2025 NFL playoff picture: Sorting division races in NFC, AFC - ESPN

The 2025 season feels like the supreme example of NFL parity. We're somehow in Week 13 with two teams hitting double digits in the win column: the 10-2 Broncos, who held on for dear life to beat the Commanders on Sunday night, and the 10-2 Patriots, who play on «Monday Night Football» against the Giants. There are bad teams because there are always bad teams, of course, but this has been a year where we can poke a hole in any franchise with Super Bowl aspirations.

The upside in a league without many great teams is that there are a lot of pretty good teams competing for division titles. This time last season, it felt like three divisions in the AFC and one in the NFC had already been decided, and there were only seven teams in the AFC with a winning record, all of whom would eventually make the playoffs.

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This season? It feels like every division might still be up for grabs. The biggest divisional lead with five weeks to go is two games (Broncos in the AFC West and Patriots in the AFC East). Teams such as the Chiefs and Lions — unquestioned Super Bowl contenders before the season — are on the outside looking in for the postseason. There's still so much to be decided as we hit December, and that's going to make for some exciting playoff races down the stretch.

Let's take a look at the closest of those races and how Week 13 impacted what's to come. I'll hit the two closest races in both the NFC and the AFC. And I'll start in the NFC West, where a team that appeared set to pull away from the pack fell right back into a three-team fight for both the division title and a potential first-round bye. (I included chances to win the division for each team via ESPN's Football Power Index, or