NFL playoff picture: What’s at stake for the Vikings against the Packers?

After Sunday’s win in Seattle, the Vikings' eighth victory in a row, they are 13-2 and remain tied for the NFC’s No. 1 overall seed and the NFC North division lead with the Detroit Lions. The Vikings simplified their playoff picture after the Washington Commanders rallied to beat the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. The Vikings, who are now a game ahead of 12-3 Philadelphia, would capture home-field advantage and a first-round bye by beating the Green Bay Packers and Detroit in their final two games.

The Vikings currently sit in fifth place in the NFC, the top wild card spot, because of their Oct. 20 loss to Detroit. If the playoffs began today, they would visit the NFC South-leading Atlanta Falcons (8-7) in the first round. The Vikings beat the Falcons 42-21 on Dec. 8, but Atlanta has since benched quarterback Kirk Cousins for rookie Michael Penix Jr.

The 11-4 Packers are lurking, though. Green Bay clinched a playoff berth on Monday night with an 34-0 win over the Saints and can still catch the Vikings in the standings.

Here’s everything you need to know about the NFL playoffs:

Of the top teams in the NFC, the Vikings have the most challenging closing schedule:

Detroit’s remaining games:

Philadelphia’s remaining games:

Green Bay’s remaining games:

If the Vikings beat Green Bay on Sunday, their hopes for the No. 1 seed and NFC North title remain alive. They would also guarantee they finish ahead of the Packers in the standings. If the Vikings lose on Sunday, the Lions can clinch the division with a win at San Francisco on Monday night. The Packers would also gain the tiebreaker edge on the Vikings. More on that below.

There are seven qualifiers from each conference: four division winners and three wild cards. The top seed in each conference gets a first-round bye and home-field advantage. The matchups in the wild-card round are 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5. The Lions, Vikings, Packers and Eagles have already clinched playoff spots in the NFC.

The top four seeds go to division winners, ranked in order of their records. The wild-card teams are then seeded 5-7 based on their records.

Yes.

If there is a tie within the division, it is broken via the following steps:

If there is a tie for playoff seeding, it is broken via the following steps (if the tied clubs are from the same division, the division tiebreakers above are applied first):

If the Vikings and Lions both finish 14-3, Detroit would own the tiebreaker. If the Vikings and Eagles finish 14-3, Philadelphia owns the tiebreaker. The Lions would own the tiebreaker over the Eagles if both finish 14-3.

Yes. The Packers, currently the sixth seed, trail the Vikings by two games with two remaining. If the Packers win out and the Vikings lose their last two games, both teams would finish 13-4. The tiebreakers would play out as follows:

The difference between the fifth and sixth seeds could be significant. The fifth seed would likely play at the winner of the NFC South (currently the 8-7 Falcons), while the sixth seed would travel to the winner of the NFC West (currently the 9-6 Rams).

The final day of the regular season is Sunday, Jan. 5. The wild-card round is Jan. 11-13.

Super Bowl LIX is at 5:30 p.m. Central time on Feb. 9 in New Orleans at the Caesars Superdome. The game will be broadcast by Fox.

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