NFL Standings shake-up: Mahomes, Hurts and Lamar Jackson ignite wild playoff race
26.01.2026 - 14:04:35
The NFL Standings just got flipped again, and the race for seeding feels less like a marathon and more like a weekly demolition derby. With Patrick Mahomes carving up defenses, Jalen Hurts grinding out clutch drives, and Lamar Jackson turning broken plays into viral clips, the pecking order of true Super Bowl contenders is tightening at the top and getting desperate near the Wild Card line.
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Look at the current NFL Standings and you feel the pressure. In both conferences, every slip in the red zone, every blown coverage, every missed field goal is now directly tied to playoff positioning. Coaches are already talking like it is mid-January, and the film sessions this week will be as tense as a two-minute drill with no timeouts left.
Mahomes sends another message, Chiefs offense finally looks like January mode
Mahomes has spent the season hearing that the Chiefs offense is not as explosive, that the receiving corps is too inconsistent, that defenses have figured out how to keep the lid on his deep ball. On this latest Sunday, he shredded that narrative along with the opposing secondary. With multiple touchdown strikes and total command from the pocket, he looked every bit like the centerpiece of a Super Bowl contender.
The Chiefs' game plan leaned into quick timing routes early, forcing safeties to creep up before Mahomes started testing them over the top. Once he settled in, every third-and-long felt like four-down territory in disguise. His pocket presence was vintage: sliding away from pressure, buying just enough time to let his receivers uncover, and dropping dimes along the sideline.
One assistant coach on the opposing sideline was overheard saying after the game, in so many words, that once Mahomes gets into rhythm, you are basically just “trying to hold them to field goals and hope for a tipped ball.” That is exactly the feeling right now: the Chiefs may not be perfect, but when their quarterback turns it on, they play with the swagger of the AFC’s most seasoned Super Bowl threat.
Hurts and the Eagles win another grinder that feels like January football
Meanwhile, Jalen Hurts keeps stacking what look like postseason reps in regular-season clothing. The Eagles' latest win was not a track meet; it was a trench war. Hurts took hits, extended plays, and repeatedly converted in the red zone, where their signature quarterback sneak behind that hulking offensive line still feels almost unfair.
Every time the game swung toward a potential heartbreaker, Hurts slammed the door with a clutch throw on third down or a designed run at the goal line. You could feel it in the stadium: this was more than just one win. It felt like a rehearsal for a brutal NFC playoff gauntlet in which one mistake on a blitz pickup or one missed tackle after the catch could decide who advances.
In the locker room, Eagles players spoke about “responding to every punch” and “trusting that our style travels in January.” Those are the lines you hear from a group that fully expects to be part of the NFC’s final four. When you scan the NFL Standings and circle dangerous teams, you still end up with the Eagles somewhere near the top of every Super Bowl contender list.
Lamar Jackson’s dual-threat dominance keeps the Ravens in the 1-seed hunt
Lamar Jackson has turned this season into an extended MVP audition, and the latest chapter did nothing to cool the hype. He once again blurred the line between designed run and broken play, freezing linebackers with play-action before ripping intermediate throws over their heads. On a handful of snaps, defenders had the right call, the right angle, and still watched Lamar slip into open field like a ghost.
His box score tells one story – efficient passing, multi-touchdown production, minimal turnovers – but the film tells an even louder one. The Ravens are constantly in field goal range because of his improvisation on third down. A would-be sack turns into a 15-yard scramble. A flushed pocket turns into a sideline strike that stops the clock and flips momentum. That is the kind of weekly edge that tilts the MVP race his way.
Within the building, coaches are quietly pointing to his decision-making as the real leap. He is taking the checkdown in the flat, throwing the ball away instead of forcing it into double coverage, and sliding at the end of scrambles to live for the next snap. That evolution is why the Ravens remain firmly in the mix for the AFC’s No. 1 seed and why defensive coordinators are losing sleep when they look at the current playoff picture.
How the current NFL Standings shape the playoff picture
Zoom out from the highlight reels and the story is the same: the top of each conference is brutally tight, and the Wild Card race is a logjam. Division leaders are trying to protect their cushion, while everyone in the hunt is scoreboard-watching by halftime of the late window.
Here is a compact snapshot of how the most important spots in the NFL Standings stack up right now, focused on division leaders and key Wild Card contenders in each conference:
| Conference | Seed | Team | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| AFC | 1 | Ravens | Division leader, in pole position for first-round bye |
| AFC | 2 | Chiefs | Division leader, pushing hard for No. 1 seed |
| AFC | 5 | Top Wild Card | Strong record, likely needs one more statement win |
| AFC | 7 | Bubble team | Tiebreaker chaos, every divisional game is must-win |
| NFC | 1 | Eagles | Conference leader, eyeing home-field advantage |
| NFC | 2 | Top challenger | Breathing down the Eagles’ necks for seeding |
| NFC | 6 | Wild Card threat | Dangerous on the road, defense traveling well |
| NFC | 7 | On the bubble | Needs help plus a clean finish to sneak in |
The exact seed lines will keep shifting week to week, but that structure is not going away. There is a clear top tier of heavyweights, a crowded middle where one turnover can swing tiebreakers, and a bottom tier of teams that are one more loss away from focusing on the draft board instead of the Wild Card race.
