The NFC is top-heavy in the 2019 regular season, with five teams that have already won nine or more games, and four that have won at least ten. Then, of course, there’s the NFC East, where Dallas and Philadelphia are tied for the lead with identically mediocre 6-7 records. But New Orleans, San Francisco, Seattle and Green Bay already have ten wins, and Minnesota has nine. After that group there comes a significant falloff, but any of those five teams could emerge as the NFC champion. After all, New Orleans has beaten Seattle; Seattle has beaten San Francisco; San Francisco has beaten New Orleans. The only one of these teams with no wins against the other four is Minnesota. Let’s take a walk through our predictions for the NFC Conference seeds as you consider your NFL betting options.
2019 NFL Betting Projections for NFC Conference Winners
Eagles: 6-7 Cowboys: 6-7
The race for the NFC East is on 🏁 pic.twitter.com/McH4nvTbCR — ESPN (@espn) December 10, 2019
Current NFC Seeds (After Week 14)
- San Francisco (NFC West Leader)
- Green Bay (NFC North Leader)
- New Orleans (NFC South Leader)
- Dallas (NFC East Leader)
- Seattle (Wild Card)
- Minnesota (Wild Card)
Projected NFC Seeds
- New Orleans (NFC South Champion)
- Seattle (NFC West Champion)
- Green Bay (NFC North Champion)
- Philadelphia (NFC East Champion)
- San Francisco (Wild Card)
- Minnesota (Wild Card)
Why are we replacing Dallas with Philadelphia?
Well, the Cowboys started the season 3-0. Since then, they have gone 3-7, and they don’t have any wins against teams with records above .500. They have a 4-0 record against NFC East opponents, and a 2-7 record against everyone else. The only teams they have beaten outside the division are the Miami Dolphins and the Detroit Lions, who had a backup quarterback leading the offense that day.
They have lost to the Jets, the Packers, the Saints, the Bears, the Bills, the Vikings and the Patriots. Most of the losses have been close, but the fact remains that Dallas has done nothing against contenders, and their offense looks worse every week.
Yes, Philadelphia had a dreadful first half against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, but then they roared back in the second half and won in overtime. Dallas might beat Washington in Week 17, but they won’t beat the Rams in Week 15 or the Eagles in Week 16, so at best Dallas will finish 7-9. The division will go to the Eagles.
How about Seattle?
They had won five in a row before losing to a Rams team on Sunday night that absolutely had to win to stay alive. Their next three games: at Carolina (and they have dominated the Panthers AND played very well in the Eastern time zone in recent years), Arizona at home, San Francisco at home. The Seahawks beat the 49ers down at Levi’s Stadium, so don’t think that they can’t beat them in front of a raucous 12th Man with the division and the conference’s top seed on the line.
With this seeding in place, Minnesota would play their wild card game at Lambeau. Do you really think Kirk Cousins can beat Aaron Rodgers on the frozen tundra in the playoffs? San Francisco would head to Philadelphia and just demolish the Eagles.
The divisional round would feature the 49ers returning to New Orleans, and the Saints will not lose to them twice in a row at home. Green Bay would head to Seattle, where that same raucous crowd (and that pounding Seattle offense) would deliver the win.
That would feature Seattle at New Orleans in the NFC Championship. The Seahawks won’t be able to overcome the atmosphere in New Orleans and will fall to the Saints for the second time this season.
