Chargers, 49ers and Bengals are among the nine wild cards that could shape the second half of the 2024 NFL season

We’re deep enough into the regular season to know that the race for NFL postseason spots will be fierce. There will be plenty of excitement in the division races – only Buffalo and Kansas City have comfortable leads – while determining the wild card teams will be another wild ride. This is a league that has long prided itself on parity. At the end of week ten, it’s fair to say that we haven’t seen such an even level of competition in quite some time.

At this point, five AFC teams have a real chance of securing a wild card spot. This number increases to eight in NFC. And these numbers don’t even include all of the clubs that mathematically still have a chance of reaching the playoffs. There’s a good reason for this: It’s not worth investing time and energy into the idea that the Jets or Cowboys could still make it to the postseason tournament if they somehow make a breakthrough.

Determine the TRUE Making the playoff field in early November is never an easy exercise, but this time it is particularly challenging. That’s why it’s going to be so fun to explore in this week’s edition of The First Read. We already have a pretty good idea of ​​some teams that aren’t currently winning their divisions but have a good chance of making the playoffs (think: Baltimore, Washington, Minnesota and Green Bay). Here are some other teams that, in this writer’s most humble opinion, are likely to keep the wildcard races interesting until the dust clears in early January…