IS LIVE CHATTING EAGLES-BEARS
By Steven Oh
Accuscore.com
The Giants have gone from having an 83 percent chance of making the playoffs after Week 5 to just a 38 percent chance. Their drop-off is not just due to 3 straight losses, but also the way they lost. They are allowing a ton of points to good passing offenses. The Giants face the Chargers, Falcons, Cowboys, Eagles and Minnesota who are all teams that could put up 30+ against the defense. While the Giants fall, the Cowboys and Eagles both rise. The Eagles jumped over 26 percentage points by crushing the Giants and the Cowboys improved by 6 points with the opportunity to take the division lead by upsetting Philadelphia in Week 9.
Minnesota has a stranglehold on the NFC North and are now playing for the #1 Seed in the NFC. They are forecasted for 13 wins which is 2 more than 3rd place Philadelphia in the NFC, but still 1 behind the Saints. The Packers lost to Favre and the Vikings but still hold the big edge over Chicago for a possible Wild Card (61 to 26 percent) because they are 1-0 against Chicago and the Bears have the tougher remaining schedule. The Packers do not have to face the Vikings again while Chicago has 2 games against the Vikings, while also playing Arizona, Philadelphia, @ San Francisco and Baltimore. With just 2 ‘easy’ wins the rest of the year Chicago will be fortunate to win more than 4 of their remaining games.
The Cardinals appeared to have a top-tier running defense to go along with their prolific passing offense, but the Panthers ran all over them. Luckily for Arizona, the 49ers suffered another tough loss and the Seahawks do not appear to be any better than last season. Arizona’s playoff chances actually were unchanged despite losing a home game where they were 75 percent favorites. The Cardinals only have a 1 game lead and lost to SF at home, but they still have the 80 to 20 percent edge to win the division because they have 4 ‘easy’ wins vs 3 ‘easy’ wins for the 49ers the rest of the season. But, as the Panthers showed in Week 8 there is no such thing as an easy win and the 49ers seem to have a better chance than their 18 percent would indicate.
Carolina improved its playoff chances nearly 10 times by upsetting Arizona, but that unfortunately is an improvement of 0.1 percent up to 1 percent. The NFC South is clearly a two team race between the Saints and Falcons, but the Saints have the clear-cut edge after holding on to the Monday Night win. The Saints matched the Colts with a 99.8 percent chance of making the playoffs and Atlanta now only has a 2 percent chance of winning the division. Atlanta still is right in the thick of the Wild Card race with a 45 percent chance of making the playoffs. They may end up in a race with the NFC East teams for the final Wild Card spot.
|
NFC |
WEEK 8 REVIEW |
PLAYOFF |
% CHANCE |
|
|
TEAM |
WK 8 |
WK 9 |
% DIFF |
WIN DIV |
|
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES |
43.6% |
70.2% |
26.6% |
49.7% |
|
CHICAGO BEARS |
12.7% |
25.6% |
12.9% |
3.5% |
|
DALLAS COWBOYS |
50.7% |
56.8% |
6.1% |
33.0% |
|
MINNESOTA VIKINGS |
93.2% |
98.7% |
5.5% |
94.2% |
|
SEATTLE SEAHAWKS |
2.8% |
4.0% |
1.2% |
3.7% |
|
CAROLINA PANTHERS |
0.1% |
0.9% |
0.8% |
0.0% |
|
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS |
99.5% |
99.8% |
0.3% |
98.0% |
|
ST. LOUIS RAMS |
0.0% |
0.1% |
0.1% |
0.1% |
|
WASHINGTON REDSKINS |
0.0% |
0.1% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
|
DETROIT LIONS |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
|
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
|
ARIZONA CARDINALS |
81.5% |
80.8% |
-0.7% |
79.5% |
|
SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS |
23.6% |
18.3% |
-5.3% |
16.7% |
|
GREEN BAY PACKERS |
73.1% |
61.7% |
-11.5% |
2.3% |
|
ATLANTA FALCONS |
60.6% |
45.1% |
-15.5% |
2.0% |
|
NEW YORK GIANTS |
58.6% |
38.0% |
-20.6% |
17.2% |
|
AFC |
WEEK
8 REVIEW |
PLAYOFF |
%
CHANCE |
|
|
TEAM |
WK
8 |
WK
9 |
%
DIFF |
WIN
DIV |
|
BALTIMORE
RAVENS |
33.4% |
56.4% |
23.0% |
19.4% |
|
HOUSTON
TEXANS |
11.2% |
21.6% |
10.4% |
0.8% |
|
SAN
DIEGO CHARGERS |
60.3% |
65.6% |
5.3% |
26.7% |
|
MIAMI
DOLPHINS |
15.7% |
17.9% |
2.2% |
7.8% |
|
NEW
ENGLAND PATRIOTS |
90.5% |
91.7% |
1.2% |
87.5% |
|
PITTSBURGH
STEELERS |
90.0% |
90.8% |
0.9% |
65.0% |
|
KANSAS
CITY CHIEFS |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
|
CLEVELAND
BROWNS |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
|
TENNESSEE
TITANS |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
|
OAKLAND
RAIDERS |
0.1% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
|
INDIANAPOLIS
COLTS |
99.9% |
99.8% |
-0.1% |
99.1% |
|
BUFFALO
BILLS |
3.5% |
1.7% |
-1.9% |
0.7% |
|
NEW
YORK JETS |
20.0% |
12.6% |
-7.4% |
3.9% |
|
JACKSONVILLE
JAGUARS |
12.5% |
5.0% |
-7.5% |
0.1% |
|
DENVER
BRONCOS |
95.2% |
87.3% |
-7.9% |
73.3% |
|
CINCINNATI
BENGALS |
67.8% |
49.7% |
-18.1% |
15.6% |
