The NFC West is a mess. It’s like the real-life NFC East.
Does anyone truly want to win either division?
In real life, it’s hard to believe that Washington owns first place because of a tie-breaker, and that all four teams still have a legit shot at winning what will most likely be the only playoff berth from the division.
It has been the same scenario for the NFC West throughout most of the season, but the News Team fell out of contention two weeks ago, and by beating Boyer last week, he spoiled Boyer's chances of making the playoffs.
That leaves just Graybill and the Bombers fighting over one playoff spot, possibly two with a ton of help. That latter statement is why the NFC is like rush hour traffic around D.C. Right now, the NFC is bumper-to-bumper, with several teams flashing turn signals, just hoping lesser teams will help them merge in.
Graybill, who won a JFL-worst two games last year — has just four more wins this year and somehow owns first place, thanks to a second tie-breaker over the Bombers.
With the 6-6 Graybill and 6-6 Bombers both playing different teams, it creates quite the messy scenario for the NFC.
For the Generals, his only route to the playoffs is winning the division, which he will do with a win and/or a Bombers loss.
The Bombers have two routes to get to the playoffs, but the second one is much harder since he doesn’t have the tie-breaker against the Cheese Steaks.
First one, and it’s the easiest: Win the division with a win and a Generals loss. He does not and cannot acquire the tiebreaker over the Generals.
Second way, is the wild card, where he’ll need a win, coupled with a Cheese Steaks win and a Toasters loss, whereas both he and the Toasters will be tied at 7-6 and he owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.
For the Steaks and the Toasters, a tie in records would result in the third tie-breaker coming into play, where the Toasters’ 3-1 record vs. the NFC West would beat out the Steaks’ 2-2 record. That’s why the Bombers absolutely would need a Steaks win and a Toasters loss to get in as the wild card at 7-6.
The Steaks still have a chance to oust the Batman as the division champs because of tie-breakers, whereas the Toasters do not.
Here’s the NFC East in a nutshell:
- Chalupa win, he gets the division and the No. 1 seed.
- Cheese Steaks win, he gets the division and the No. 1 seed, having the head-to-head tiebreaker over Chalupa (and the three-way tiebreaker edge if all three teams finish 8-5).
- If all three teams finish 8-5, Steaks get the No. 1 seed, NFC West winner gets the No. 2 seed, Toasters will get No. 3 and Chalupa will get fourth seed.
- If Toasters finish 7-6 in that scenario, he needs the Bombers to lose (and/or the Generals to lose) in order to get the fourth seed.
- If Chalupa and Toasters are 8-5 and Steaks are 7-6, Steaks get fourth seed no matter what, Toasters get third and Chalupa wins the division.
So as you can surmise, the Steaks are in no matter what.
Moving to the AFC, the picture is much clearer.
Houserville is the No. 1 seed, Jerk is the No. 2 seed after clinching last week, and the Choo is the third or fourth seed no matter what thanks to a tie-breaker over the Noise.
The Noise needs a win and a Jammers loss to get in and get the fourth seed.
The Jammers needs to simply win to get in, and if Choo loses, the Jammers will be the third seed, the Choo will be the fourth. Any tie in record will result in the Choo getting the higher seed over the Jammers thanks to the Jammers’ poor record against the AFC Middle East.
There you have it. Your playoff scenarios, and of course, remember, all 8 teams that miss the playoffs head to the 2nd JFL Postseason Challenge.
So, what does Week 13 look like in the JFL?
Well, the two AFC front-runners get the chance to do something they’ve always wanted to do — shut up the Johnsons.
The Jerk hosts the Jammers with the chance to knock him out of the playoffs, and after all the in-season chatter and photoshops, we know the Jerk would love nothing more than to shove it down the Jammers’ throat.
The only problem will be, even if he does beat the Jammers, Houserville has the same feeling, and dare I say even stronger feeling, about beating the Noise. No matter what else happens in the JFL in Week 13, the Ville can send the Noise home with a win.
This is the kind of things Dawson wakes up early for. Everything that one would do for a Klondike bar, Dawson would double-down on that to beat the Noise.
It works out to be a nice rivalry weekend.
That theme even holds true in the NFC East where the Chalupa vs. Cheese Steaks matchup — perhaps the annual Food Fight Bowl? — is for the division title. It’s essentially a playoff game for the two to earn home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs.
The Toasters will play rival T-Money with the hopes of locking up that No. 3 seed and a date with the lowly NFC West winner.
In that case, Food Fight Bowl II would take place next week. It’s the most likely outcome based on “favorites,” so that’s why Week 13’s Food Fight Bowl I will be to decide who gets the extra 2 points in the first round of the playoffs.
It’s not the only rematch we could see out of Week 13.
As mentioned, the Noise need a win and a Jammers loss to lock up the fourth seed where he’d face none other than top-seeded Houserville once again.
The same goes for the Jammers who needs a win over the Jerk and a Choo loss to rival Parker to forge another Week 14 battle against the Jerk. Based on the numbers, that’d be much better than facing top-seeded Houserville in Week 14.
Boom. I did it again.
Another slight toward the Jerk. Man, he’s really going to want to kick my ass this week, and if feels the same way heading into Week 14, I’m in great shape.
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