NFL Standings shake-up: Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Cowboys stun as playoff race explodes
24.01.2026 - 22:19:35
The NFL standings just got flipped on their head. With Patrick Mahomes dragging the Chiefs back into the AFC mix and Lamar Jackson putting the Ravens right back in the Super Bowl Contender conversation, this week felt less like midseason football and more like a playoff dress rehearsal. From prime-time thrillers to season-defining upsets, the league’s hierarchy looks different this morning — and the playoff picture is officially chaos.
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Across the league, contenders separated from pretenders. The Chiefs offense finally looked alive around Mahomes, the Ravens tightened the screws defensively behind Lamar Jackson’s calm command, and the Cowboys rode another explosive night from their playmakers to keep the NFC chase tight. On the other side, a couple of supposed heavyweights looked alarmingly flat, and their spot in the current NFL standings suddenly feels shaky.
Mahomes drags Chiefs back into the AFC fight
The Chiefs were staring at another frustrating offensive outing until Mahomes took over in classic MVP Race fashion. After a sluggish first half where the timing with his receivers looked off and the run game stalled, Mahomes started extending plays, sliding in the pocket and hitting his guys in stride. A laser into the back of the end zone in the Red Zone flipped the momentum and turned Arrowhead from anxious to electric.
You could feel the shift: the tempo picked up, the Chiefs started living in Field Goal Range at minimum on nearly every drive, and Mahomes’ body language went from searching to hunting. Defensively, Kansas City tightened up on third down and forced a key turnover that set up a short field. One assistant coach put it afterward, paraphrased: "When 15 is cooking like that, the whole sideline believes we’re never out of it." That belief now shows up clearly in the AFC playoff picture.
The win keeps the Chiefs firmly in the race for a top seed rather than just clinging to a Wild Card spot. In a conference where one game can swing you from home-field advantage to traveling on Wild Card Weekend, that’s massive.
Lamar Jackson and Ravens send a statement
If there was any doubt about Lamar Jackson’s place in the MVP Race, this week’s performance shut a lot of mouths. Jackson sliced up coverage with patient pocket presence, taking what the defense gave him early before unleashing the deep ball and his legs in the second half. The box score will show passing yards and touchdowns, but what really jumped out was his control at the line of scrimmage.
Multiple times he checked out of bad looks, slid protections against a heavy blitz, and turned potential sacks into chunk plays. He lived in the Two-Minute Warning moment, running the clock, protecting the football and strangling any hope of a comeback. One defender on the opposing sideline admitted afterward that it felt "like trying to chase smoke." When your quarterback is playing point guard and closer at the same time, you look every bit like a Super Bowl Contender.
On defense, Baltimore swarmed. Edge rushers collapsed the pocket, forcing hurried throws that led directly to a tipped-ball interception and a drive-killing sack in plus territory. It was the kind of complementary football that doesn’t just pad the win column, it reshapes how the rest of the league views you in the NFL standings and beyond.
Cowboys offense pops, NFC race tightens
The Cowboys offense looked like it was playing on fast-forward. Dak Prescott spread the ball around with confidence, taking advantage of single coverage outside and attacking the seams whenever a safety cheated down. The run game wasn’t dominant, but it was efficient enough to keep the defense honest and set up play-action shots.
The real story, though, was how quickly Dallas turned field position into points. A short punt here, a missed tackle there and suddenly the Cowboys were back in the Red Zone, forcing a defense already on its heels to defend every blade of grass. The crowd rode every big gain like a roller coaster, and when Dallas punched in a fourth-quarter touchdown to seal it, the stadium exploded like it was January, not the middle of the regular season.
This was a game that had NFC seeding written all over it. The win doesn’t just pad the Cowboys’ record; it keeps them squarely in the hunt for their division crown and at least one home playoff game. In a conference where the smallest slip can drop you into a brutal road Wild Card matchup, that margin matters.
Game Highlights: upsets, heartbreakers and statement wins
Elsewhere around the league, the week served up a little bit of everything. There was a genuine heartbreaker, with a would-be game-winning drive stalling in Field Goal Range after a costly sack and a false start that forced a desperation heave into the end zone. The ball hit a receiver’s hands and then the turf, and that thud felt like the sound of a season slipping away.
In another matchup, a heavy underdog pulled off the upset of the weekend by winning the turnover battle and controlling the clock. A Pick-Six early in the third quarter flipped the script, and from there the favorite was chasing the game, forced into predictable passing situations and living behind the sticks. The upset didn’t just sting; it punched a hole in that team’s once-comfortable path to the postseason.
There were also a handful of tight, low-scoring slugfests where defenses dominated the headlines. Edge rushers pinned their ears back, secondaries jumped routes, and quarterbacks looked rattled long before the final whistle. Those games may not light up the highlight shows, but they are exactly the kind that silently reshape the NFL standings week by week.
The NFL Standings and playoff picture right now
Stack all of that together, and the current NFL standings tell a story of razor-thin margins. The top seeds in both conferences still control their own destiny, but the gap back to the pack is shrinking. Below them, a cluster of teams is jammed in the Wild Card race, one big win or bad loss away from a completely different narrative.
