NFL Standings shake-up: Mahomes and Chiefs surge while Eagles, Lamar Jackson tighten Super Bowl race
10.02.2026 - 23:56:44
The NFL Standings just got a whole lot louder. With Patrick Mahomes pushing the Chiefs back into full-on Super Bowl contender mode, Jalen Hurts grinding out wins for the Eagles, and Lamar Jackson keeping the Ravens in the hunt for the AFC’s No. 1 seed, the race for playoff positioning has turned into a weekly fistfight. Every Sunday feels like January now, and the margin for error is shrinking drive by drive.
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From Arrowhead to Philly, from Baltimore to San Francisco, the latest results have redrawn the map of the NFL Standings. Teams that looked dead in September are suddenly alive in the Wild Card race, while supposed powerhouses are clinging to seeding with white knuckles. The Super Bowl contender pack is tightening, and every snap is starting to feel like a tiebreaker.
Mahomes turns Arrowhead into a reminder: the Chiefs are not done
Patrick Mahomes spent the weekend reminding the league that as long as No. 15 is under center, the Chiefs are never out of the conversation. Kansas City’s offense, which looked disjointed early in the season, finally strung together sustained drives, finishing in the red zone and converting on third down instead of settling for long field goals.
Mahomes carved up coverages with his usual pocket presence and off-script magic, connecting repeatedly with Travis Kelce on option routes and hitting his speedsters on deep crossers. The box score told the story: another multi-touchdown day, efficient completion percentage, and just enough scrambling to move the chains when the play design broke down. The Chiefs defense complemented that with timely pressure, collapsing the pocket and forcing a crucial pick in the fourth quarter.
Inside the locker room after the game, the tone was clear: this felt like a playoff atmosphere. Coaches talked about execution, but players talked about attitude. One veteran defender said, in essence, that the Chiefs "finally played like the hunted again, not the hunters," embracing the target on their backs instead of shying away from it.
Eagles win ugly, but the standings only care about Ws
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles did not put on an offensive clinic, but they did what high-end Super Bowl contenders do in December and January: survive, adjust, and close. Hurts fought through pressure, relied on A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith in key third-down spots, and leaned on the ground game when the vertical shots were not there.
Philly’s defense bent in the middle quarters, giving up chunk plays in the intermediate zones, but stiffened in the red zone. A late stop inside the 10 turned what could have been a gut-punch loss into a grind-it-out win. It was not pretty, but in the NFL Standings, style points do not show up; only that extra win matters when tiebreakers hit in the playoff picture.
Hurts’ leadership again showed in the two-minute warning drill before halftime. Even when the offense sputtered, he orchestrated a crisp drive into field goal range, milking the clock and setting up a momentum-grabbing kick as time expired. That is the kind of situational poise voters remember when the MVP race heats up.
Lamar Jackson and the Ravens keep the pressure on in the AFC
Lamar Jackson continued to look like the most dangerous dual-threat weapon in the league. Baltimore’s offense leaned into his versatility, mixing designed QB runs with play-action shots that left safeties flat-footed. One drive summed up his night: a third-and-long scramble out of a collapsing pocket, a laser over the middle on the next play, then a perfectly placed back-shoulder throw in the end zone.
The Ravens defense backed him up, generating backfield chaos with well-timed blitzes and forcing a momentum-swinging turnover in the red zone. It was the kind of complementary football that keeps Baltimore firmly in the chase for the AFC’s top seed and gives them a real argument as the most balanced Super Bowl contender on either side of the bracket.
Game highlights: heartbreakers, upsets, and clutch kicks
Elsewhere around the league, the week delivered its usual share of thrillers. One NFC playoff hopeful pulled off a statement upset, stealing a road win with a last-minute touchdown drive that swung the Wild Card race. Down in the red zone with the clock bleeding out, the offense dialed up a perfectly executed pick route, freeing the slot receiver for a walk-in score that silenced the home crowd.
In another matchup with major tiebreaker implications, a struggling AFC team finally got off the mat, leaning on its defense to pull an upset. A corner jumped a quick out for a pick-six deep in the fourth, flipping the entire playoff picture for a cluster of teams hovering around .500. That single play might end up deciding a Wild Card spot when the dust settles.
And then there was the kicker drama. In a game that felt like a January preview, both defenses tightened up in the second half, leaving it to the special teams units. A 50-plus-yard field goal in the final seconds split the uprights and sent the crowd into a frenzy, while the losing sideline watched a potential first-round bye slip a little further out of reach.
