength of victory.

Los Angeles In as a wildcard, will be #6 or #7 seed

Portland Won the West, will be #3 or #4 seed

Houston A win @ Charlotte and they win the Southwest. A win and a San Jose loss and they get the BYE. A loss and Oklahoma win pushes the Gamblers down to the #5 seed.

Oklahoma Most likely the #5 seed, can win the division with a win vs Washington and a Houston loss. In that scenario they possibly could jump to #1 depending on San Jose and tiebreakers should the SaberCats lose.

Memphis In as a wildcard, will be #6 or #7

Chicago Won the Midwest, will be #3 or #4 seed.

Now comes the tough part.

National Conference

Division Winners: New Orleans, New Jersey, Orlando

In the Hunt: Jacksonville, Birmingham, Georgia, Charlotte, Washington, Boston

MFN says Jacksonville is in but I'm not sure yet, since they also say Birmingham is not in. I'll be looking up tiebreakers as I type so bear with me.

Tiebreakers

If we have a 4 way tie at 9-7 (Jax, Bir, GA, Bos): We have to eliminate all but 1 team from each division so we break the Birmingham/Georgia tie. If they each finish 9-7, Georgia swept Birmingham so it's now a 3 way tiebreaker between Jacksonville, Georgia, and Boston. In this scenario Georgia is the #5 seed thanks to a 7-5 conference record to 6-6 for the other 2.

That would then lead to a 3 way tiebreaker between Jacksonville, Birmingham, and Boston. This is where things get funky because they all would have 6-6 conference records and I don't know the next tiebreaker. NFL rules say it's common games but I think MFN uses point differential. Since I don't know for sure, I won't comment further and we'll let the chips fall where they may, since no matter what MFN is going to advance whomever they advance.

What does this mean for each team?

Jacksonville In with a win vs Georgia. Lose and they are in tiebreaker ****, although since MFN says they're already in, I like their chances.

Georgia Win against Jacksonville and they're in. They win the 4 way tiebreaker and would also win a 3 way tiebreaker and tiebreakers against Jacksonville (week 16 win) and Boston (better conference record). A loss could still get them in if Boston and Washington also lose.

If Georgia, Washington and Boston all end up 8-8, the 3 way tiebreaker applies, which eliminates Georgia's head to head win over Washington from consideration. One team has to sweep or be swept by the others, otherwise it goes directly to conference record, which would belong to Washington.

Birmingham Win @ Shreveport and they're in, lose and they're scoreboard watching

Boston A win vs Pittsburgh plus a Georgia loss would get the Breakers in the playoffs.
If both Boston and Georgia win, Georgia would be in and Boston would need to hope the tiebreakers go their way.

Atlantic Division

Charlotte Wins division with a win vs Houston, or with a loss plus a Washington loss.

Washington Wins division with a win @ Oklahoma plus a Charlotte loss

The tiebreaker for this division would come down to common opponents since they split their 2 games and have identical division and conference records.

They will have had 14 common opponents once week 16 is done, 13 have already occurred. If you take away Charlotte's games against Florida and Philadelphia, the Hornets are 7-6 in the 13 common games. For Washington, take away losses to New Jersey and Orlando and they are also 7-6.

Week 16 is a common game as well, and for Charlotte and Washington to end up tied, Washington must win to improve common games to 8-6 while Charlotte must lose to go 7-7.

What if we have a few 8-8 teams?

First we'd have to determine the Atlantic Division. We could end up with Charlotte 8-8, Washington 7-9. We could end up with both teams 8-8 or we could have Charlotte 9-7, Washington 8-8.

If Charlotte and Washington both finish 8-8, Washington wins the division and Charlotte is in the wildcard mix.

If Georgia finishes 8-8 that puts Jacksonville and Birmingham in the playoffs with 1 spot left.

If Boston finishes 8-8 they are out with a 5-7 conference record.

If Charlotte wins division at 8-8

That would mean Washington also lost, eliminating them. Assuming Georgia loses to finish 8-8, they would then need Boston to lose to be the #7 seed.

If Charlotte wins the division at 9-7

Assuming Georgia loses to finish 8-8, they would need both Washington and Boston to lose. A 3 way tie requires 1 team to sweep or be swept by the others or it goes to conference records, which would give Washington the spot with a 7-5 conference record if the Federals win to finish 8-8.

If Washington wins division at 8-8

That would mean Charlotte lost to finish 8-8. The Hornets would be the #7 seed with Georgia and Boston losses.