After losing to the Buccaneers, the Falcons, who are going to need a lot of help to make the six-team NFC playoff field, have a 13.9 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to www.makeNFLplayoffs.com.
The Panthers clinched the NFC South division and have a 99.7 percent chance of earning a first-round bye.
No other team has clinched a playoff berth after week 13, although the Patriots (99.97 percent), Bengals (99.997 percent), Broncos (99.6 percent) and Cardinals (99.9 percent) are very likely to clinch after Week 14.
The Browns are the only team that was eliminated after Week 13.
The Falcons (6-6) are currently the No. 8 seed in the NFC, two games behind the Seahawks (7-5) and tied with the Buccaneers (6-6). In addition, the Bucs own the tiebreaker against the Falcons by virtue of their sweep of the two-game season series for the first times since 2007.
The Falcons have lost five straight games and six of seven since a 5-0 start.
According to STATS research, since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger 66 of 72 teams (91.7 percent) that started 5-0 went on to make the playoffs.
In addition to trailing the Seahawks by two games, the Falcons have a worst record against NFC opponents (4-5 vs. 6-4). The Falcons and Seahawks don’t play one another so conference record is the first tiebreaker should the teams finish with the same records.
The Seahawks have two games against NFC teams remaining (Rams and Cardinals) while the Falcons have three (two vs. the Panthers and one vs. the Saints).
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