NFL playoff picture: Sizing up 1-seed races after Week 16

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How can the 2025 NFL season be so settled and unsettled at the same time?

With two full weeks to go, the identities of 12 of the league's 14 playoff teams are basically sorted, including all of the wild-card teams. After losses by the Colts in Week 15 and the Lions in Week 16, it would take something truly extraordinary for those teams to climb back into the playoff picture. The only real races left for playoff berths are in the AFC North and NFC South, where the principals will all meet in Week 18 rematches.

The seeding within and particularly at the top of those AFC and NFC brackets, though, is chaotic. The Broncos and Rams came into Week 16 as…