 | Baltimore Ravens |
| Finished with 9-7 record, won tie-breaker against Cincy to clinch Division, but will face off against none other than the Bengals during Wildcard Weekend. FB Le'Ron McClain is a Pro Bowler. |
 | Cincinnati Bengals |
| Finished 9-7, clinching Wildcard berth against division rival Baltimore. WR Terrell Owens made the Pro Bowl. |
 | Cleveland Browns |
| Ended 3-13; oscillated between starting QBs Colt McCoy and Jake Delhomme. Stats-wise, middle-of-pack offense and lower-tier defense. |
 | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| Also finished with a 9-7 record, but lost tie-breakers versus Cincy and Baltimore, so Pittsburgh will not advance to the post-season despite being tied for the best record in the division, and despite sending WR Hines Ward, and LBs Lamar Woodley (Defensive MVP of the Year) and James Harrison to the Pro Bowl. Hurt by losing SS Troy Polamalu for the remainder of the season during Week 11 Raiders game. |
 | Indianapolis Colts |
| 13-3, tied with the Dirty Birds for the best record in the NFL. Clinched the Conference playoffs spot. QB Peyton Manning is NFL's Offensive MVP, and DEs Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney finish first and second respectively in Best Defensive Lineman of the Year voting and for total number of sacks on the season. |
 | New England Patriots |
| End the season at 12-4, easily winning the Division. Features NFL MVP Tom Brady, who finished with the best passer rating. |
 | New York Jets |
| Miss the playoffs at 8-8. Unable to recover from mid-season injury loss of QB Mark Sanchez. Aging veteran backup QB Mark Brunell was unable to push the ball down the field and make all the throws, as shown in the Browns game. |
 | Denver Broncos |
| Finish with the same record as San Diego, 9-7, but win tie-breaker to win the Division and advance to Wildcard round in playoffs, whereas Chargers will miss the post-season. |
 | Kansas City Chiefs |
| Finish 8-8. RB Thomas Jones had an LT-like renaissance, and ended up leading the league in rushing yards thanks to Coach Todd Haley's run-heavy offense. |
 | Oakland Raiders |
| Finish 6-10. Will likely address areas of need in draft other than QB since Gradkowski has shown he can be a servicable game manager-QB. |
 | San Diego Chargers |
| 9-7, but miss playoffs due to Denver. Feature third most-prolific offense in the NFL, but defense ranked near bottom. |
 | Chicago Bears |
| Finish 9-7, but that's not good enough in the NFC North thanks to GB & Minnesota. QB Jay Cutler will need to continue to improve passing, as he finishes with a lower passer rating than Aaron Rodgers and Matt Stafford. |
 | Detroit Lions |
| End at 6-10, but with only a 25-point differential between the total points put up by Detroit versus those against them, things look promising for the Lions. |
 | Green Bay Packers |
| 11-5 Division winners, with QB Aaron Rodgers (top-5 vote getter for NFL MVP), WR Greg Jennings, and LB Clay Mathews all voted into the Pro Bowl. |
 | Minnesota Vikings |
| Manage to clinch Wildcard spot despite losing future Hall of Famer QB Brett Favre early in the season, primarily on the back of "All-Day" Adrian Peterson. Is TJax the QB of the future? |
 | Atlanta Falcons |
| Hot-lanta outdoes last year's Super Bowl champs and ties Indy for best record in the league at 13 and 3. Will they meet their AFC counterpart in the big dance? |
 | Carolina Panthers |
| Finish the season at 4-12, the Panthers will have to address defense and whether or not Jimmy Clausen is the franchise's future QB. |
 | New Orleans Saints |
| N'awlins finishes right behind Atlanta at 12-4, facing off against Seattle in the wildcard round. |
 | Dallas Cowboys |
| Tony Romo, Miles Austin, Jason Witten, and Demarcus Ware all get voted into the Pro Bowl, yet the team finishes with a 5-11 record on the season. Is a coaching change likely? |
 | New York Giants |
| Just like Denver did to San Diego, the G-Men finish with the same record as Philly (9-7), but win the tie-breaker to win the Division and face TJax-led Minnesota in the Wildcard round. |
 | Philadelphia Eagles |
| Finish with a commendable 9-7 record, but due to tie-breaker loss will miss the postseason. |
 | Washington Redskins |
| Finish 8-8 despite being without QB Donovan McNabb for most of the season due to injury, as QB Rex Grossman has been a decent backup, but not good enough to win enough in the "NFC Beast". |
Not unlike the AFC North, the NFC West features a three-way tie for first place, as Seattle, 'Zona, and St. Louis would all finish with 8-8 records. Seahawks win the three-way tie-breaker, sending both the Cards and the Rams home, and thus there would be no first taste of playoffs for the Rams offensive ROY QB Sam Bradford. San Francisco finishes at 6-10, with obvious need for a stable franchise QB among other needs.
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