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The NFL playoffs will be here before you know it, and a lot of teams are still chasing that shiny Lombardi Trophy. With that in mind, here's a look at how the NFC playoff race is stacking up at this point in the season...

Seed	Team	Record	Div.	Conf.
1	Chicago Bears	9-2	3-0	7-0
2	New Orleans Saints	7-4	4-1	6-1
3	Seattle Seahawks	7-4	3-1	6-3
4	Dallas Cowboys	7-4	1-3	4-3
5	New York Giants	6-5	3-0	5-2
6	Carolina Panthers	6-5	3-1	4-4
--	Minnesota Vikings	5-6	1-2	5-3
--	Philadelphia Eagles	5-6	2-1	4-3
--	San Francisco 49ers	5-6	2-2	4-4
--	St. Louis Rams	5-6	2-3	4-4
--	Atlanta Falcons	5-6	2-2	3-4

TIEBREAKERS:

New Orleans wins the tiebreakers over Seattle and Dallas based on conference record.

New York wins the tiebreaker over Carolina based on conference record.

What a difference a week makes for the New Orleans Saints. A big road win over the Atlanta Falcons, combined with a bad road loss by the Carolina Panthers, has catapulted the Saints from Wild Card spot to first-round bye. The maddeningly inconsistent Panthers, meanwhile, find themselves dropping to the 6th seed with five teams nipping at their heels -- two of which have beaten the Panthers earlier this year. That doesn't help their position any.

The Giants also tumbled out of the division lead with that spectacular collapse against Vince Young and the Tennessee Titans. They are now the 5th seed, while the Dallas Cowboys are riding the wave that is Tony Romo into a division lead and a home playoff game.

The saddest thing about this playoff picture, though, is that any record over .500 is good enough for a playoff berth right now. Everyone on the outside looking in is 5-6 or worse, but just about any of them could knock off the Giants or Panthers at this point, and many of these teams still have games left against each other. There's a lot of football left to be played here, folks, and many playoff fates could be decided this weekend...

THIS WEEK'S KEY GAMES:

1. Dallas at New York Giants (Sun., 4:15 PM, FOX): A win here would give the Giants a season sweep over the Cowboys, but these are both very different teams than they were when they last met, and Dallas looks poised to take control of the NFC East.
   
   
2. Minnesota at Chicago (Sun., 1:00 PM, FOX): No one will catch the Bears this week, but Rex Grossman has been struggling mightily, and the Vikings could climb back into the race with a win here and a Carolina loss.
   
   
3. San Francisco at New Orleans (Sun., 1:00 PM, FOX): Frank Gore is running over teams, and New Orleans' run defense is giving up 140 yards per game, but the 49ers are 1-4 on the road this year.
   
   
4. Seattle at Denver (Sun., 8:15 PM, NBC): Lots of playoff implications here. Can the Seahawks defense derail Jay Cutler's pro debut and maintain their lead in the horrible NFC West?
   
   
5. Carolina at Philadelphia (Mon., 8:30 PM, ESPN): Will the real Carolina Panthers please stand up? Jeff Garcia didn't embarrass himself against the Colts last week, but can he do as well against a strong Carolina defense?
   
   
6. Arizona at St. Louis (Sun., 1:00 PM, FOX): The last meeting between these two teams was decided by two points. How close will this one be?
   
   
7. Atlanta at Washington (Sun., 1:00 PM, FOX): The Falcons are in freefall right now. A loss here might foreshadow massive changes for the franchise in 2007.
   
   

Click here for the AFC Playoff Picture.