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Unbiased NFL Power Rankings, Week 7: The Unbiased NFL Playoff Picture

We released the Unbiased Power Rankings and then broke down the Super Bowl contenders. We took a peek at where the power in the NFC lies and analyzed the NFC South. Now, we look at the playoff picture because it's never too early to talk playoffs. PLAYOFFS?!?!

Unbiased Playoff Picture

How we see the playoffs shaping up as of Week 7.

AFC
NFC
Seed
Team
Seed
Team
1
New York Jets
1
Atlanta Falcons
2
Pittsburgh Steelers
2
New York Giants
3
Indianapolis Colts
3
Arizona Cardinals
4
Denver Broncos
4
Chicago Bears
5
Baltimore Ravens
5
Philadelphia Eagles
6
Houston Texans
6
Washington Redskins

The AFC West and the NFC North are home to the weakest teams through seven weeks. The Denver Broncos would be taking away deserving spots from the Tennessee Titans or New England Patriots. In the NFC, the St. Louis Rams, Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints could all miss out because the Bears would get in as division champs.

In the AFC, potential first round matchups would include rematches of the Texans at the Colts and the Ravens at the Broncos. This would setup semi-final games of the Ravens at the Jets and the Colts at the Steelers. An AFC championship game featuring the Steelers and Jets round out the AFC playoffs.

The NFC wild card weekend would feature the Redskins at the Cardinals. Wow, just wow. The Eagles play the Bears in the other matchup. The semi-finals could see the Max Hall-led Cardinals against the Giants and a rematch of Week 6 with the Eagles in Atlanta to play the Falcons. The Giants and Falcons NFC championship game would decide the Super Bowl representative.

What will the next 11 weeks bring? If you follow the NFL at all the answer is "nobody knows," but with the Unbiased Power Rankings by your side you can feel confident navigating the tricky NFL season.

Methodology: The Unbiased Power Rankings are exactly that, unbiased. We take into account a team’s wins, losses and their strength of schedule to arrive at a truly unbiased rating. We have no preseason polls, no preset baselines. Only the performance on the field - this season - matters. Emotion is not welcome here. Still interested? Here's the ingredients we use to make this delicious stew of math-based power rankings.

Photographs by coka_koehler used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.