“Bills may prevail, Seahawks take big win.”

Everyone takes a deep breath. Was the start of week 13 particularly stressful for anyone?

A majority of the games came down to the wire, Aaron Jones returned the favor after an early fumble with a game-winning touchdown, the Seattle Seahawks came from behind to beat the New York Jets, who just want the season to be over, the Washington Commanders were lucky enough to play the Tennessee Titans, and the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in an unusually high-scoring AFC North matchup.

This barely scratches the surface of everything that happened, but when the dust settles, the picture of the NFL playoffs becomes…well, there isn’t really any clearersince there is still so much time left, but it has at least given us some storylines for this week. Sometimes that’s all we can ask for.

Given the results of Week 13 so far, the Detroit Lions (11-1) are close to a playoff spot. Since the Seahawks won, they’re not there mathematically yet, and we’re not math experts, so we won’t tell you How While that is the case, Detroit fans will have to wait another week to officially secure a spot.

Given what Lions fans have been through, we can’t blame them for not believing that anything good will happen until there is a 100 percent, ironclad guarantee that everything can’t go south.

The Philadelphia Eagles (9-2) may be a runaway train in the NFC East right now, having won seven straight, but a big win against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday keeps the Washington Commanders (8-5) at least in Reach of the Eagles – assuming the Eagles ever lose another game.

Washington is also 1.5 games behind the Packers in the NFC Wild Card, so the path to the playoffs won’t be easy for Jayden Daniels in either case. With only four games remaining, a playoff spot is far from guaranteed for Washington.

This will be the third straight season the Patriots have missed the playoffs, and Jerod Mayo’s first season as Patriots coach continues. There were some positive signs of this team’s direction early on, but things went downhill pretty quickly as the season progressed. This isn’t Mayo’s fault at all, as this team is quite lacking in talent.

Last week, the Pittsburgh Steelers fell behind the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North standings with a tough loss to the Cleveland Browns. But after a (somewhat surprisingly) thrilling 44-38 win over AFC North rival Cincinnati, the Steelers are back atop the division at 9-3. While Pittsburgh’s playoff odds aren’t 100%, they’re around 97% with five games remaining.

The losers of this game, the Cincinnati Bengals, are on the opposite end of the spectrum. At 4-8, the chances of making the playoffs seem like a big chance for Joe Burrow and the Bengals, who have lost by three straight after climbing back to nearly .500. The Bengals are closer to Cleveland (3-8) than they are to the top of the division.

On Sunday, exactly one game separated the four teams in the NFC West. Seattle and Arizona were each 6-5, while San Francisco and Los Angeles were each 5-6.

LA is playing on Sunday Night Football later, and the Rams are currently in action against the New Orleans Saints, but right now the Seattle Seahawks (7-5) are alone at the top of the NFC West after a comeback win against the New York Jets .

With a huge game next week against the Cardinals, the Seahawks aren’t close to winning anything yet, but coming back from an early 14-0 lead to get 2 games over .500 are the kind of wins a team with playoff hopes needs needs.

Arizona (6-5), meanwhile, suffered an equally devastating loss to the Minnesota Vikings (23-22). Of course, Arizona can still win the division, but a loss like this feels even worse in a division that will only be separated by hairs at the end of the year.