How the NFL playoff picture looks coming out of Week 5

The NFL is wrapping up Week 5, and a few teams are standing out in the playoff picture heading into Week 6.

By David Fucillo@davidfucillo Updated Oct 8, 2023, 8:20pm PDT

Jacksonville Jaguars’ Travis Etienne jr (right) celebrates scoring his sides second touchdown during the NFL international match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London. Picture date: Sunday October 8, 2023.

The 2024 NFL Playoffs are a long ways away, but the league is already seeing some critical results in early October. As the NFL has progressed through Week 5, we’ve seen some huge upsets and some critical victories for playoff contenders. Nobody can clinch a playoff berth or be eliminated in Week 5, but every win is big and we saw some critical results this weekend.

The biggest result for the time-being saw the Jaguars upset the Bills in London. Odds are decent they won’t end up tied in the playoff standings when the season ends, but if they do, Jacksonville has secured the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The 1 p.m. schedule had two key divisional results. The Steelers beat the Ravens at home, preventing Baltimore from completing a sweep of their three road divisional games. The Colts held off the Titans to remain in a tie with the Jaguars atop the AFC South. The Texans lost to the Falcons to join the Titans at 2-3.

4 p.m. results: Teams avoided the upset bug in the afternoon. The Chiefs won in Minnesota to maintain pace with the also 4-1 Dolphins, while the Bengals won in Arizona and Joe Burrow might be finally getting back on track.

Next week, the AFC South will see the Colts and Jaguars battle for first place in the division. We’ll get a matchup of division leaders as the Bucs come off their bye to host the Lions. One intriguing inter-conference matchup will see the Browns defense get a shot at the 49ers prolific offense.

SNF results: The 49ers crushed the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football to join the Eagles at 5-0.

Here’s a look at what the playoff picture looks like as the NFL heads toward Monday Night Football to close out Week 5. MNF will see the Packers and Raiders looking to not lose ground in their respective division races.