NFL Standings shake up: Mahomes, Hurts and Lamar flip the AFC and NFC playoff race
26.01.2026 - 16:05:14
This week in the NFL Standings was less about quiet box-score math and more about seismic shifts. Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson each authored performances that did more than secure wins; they re-wired the playoff picture and re-opened the Super Bowl Contender conversation on both sides of the bracket.
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From Arrowhead to Philly to Baltimore, it felt like a mini postseason. Stadiums erupted, MVP chants broke out and the latest NFL Standings suddenly look a lot more like a late-January preview than a midseason checkpoint. The Wild Card race tightened, a couple of preseason darlings slid toward the bubble and the MVP race may have found its clearest front-runners yet.
Mahomes reminds everyone who owns the AFC
The Chiefs came into the week hearing whispers that the rest of the AFC had caught up. Mahomes answered with a vintage clinic, carving up coverages with ruthless efficiency and pocket presence that silenced any hint of panic in Kansas City. Every time the opposing defense thought it had the Chiefs behind the sticks, Mahomes extended the play, kept his eyes downfield and turned broken pockets into back-breaking chunk gains.
He stacked touchdowns like a quarterback very aware of the MVP Race narrative. Red Zone execution was nearly flawless, with Andy Reid dialing up quick-hitting concepts and Mahomes punishing single coverage whenever defenses dared to blitz. What stood out most was the balance: a reliable ground game kept them in favorable down-and-distance, opening up the deep shots that had been missing in some earlier weeks.
Inside the locker room, you could feel the tone shift. Teammates talked about urgency, not comfort. One veteran defender said afterward that the night "felt like January," a nod to the playoff atmosphere that wrapped around Arrowhead from the opening kickoff. In the updated NFL Standings, the Chiefs reclaimed the kind of top-tier AFC positioning that forces every challenger to pencil in a January trip to Kansas City.
Hurts keeps the Eagles in the NFC driver’s seat
Over in the NFC, Jalen Hurts played like a quarterback who refuses to give up the No. 1 seed without a fight. The Eagles offense started slowly but found its rhythm behind Hurts’s dual-threat calm. Whether it was a perfectly placed back-shoulder ball on the sideline or a bruising keeper on third-and-short, Hurts dictated tempo and kept his team on schedule.
The crowd in Philadelphia turned every red zone snap into a roar. The offense leaned on its signature physicality, dominating in short-yardage and wearing down a defensive front that looked gassed by the fourth quarter. Hurts’s composure in the Two-Minute Warning sequence before halftime was textbook: quick reads, smart checkdowns, and a laser to the back of the end zone that tightened his grip on the NFC race.
On the sideline, you could see his teammates feed off that poise. Coaches talked throughout the week about cleaning up situational football, and this game delivered: clock management, third-down conversions and red zone efficiency all lined up. As the latest NFL Standings dropped, the Eagles kept their perch near the top of the NFC, reinforcing their status as a Super Bowl Contender and setting up a high-stakes stretch run.
Lamar’s statement win and a brutal defensive mismatch
Then there was Lamar Jackson, who turned a marquee matchup into a backyard showcase of speed, vision and control. His stat line told only part of the story. From the first drive, Lamar stretched the field horizontally with designed QB runs and option looks, then punished aggressive safeties with darts over the middle. Every time the defense sold out to stop the run, he slipped a strike into a soft spot in zone coverage.
The pocket was not always clean, but his escapability turned would-be sacks into explosives. One scramble on third-and-long felt like a turning point, as he juked a free rusher in the backfield, hit the edge and dove past the sticks to keep a touchdown drive alive. On the sideline, teammates met him with chest bumps and wide smiles; they knew this was a measuring-stick game.
Defensively, Baltimore blitzed at key moments, spun the dial with disguised coverages and forced hurried throws that turned into turnovers. A critical Pick-Six blew the game open and sent a clear message: this defense is not just complementary, it is capable of swinging playoff games on its own. The win vaulted Baltimore up the AFC ladder and threw more fuel on the Super Bowl Contender talk.
Playoff picture: seeds, chasers and the Wild Card chaos
The immediate fallout of these results is written all over the updated NFL Standings. In both conferences, there is a clear top tier — the Chiefs, Ravens and another AFC heavyweight on one side; the Eagles, plus a pair of NFC powerhouses on the other — followed by a mosh pit of Wild Card hopefuls separated by a single game.
Upsets earlier in the week only amplified the chaos. A supposed contender dropped a winnable road game, a fringe Wild Card team stole a late victory on a clutch field goal and a struggling franchise finally flashed signs of life behind a young quarterback determined not to fade quietly. If you are trying to script the postseason bracket, good luck.