Current AFC and NFC top seeds and division leaders
Every one of those swing moments ripples straight into the NFL Standings. The top of both conferences is still crowded, and one misstep can drop a team from first round bye territory into the grind of Wild Card weekend.
| Conference | Seed | Team | Record | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AFC | 1 | Ravens | — | Jackson driving MVP buzz; defense peaking |
| AFC | 2 | Chiefs | — | Mahomes heating up, offense rediscovering rhythm |
| AFC | 3 | Division leader | — | Firm control of their division, chasing bye |
| AFC | 4 | Division leader | — | Home playoff game likely, but seeding volatile |
| AFC | WC | Bubble teams | — | Separated by a single game in the loss column |
| NFC | 1 | Eagles | — | Hurts grinding out close wins for top seed |
| NFC | 2 | 49ers | — | Elite on both lines, eyeing a deep run |
| NFC | 3 | Division leader | — | One game cushion, but schedule toughens |
| NFC | 4 | Division leader | — | Record lags other champs, but hosting Wild Card |
| NFC | WC | Chasing pack | — | Multiple teams tied, tiebreakers looming large |
The exact records are changing in real time as the late window and prime-time games finish, but the structure is clear: the Ravens and Chiefs are punching it out in the AFC for bye and home-field advantage, while the Eagles and 49ers are trading haymakers atop the NFC. One slip by any of them, and suddenly the bracket reshuffles.
Wild Card race: chaos just below the cut line
If the top of the table is about control, the Wild Card race is sheer chaos. In both conferences, a logjam of teams sits within a game of each other, all hovering around the break-even mark and all insisting they are better than their record. That means head-to-head tiebreakers, divisional records, and conference marks will decide whose season ends in Week 18 and who gets to pack their bags for a road game in January.
Several bubble teams helped themselves with gritty wins this week, while others coughed up chances with turnovers in the red zone and missed kicks. A single pick-six here, a dropped interception there, and careers shift, coaching seats get hotter, and fan bases go from hopeful to furious overnight.
MVP race: Mahomes, Lamar, Hurts in the spotlight
The MVP race feels like a three-way stare-down right now. Lamar Jackson keeps stacking dual-threat stat lines, combining efficient passing with explosive rushing totals. Mahomes is making his usual late-season push, boosting his numbers with multi-touchdown, low-turnover outings as the Chiefs surge up the NFL Standings. Jalen Hurts is the heartbeat of an Eagles team sitting near the top of the NFC, piling up total touchdowns even when the box score is not spotless.
Voters tend to remember signature moments as much as raw numbers. Jackson ripping off a late, game-sealing run on third-and-long, Mahomes converting a fourth down with a jaw-dropping scramble and sidearm dart, Hurts walking off a contender with a perfectly placed deep ball in the final minute: those sequences are sticking in minds. Add in steady performers like standout wide receivers and pass rushers who are quietly stacking sacks, and this MVP race is far from settled.
Injury report: who is limping, and what it means for the playoff picture
This week also delivered some grim news on the injury front. A couple of key offensive linemen for contenders left games and did not return, which is massive when you talk about pass protection in January. Pocket integrity is the difference between Mahomes stepping into a deep shot and taking a drive-killing sack. The same applies for Hurts and Jackson, whose offenses are built around timing and rhythm as much as improvisation.
Several skill-position players popped up on the postgame injury report as well. Even a seemingly minor hamstring tweak for a top wideout can reshape how defensive coordinators call coverages, shading safeties differently and freeing up or constraining the run game. Coaches tried to downplay some of those injuries afterward, but the snap counts and substitutions told a different story.
On the defensive side, one contending team saw a star edge rusher leave with an apparent lower leg issue. If follow-up tests confirm a multi-week absence, their pass rush could dip just enough to swing a critical late-season matchup and, with it, seeding. Every playoff picture conversation now carries a built-in injury asterisk.
Coaches on the hot seat and locker room whispers
Not everyone is rising with the tide. A handful of coaches are firmly on the hot seat after another week of late-game mismanagement. Questionable fourth-down calls outside of clear field goal range, conservative punts near midfield in plus territory, and burned timeouts before the two-minute warning had fan bases howling and players quietly venting postgame.
One offensive coordinator in particular is drawing heat for a predictable red zone script that repeatedly stalled inside the 20. Players hinted that defenses were calling out plays at the line, an ominous sign late in the season when tendencies are already on tape. When those failures come in national TV windows, the noise only gets louder.
Looking ahead: must-watch clashes on deck
The next slate is loaded with games that will swing the NFL Standings again. An AFC showdown featuring Mahomes against another top-tier quarterback could function as both a playoff seeding tiebreaker and an MVP referendum. Over in the NFC, the Eagles are staring down a physical opponent that can dominate the trenches, a classic trap for a team coming off an emotional win.
Circle the prime-time matchups: those are the contests that tend to rewrite the playoff picture in one night. A road underdog in a hostile environment, a desperate team fighting to stay in the Wild Card race, and a heavyweight clash between division leaders all sit on the schedule like landmines.
For fans, that means one thing: clear your Sunday night and keep Monday open. The Super Bowl contender hierarchy will not look the same seven days from now. With the margins this thin, one tipped pass or one missed tackle in space can flip an entire season.
From the top of the bracket to the bottom of the bubble, the current NFL Standings are a living, breathing drama. Mahomes, Hurts, and Lamar are at the center of it all, but every roster, every snap, and every injury is shaping the road to Las Vegas. Buckle up. The real season is just getting started.