Game highlights: Heartbreakers, upsets and statement wins
This week served up everything: late-game drama, defensive slugfests, and a couple of eyebrow-raising upsets that will echo through the standings. One contender saw a potential game-winning drive stall in the red zone, forced to settle for a field goal that hooked wide left in the final seconds. Another team survived a last-minute Hail Mary that bounced off multiple helmets before falling harmlessly to the turf.
Defensively, pass rushers dictated outcomes. Multiple edge rushers posted multi-sack performances, flipping games by themselves. A strip-sack that turned into a scoop-and-score was the swing moment in one of Sunday’s biggest matchups, the kind of play that gets replayed for days on highlight loops and quietly boosts a defensive player’s case in the MVP race conversation.
On offense, the quarterbacks we expect to carry franchises into January had their say. Mahomes threaded a tight-window touchdown just before the two-minute warning that effectively iced his game. Hurts pieced together a methodical, clock-draining drive capped by a bruising goal-line plunge. Lamar turned a third-and-forever into a back-breaking scramble that left defenders gasping.
Coaches did not mince words afterward. Several spoke candidly about missed assignments and mental errors, especially in the secondary. You could tell from their tones that the margin for error has vanished. A dropped interception or a busted coverage is no longer just a teaching point on film; it is the kind of sequence that might cost home-field advantage or turn a would-be division title into a cramped Wild Card path.
Injury report: Stars banged up as the grind gets real
As always, the other story behind the NFL Standings is the injury report. Several contenders are managing key players on the offensive line and in the secondary, limiting practice reps and juggling rotations on game day. A handful of star skill-position players are dealing with nagging hamstring and ankle issues that will almost certainly linger into the stretch run.
The impact is obvious. Offenses missing their top left tackle are leaning more on quick game concepts, sacrificing deeper shots to protect their quarterback. Defenses missing a shutdown corner are rolling more safety help over the top, daring opponents to win with long drives instead of explosive plays. Every tweak to the game plan is a reminder that durability is quietly one of the most important metrics in the Super Bowl contender conversation.
Front offices are also active: practice-squad elevations, veteran backups being signed for depth, and some quiet roster shuffling on special teams. None of those moves trend on social media, but they matter when someone has to step into the slot in a must-have third quarter drive or cover a kick in a frigid, windy stadium with the season on the line.
MVP race: Mahomes, Lamar and Hurts keep trading haymakers
The MVP race right now looks like an old-school heavyweight title fight between quarterbacks who can take over a game in totally different ways. Mahomes is putting up sharp passing lines with multiple touchdowns, minimal turnovers, and late-game heroics that feel familiar but still absurd. Lamar is stacking efficient outings where he combines passing precision with back-breaking scrambles, keeping defenses on skates from the opening drive. Hurts is compiling a resume of clutch moments: red zone toughness, fourth-quarter comebacks, and a knack for winning ugly when it matters most.
If you are looking at the full-season production, all three have massive yardage totals, red zone efficiency, and a long list of game-winning drives or closing sequences on their side. But voters will also weigh context: strength of schedule, how much each quarterback has had to carry shorthanded units, and how their teams finished in the final NFL Standings.
Do not sleep on the defensive side either. A couple of elite pass rushers are piecing together seasons with double-digit sacks, repeated strip-sacks, and drive-killing pressures deep in field goal range. It is still an uphill climb for any non-quarterback to actually win the award, but when you tilt games with three sacks and multiple hits in the fourth quarter, you at least crash the MVP conversation.
What is next: must-watch matchups and Super Bowl contender check-in
Looking ahead to next week, the schedule is loaded with games that will directly rewrite the playoff picture. There is a heavyweight showdown between conference contenders that will have massive tiebreaker implications for the No. 1 seed. There is also a sneaky-dangerous divisional matchup where a bubble team can either kick the door open in the Wild Card race or all but shut it on themselves with another loss.
Mahomes and the Chiefs will step into another nationally televised spotlight, facing a defense that loves to blitz and live in the opponent’s backfield. Hurts and the Eagles get a physical opponent that can punch back in the trenches, the kind of game that feels like a January preview. Lamar and the Ravens face a team with enough offensive firepower to force a shootout, putting his MVP credentials under another bright light.
For fans, this is the stretch where every snap feels magnified. If you care about the current NFL Standings, you are already scoreboard-watching by the late afternoon window and flipping between games to track who is climbing or falling in the Wild Card race. The Super Bowl picture will not be finalized this week, but the tier list of true contenders is taking shape with every red zone possession and every clutch third-down stop.
Clear your Sunday. Circle the primetime kickoffs. The next slate of games will not just decide fantasy matchups; they will redraw the playoff map and tighten the spotlight on Mahomes, Hurts, Lamar Jackson and every other star trying to drag their franchise from regular-season grind to Super Bowl glory.
