Mark Craig's Week 17 NFL picks: Lions and Browns are in. Who else will join playoff field?

Week 17 opened Thursday with Cleveland joining Detroit as a new face in this year's playoffs. It continues this weekend with 12 teams in each conference still in contention, including four 8-7 teams (Indianapolis, Houston, Pittsburgh and the Rams) and three 7-8 teams (Atlanta, Green Bay and New Orleans) that didn't make the playoffs a year ago.

Four games feature two teams with winning records, including the AFC's top two teams —Dolphins (11-4) and Ravens (12-3) — in Baltimore. Meanwhile, the Lions (11-4) visit Dallas, where the Cowboys (10-5) are undefeated heading into Saturday night's game; Pittsburgh travels to Seattle, and the Bengals visit the most vulnerable Chiefs team of the Patrick Mahomes era.

As for the Vikings and Packers, they'll meet in a battle of 7-8 teams in prime time Sunday. Wins by the Seahawks and Rams earlier in the day would make the contest at U.S. Bank Stadium a playoff elimination game.

Here are six games to watch this weekend:

Packers (+1½) at Vikings: Not picking the Vikings again until their QB du jour stops throwing to the wrong-colored jerseys. Packers 24, Vikings 20

Lions (-5 ½) at Cowboys: The Cowboys won 20-19 after they stopped a Lions two-point attempt in the final minute.

Falcons (+2 ½) at Bears: A fifth straight home win could pull Chicago even with the Vikings in the NFC North basement. Bears 19, Falcons 16

Steelers (+3 ½) at Seahawks: No one gets more out of less than Mike Tomlin when he's dodging his first losing season in 17 years as a head coach. Steelers 23, Seahawks 20

Dolphins (+3½) at Ravens: Baltimore has been anointed as this week's best team in the NFL. And you know what that means, right? A loss, naturally. Dolphins 41, Ravens 38

Season record straight up/against the spread: 51-48; 42-57.

Upset special: 4-12.

Lock of the week: 13-3.