The NFC is wide open, but not precisely because there is no team that is a juggernaut. It’s all the way around, there are many elite teams in the National Conference. Now that all played their 2025 NFL Week 18 games, we have the final standings, and immediately, the playoff bracket.
The Seattle Seahawks locked the first seed, so they will have a bye week while the rest battle it out in the Wild Card round. This is how the standings look after 18 weeks of regular season action:
- Seattle Seahawks (14-3)
- Chicago Bears (11-6)
- Philadelphia Eagles (11-6)
- Carolina Panthers (8-9)
- Los Angeles Rams (12-5)
- San Francisco 49ers (12-5)
- Green Bay Packers (9-7-1)
How does the NFC playoff bracket look?
The Wild Card Round will pit the Bears hosting the Packers. The Eagles will receive the 49ers and the Panthers will open the doors of the Bank of America Stadium to play the Rams. The lowest seed to go to the Divisional Round will visit the Seahawks.
Sam Darnold, QB1 for the Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks are the best team in the NFC thanks to their incredible stability. They had a 6-2 record at home and an 8-1 away from home. The team also ended the season on a seven-game win streak.
see also
NFC South final standings for Panthers, Bucs after Saints vs Falcons in 2025 Week 18
The Seahawks as the first seed are very successful
According to NFL insider Ari Meirov, the Seahawks have made the Super Bowl each time they’ve finished as the number one seed. They did it in 2005, 2013, and 2014. In those three seasons, the Super Bowl was the final destination.
Having said so, they are 1-2 in those Super Bowls. The team will surely want to get that record to .500 if the trend of them going to the Super Bowl repeats. It would also be the ultimate redemption story of Sam Darnold, who two years ago was seen as a bust, and now is on the verge of history.
