The best part about making NFL playoff predictions early in the season is that everyone is still very much alive for the playoffs. For instance, just because a team is 0-2 doesn't automatically mean their season is over. As a matter of fact, of the eight 0-2 teams in the NFL right now, we project TWO of them to make the postseason.
That projection comes from our resident analytics expert, Stephen Oh, who simulated the rest of the 2026 NFL season to see how things will play out. For those of you who are not familiar with Oh's work, he's what you get when you put AI in a human brain. With that in mind, let's get to the projections.
And just as a reminder, we're projecting what the NFL playoff field will look like at the end of the season. This is NOT the current playoff standings. With Patrick Mahomes coming off an ACL injury, our projection model wasn't quite sure what to make of the Chiefs going into the season, but after watching Kansas City jump out to a 2-0 start, the computer is sold on them.
The Chiefs are now projected to get the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC. The more things change, the more they stay the same. 1. Chiefs (2-0) -- AFC West champion2.
Bills (2-0) -- AFC East champion3. Ravens (1-1) -- AFC North champion4. Texans (0-2) -- AFC South champion5.
Bengals (2-0) The biggest surprise in this week's projections is probably the fact that two 0-2 teams from the AFC South are projected to get in, but the Jaguars aren't. The Jags were in a virtual tie with the Bengals for the final wild-card spot, so the AFC South almost got THREE teams in. In the NFC, the computer has the Rams finishing with the second-best record in the conference, but since Seattle is projected to finish with the best record, that means L.A. will be stuck playing in the wild-card round for the second straight year, according to our projection. 1.
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