It's all coming together! With just shy of half of the league eliminated by bettors, the playoff picture is coming into clearer focus (although the Wild Card Weekend games remain a jumbled mess). The Patriots emerged as clear favorites by beating the Steelers on the road, and they're now in the driver's seat for the first seed in the AFC.

The Vikings, meanwhile, bounced back from a loss to the Panthers by stomping the Bengals. They're trying to catch the Eagles, who close out their season against the Raiders and Cowboys. The Saints, Panthers and Falcons are on the outside looking in towards byes, but any of these teams would need help to get one.

Super Bowl LII odds

TeamVegasSB%CONF%DIV%PLAYOFF
New England Patriots7/430.92%47.64%100%100%
Pittsburgh Steelers9/210.55%21.20%100%100%
Minnesota Vikings5/19.48%22.42%100%100%
Philadelphia Eagles10/113.96%32.47%100%100%
New Orleans Saints10/14.54%11.13%64.1%96.5%
Los Angeles Rams10/110.08%19.89%96.8%97.8%
Atlanta Falcons12/12.44%6.04%10.5%90.1%
Jacksonville Jaguars12/16.75%12.95%93%100%
Carolina Panthers18/12.50%6.67%25.4%85.9%
Kansas City Chiefs25/15.77%11.49%97.8%97.8%
Baltimore Ravens35/11.37%3.21%0%76.2%
Los Angeles Chargers35/10.25%0.64%2.2%14.3%
Dallas Cowboys60/10.14%0.58%0%9.5%
Tennessee Titans100/10.53%1.58%7%69.6%
Buffalo Bills100/1
0.46%1.28%0%40.5%
Seattle Seahawks100/10.22%0.62%3.2%12.7%
Detroit Lions300/10.06%0.18%0%7.5%
Buffalo Bills300/10.47%1.2%0%35.8%
Miami DolphinsOFF0.01%0.01%0%1.5%
Oakland RaidersOFF0%0%0%0.2%
Cincinnati BengalsOFF0%0%0%0%
Arizona CardinalsOFF0%0%0%0%
Washington RedskinsOFF0%
0%0%0%
New York JetsOFF0%0%0%0%
Tampa Bay BuccaneersOFF0%0%0%0%
Houston TexansOFF0%0%0%0%
Denver BroncosOFF0%0%0%0%
Chicago BearsOFF0%0%0%0%
Indianapolis ColtsOFF0%0%0%0%
New York GiantsOFF0%0%0%0%
Cleveland BrownsOFF0%0%0%0%
San Francisco 49ersOFF0%0%0%0%
Green Bay PackersOFF0%0%0%0%

The favorite

We're officially at the point where betting against the Patriots is nearly pointless. By beating the Steelers on Sunday, the Patriots can take another step toward clinching the first seed in the AFC against the Bills on Sunday. More important, they're in the driver's seat -- and the Patriots ultimately determining their own seeding tends to favor the Patriots.

The road going through Foxborough, Massachusetts, is a prospect that should terrify the AFC. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are nearly unbeatable at home in the playoffs, and they haven't shown signs of slowing down in recent years. Although there are no easy wins in the NFL, the Patriots seem to have their toughest games out of the way. However, don't rule out a Bills team desperately holding onto a playoff spot and a Jets team that just loves to play spoiler.

With that being said, if it all works out, the Patriots will be playing the rest of their season at Gillette Stadium (except for a possible Super Bowl). That's a scary prospect for the NFL.

The other contenders

The Steelers suffered an extremely difficult loss to the Patriots on Sunday after a controversial touchdown was overturned and Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception two plays later to clinch it for New England. It was only a three-point final, but the Steelers came up just short after playing a nearly perfect game to that point. As demoralizing of a way as it to lose, the Steelers must soldier on. They'll be playing the Texans and the Browns to close out the season, and although the first seed isn't clinched yet, they now must also check their mirrors for a Jaguars team that is trying to steal the second seed in the AFC and a first-round bye.

The Vikings are trying to keep their status as the best in the NFC, and hey, what better way to do that than to just keep winning? After a tough loss against the Panthers, the Vikings took it out on the Bengals in a 34-7 romp that got Teddy Bridgewater back on the field. Minnesota is now a game back of the Eagles, but against a broken Packers team and a Bears team with nothing to play for in the final week of the season, the only thing the Vikings need to fear is getting complacent and letting one of these teams play spoiler.

The Eagles survived against the Giants on Sunday in a tough game, but the NFC East doesn't have easy wins. They're closing out their season against the Raiders and the Cowboys, two teams that have had decent odds all year but haven't performed up to them. The Raiders are all but eliminated, and the Cowboys have an uphill battle going forward, but there's no question both teams will be looking to knock off the NFC kings. Nick Foles proved against the Giants that he's a perfectly acceptable replacement for Carson Wentz, and although the drop-off is there, it isn't devastating -- yet.

The NFC South is in the middle of some weird round-robin situation with the final two weeks of the season only seeing the division play each other. The Saints and Falcons are atop the betting odds, even though the Panthers are tied for first with the Saints (Saints hold the tiebreaker). The Saints play the Falcons on Sunday in what might be the biggest game of the year to determine the division, while the Panthers get the Buccaneers. Should the Falcons win against the Saints, Falcons-Panthers will determine the division in Week 17.

Seriously, stop disrespecting the Jaguars. It's getting ridiculous. Jadeveon Clowney had the audacity to say that Blake Bortles is still trash after the Texans got beat up by him, and Jacksonville is rolling. Now, the Jags have the second seed in the AFC in their sights, as the Steelers' loss to the Patriots puts them in the mix. They would need a bit of help, but stranger things have happened, and the Jaguars have the potential to have one of those crazy playoff defenses that we see every few years.

The Rams also got a serious bump by absolutely routing the Seahawks. They embarrassed them. Bettors took notice, and the Rams' odds have absolutely skyrocketed. The Seahawks, meanwhile, saw their odds plummet after the loss, and now they can't reach the playoffs without the South eating itself (entirely possible and likely, I might add). The Rams are finally getting respect after Todd Gurley went off, and they look like they could become the team to beat in the NFC. Worth noting, however, is the placing of kicker Greg Zuerlein on injured reserve. A back injury has sidelined Legatron for the season.

Still in the mix

The Ravens aren't in the playoffs right now but people are really counting on the Bills losing to the Patriots. These two teams are vying for a wild card in the AFC, but the schedule definitely favors the Ravens, who play the Colts and Bengals to close out the season. The Bengals always have the ability to play spoiler in the North, but with Marvin Lewis on his way out, the team isn't playing for much at this point.

The AFC West is still trying to figure itself out, but the Chargers still have only slightly worse odds than the Chiefs after losing to them last Saturday. People really don't want to stop believing in the hot Chargers, and with games against the Jets and Raiders, they should be able to win out. However, there's the wild-card factor of the Chargers being the Chargers. They got hot, but now they need to prove that they can rebound.

The long shots

The Lions and the Seahawks are just outside of the NFC playoff picture for the moment. If the Lions can win out, then there's decent hope. The Falcons are their best bet. With games against the Saints and Panthers, it's a tough go for Atlanta, but it's clear that the Falcons can prove they deserve a spot. The Seahawks need a lot of help, but nothing should be ruled out in the NFC. In such a tough conference, any team can eat another, so if these teams take care of business then they have a very real shot of sneaking in.