How the NFC bracket was decided

Seattle Seahawks finished top of the NFC at 14-3 and took the only bye in the conference.

The field

1. Seattle Seahawks 14-3 — 2. Chicago Bears 11-6 — 3. Philadelphia Eagles 11-6 — 4. Carolina Panthers 8-9 — 5. Los Angeles Rams 12-5 — 6. San Francisco 49ers 12-5 — 7. Green Bay Packers 9-7-1.

Seahawks went into the postseason on W7 in the NFC West and +191 on points, which is the number that usually predicts January better than the record does.

Special teams are the phase nobody writes about until they decide something, and then they are the only thing anyone writes about. This week they decided something.

The standings page carries the whole table with the splits, the streaks and the dashed line under the seventh seed.