NFL 2022 NFC End of Regular Season Placings Quiz

Philadelphia Eagles were the team to catch in the NFC in 2022. Off to a flyer, they didn't drop a game until round 9 when they lost 32-21 to the Washington Commanders (they had beaten them earlier in rd 5 24-8). They charged along to be 13-1 but dropped two late games to Dallas and New Orleans when their star quarterback Jalen Hurts was hurt (Sorry - couldn't resist).

He returned to steer them to a win over the New York Giants in the last round to end the regular season 14-3 and a first-round bye in the Wild Card round as they were seeded number one.

San Francisco 49ers won NFC West and second seed with an impressive 13-4 record. This was even more impressive when they lost all four in their first seven games to lower-finishing teams such as Chicago, Denver, and Atlanta. Their fourth loss to the Chiefs 44-23 was their biggest loss of the season.

Their biggest wins were over Arizona, 38-10, and 38-13, Tampa Bay 35-7 but their best win was over New Orleans 13-0. All these games were late in the season. After the bye, they won eight straight and won their division by four wins.

Like the 49ers, Minnesota also went 13-4 with San Francisco ahead of Minnesota based on conference record (10-2 to the Vikings' 8-4). However the Vikings had a point differential of -3 at the end of week 18 indicating when they lost, they lost big which was actually the case. Leading up to the bye, they only lost to the Eagles 24-7 to give a 5-1 interim result.

After the bye, they went 8-3 but the losses were to Dallas (40-3), Detroit (35-23) and the Packers (41-17). Nevertheless, they were four wins clear of second place in the conference so they won NFC North and were seeded third.

The Buccs were not the team that won the Super Bowl two years prior. Yes, they won NFC South but only because the other team played poorly as well and they clinched the title and fourth seed by winning less than 50% of their games: 8-9 was enough. They did not have any big wins, the best being the 19-3 win over Dallas in the first round.

They had quite a few close ones and some of the losses were big: Carolina, in rd 7 (21-3), San Francisco in rd 13 (35-7) and Atlanta in their last match (30-17).

They finished the regular season one win ahead of Carolina 7-10.

The Dallas Cowboys came second in their division to the Eagles, beating them 40-34 on the second occasion they met in 2022. Their 12-5 end-of-regular season result deserved better than a fifth seed. They lost their opening match to Tampa Bay 19-3, but only lost one more to Philly to go 6-2 at the bye.

They had some big wins: Chicago in rd 8 49 -29, Minnesota 40-3 in rd11 and Colts 54-19 in rd 13. After the bye two of their three losses were overtime losses to the Packers and Jaguars. The only other loss was a surprising last-round loss to the Washington Commanders.

As they were the fifth seed they drew Tampa Bay in the Wild Card round.

The Giants surprised everyone with a flying start. At one stage they were 4-1 before settling at 6-2 before their bye week. They were not as prolific after the bye finishing with 9-7-1, with a 20-20 tie with the Commanders not too costly as they finished third in NFC East but this was good enough to qualify as the sixth seed.

They had one big loss to the Eagles 48-22 in rd 14 and a big win against the Colts 38-10 in the penultimate round before losing for the second time this season to the Eagles 22-16 in their last game.

As sixth seed, they were drawn against third seed Minnesota in the Wild Card round.

The 2022 Seattle Seahawks went one better than the previous season's 7-10 by attaining 8-9. They managed 6-4 before the bye with the significance of a 48-45 win over Detroit in rd 4 was not on Seattle's radar at the time. After the break, they fared poorly with a 3-4 record with three losses in a row between rds 14-16 before winning narrowly over the Jets and an overtime win over the divisional rival Rams in their last match to earn second place in NFC West.

They then had to wait to see if the other results went their way which was unlikely but they did, so Seattle grabbed the last remaining spot.

As seventh seed, they drew divisional rivals 49ers in the Wild Card playoffs.

In 2022, the Lions were perennial underdogs, had never been to a Super Bowl, hadn't even been in the playoffs since 2016, went 3-13-1 in 2021 and looked like they were going to do the same in 2022 when they were 1-6 at rd 8. But then they rallied, winning eight out of their next ten games. including five out of six divisional games.

They had played good football and had a winning season going 9-8. They would have clinched seventh seed but that three-point loss to Seattle cost them that place, and Detroit once again did not make the playoffs (which was a shame because a lot of football fans of all types wanted to see Detroit so well).

They deserved better this year.

Washington had a new nickname and a new uniform and they played well in the tightly fought NFC East. They had a late bye but by week 14 they were 7-5-1 with that 20-20 tie with the Giants in rd 13 being costly. They were eliminated in rd17 when they lost at home to Cleveland 24-10 making three losses in a row.

Their last-round win over Dallas gave them a winning season (8-8-1) but they came fourth in the division and ninth overall.

Big things were expected from the Packers. They had won NFC North for the last four seasons. In 2021 they were seeded first for the NFC playoffs (but lost their only playoff match in the divisional round). In 2022 they started well enough with 3-1 but lost seven of their next eight before getting some form back and winning all of the next three decisively in rd 15-17. In the last round against Detroit, all they had to do was "win and they were in" - it would be enough to earn seventh seed but the Lions won the day 20-16 and if the Seahawks had not won on a field goal in overtime against the Rams, the Lions would have clinched seventh seed. But the Seahawks won in overtime and grabbed seventh seed. The loss gave the Packers an 8-9 result for the season, meaning they had their first losing season and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018. They came 10th in the conference.

Other teams to be eliminated were Chicago (first eliminated), Arizona, LA Rams, New Orleans and Carolina (placed 11th).