Here is a compact snapshot of how the top of each conference currently looks, focusing on division leaders and the immediate Wild Card hunt based on the latest NFL Standings:
| Conference | Seed | Team | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| AFC | 1 | Chiefs | Division leader, inside track to first-round bye |
| AFC | 2 | Ravens | Division leader, chasing No. 1 seed |
| AFC | 3 | Other AFC contender | Locked in divisional battle |
| AFC | WC | Two AFC wild card teams | On pace, but margin razor-thin |
| NFC | 1 | Eagles | Top of NFC, control of home-field advantage |
| NFC | 2 | Top NFC challenger | Pressuring for No. 1 seed |
| NFC | 3 | Another NFC division leader | Firm playoff position |
| NFC | WC | Two NFC wild card teams | In the hunt, no room for error |
Call it what it is: we are already in Playoff Picture season. Every drive matters. Every divisional matchup feels bigger. Bubble teams are staring at tiebreaker math like it is a second playbook, and coaches know a single blown coverage or missed field goal can swing a Wild Card Race they thought was under control.
MVP Race: Mahomes, Hurts, Lamar push to the front
With another week in the books, the MVP Race is starting to crystallize — and the three names headlining it all just delivered statement games. Mahomes used his arm talent and improvisation to post a monster line, with multiple passing touchdowns and a completion rate that rarely dipped. His command at the line of scrimmage was pure veteran mastery, checking into favorable looks and punishing every defensive misstep.
Hurts leaned into efficiency and toughness. His passing numbers were clean, but it was his situational running that left the biggest mark. Converting key third downs, punching in red zone scores and keeping drives alive with his legs turned a tight contest into a comfortable finish. When the stadium began chanting his name, it did not feel premature — it felt like acknowledgment.
Lamar rounded out the trio with his signature chaos. Even when protection faltered, he extended plays and found receivers working back to the ball, turning potential sacks into chunk gains. His total yardage output and touchdown production made his box score pop, but coaches and players on both sidelines pointed to his command of the offense: checks at the line, audibles into more favorable run looks and an unshakable calm under fire.
Just behind them, a handful of quarterbacks and one dynamic skill-position star remain in shouting distance. But for now, if you are talking MVP in the context of the current NFL Standings, you start with Mahomes, Hurts and Lamar, and you do not sound crazy if you call any of them the favorite.
Injury Report: contenders walking a tightrope
No week reshapes the playoff landscape without the harsh reality of the Injury Report. Several key starters left games this weekend, and for a couple of contenders, the updates will define their Super Bowl chances. A top wide receiver limped off with a lower-leg issue, leaving his quarterback to spread the ball around to secondary options. A Pro Bowl-caliber offensive lineman exited with an upper-body injury, instantly exposing protection issues in pass sets.
The ripple effect is obvious. For a team leaning heavily on vertical shots, losing its WR1 shrinks the playbook and compresses the field. For run-heavy squads, losing a dominant guard or tackle throws off timing and spacing in their outside zone and gap concepts. On defense, one standout edge rusher popped up on the Injury Report after the game, which could heavily impact the pass rush heading into an important divisional showdown.
Coaches will downplay it publicly, of course. But inside those buildings, trainers and coordinators are racing the clock. Game plans for next week are already being tweaked with contingencies; more tight-end-heavy sets here, more quick-game concepts there, more help for replacement tackles against elite pass rushers. Every ding and sprain matters now, because the gap between a Super Bowl Contender and a one-and-done playoff team can be as thin as a rolled ankle.
Looking ahead: must-watch games and Super Bowl talk
So where does this leave the league as we turn the page? For one, the next prime-time slate just became appointment viewing. The Chiefs and another AFC challenger square off in a showdown that could decide tiebreakers for the conference’s top seed. The Eagles face a bruising NFC opponent that loves to drag games into the mud, a perfect test of their physical identity up front.
Meanwhile, Lamar and the Ravens get a tricky matchup against a desperate team fighting to stay alive in the Wild Card Race. Trap-game vibes will be all over it, especially with national media already pushing Baltimore into the Super Bowl Contender tier. Elsewhere, a pair of bubble teams meet in what amounts to a de facto elimination game: winner stays in the hunt, loser spends the rest of the year scoreboard watching.
Talk to players, and they will give you the standard line: one game at a time. But scan the latest NFL Standings and you can feel it — we are drifting into that part of the schedule when every snap feels a little heavier, every hit lands a little harder and every mistake echoes a little louder. If you care about the trajectory of the playoff picture, you cannot afford to miss Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football or even the early window grinders that secretly swing tiebreakers.
The road to the Super Bowl is never clean. It is messy, unpredictable and often cruel. But after this week’s reshuffle, one thing is clear: with Mahomes, Hurts and Lamar driving the narrative, the league’s biggest stars are perfectly aligned with the most volatile point on the calendar. Buckle up. The standings are going to move again.