Here is a compact snapshot of where the power lies among the current division leaders and closest Wild Card challengers based on the latest results:
| Conference | Team | Status | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| AFC | Ravens | Division Leader / No. 1 Seed Hunt | Strong winning record |
| AFC | Chiefs | Division Leader | Back on track |
| AFC | Dolphins / Bills tier | Wild Card Race | Within one game |
| NFC | Cowboys | Division Race / Top-3 Seed Hunt | Surging |
| NFC | Eagles / 49ers tier | Super Bowl Contender | Near the top |
| NFC | Packers / Seahawks tier | Wild Card Bubble | Around .500 |
The specifics will keep shifting as Monday and prime-time games finish, but the pattern is clear: the upper crust is starting to separate, while the Wild Card picture tightens into a weekly elimination gauntlet. One bad Sunday, and a team can tumble from comfortable to desperate.
Injury Report: contenders walking a tightrope
This week’s Injury Report hit some contenders right in the gut. A top wide receiver limped off with a lower-body issue, casting doubt on his availability for next Sunday’s marquee showdown. A starting left tackle left with what was described as an upper-body injury, and the offense looked noticeably different once he was on the sideline, with the quarterback taking more hits and the run game losing its edge.
Defensively, a rangy linebacker who has been the heartbeat of his unit entered the concussion protocol, immediately throwing his status for the next game into question. Coaches sounded cautiously optimistic postgame, but in league-wide terms, any extended absence could be a huge hit to that team’s ability to stay in the Super Bowl Contender lane instead of sliding into the Wild Card slog.
These are the kind of injuries that do not just affect one drive or one quarter; they alter playcalling, Red Zone designs and how often a coordinator feels comfortable sending pressure. When the margins in the NFL standings are this thin, one injured superstar can be the difference between a first-round bye and an early flight home.
MVP Radar: Lamar Jackson and Mahomes front and center
On the MVP front, Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes continue to define the conversation. Jackson’s dual-threat mastery has become almost routine, but this week’s performance — clean in the air, dangerous on the ground, no reckless turnovers — looked exactly like the blueprint voters love: efficiency plus highlights, wrapped in wins.
Mahomes, meanwhile, reminded everyone why his name lives permanently at the top of the MVP Race. His ability to manipulate safeties with his eyes, reset his base under pressure and still deliver a strike on a third-and-long is unmatched. Add in the late-game drive that started deep in his own territory and ended with the ball in the end zone, and it is hard to ignore the narrative wave that follows him whenever he pulls off a comeback.
There are other names quietly building strong résumés — a workhorse running back piling up yards after contact, a wide receiver on a record pace, and even a defensive end terrorizing quarterbacks with multiple sacks and forced fumbles — but right now, the heartbeat of the MVP talk still runs through the quarterbacks driving legitimate Super Bowl Contender campaigns.
Pressure cookers: QBs on the hot seat
Not every quarterback walked out of this week smiling. A couple of starters looked shaky, missing open receivers, drifting into pressure and failing to capitalize in the Red Zone. The boos from home crowds were not subtle, and the postgame pressers had the familiar flavor of forced patience from head coaches.
In one case, turnovers in critical spots — a red-zone interception and a late fumble while scrambling out of the pocket — turned what should have been a comfortable win into a brutal loss. Those are the moments that put a QB on the hot seat, especially when a promising backup is waiting on the sideline and the team’s shot at the Wild Card hinges on every snap.
Front offices are not blind. They know a wasted season in a tight NFL standings environment can cost them more than one year; it can derail a whole roster-building plan. The tension around some QB rooms after this week is very real.
News, rumors and shifting futures
With the trade window and roster-move cycle always spinning, executives are making calls. A contending team with a banged-up secondary is rumored to be exploring a deal for veteran help, trying to avoid being one injury away from disaster on the back end. Another team fighting to stay alive in the Wild Card Race is reportedly listening to offers for a pass rusher on an expiring deal, balancing the need to win now against long-term flexibility.
Coaching hot seats are warming too. A head coach whose team just dropped another close one is facing sharp questions about game management and playcalling, particularly on a conservative punt in plus territory that backfired. The players still say the right things publicly, but you can feel the impatience building. One more collapse, and that seat could go from warm to blazing.
Next week preview: must-watch matchups
Looking ahead, the schedule is loaded with games that could reshape both the playoff picture and the MVP conversation. A showdown featuring Lamar Jackson and the Ravens against another AFC contender has massive No. 1 seed implications. Another prime-time game with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs on the road will test whether this week’s offensive surge is sustainable or just a one-off spark.
In the NFC, the Cowboys get a chance to further validate their rise against a fellow contender with serious Super Bowl Contender buzz. That matchup could swing tiebreakers that decide who gets home-field in January. And lurking underneath all of it is a crucial game between two teams clinging to Wild Card hopes, where the loser may find its path to the postseason all but closed.
The storylines are rich: quarterbacks trying to quiet critics, defenses seeking redemption after getting lit up, and coaches desperate to prove they still have the locker room. Every snap next week will live under the magnifying glass, because in a season where the NFL standings are compressing instead of stretching, one Sunday can rewrite everything.
The only constant right now is volatility. The Chiefs, Ravens and Cowboys all strengthened their cases at the top, but the pack behind them is still packed shoulder to shoulder. With the Super Bowl Contender tier sharpening its edges and the Wild Card Race turning into a weekly survival test, fans locking into the next slate of games know exactly what is at stake: seeding, legacies and the chance to still be playing when the lights are brightest.
Bookmark the live scoreboard, clear your Sunday slate, and buckle up. The NFL standings are going to look different again very soon.
