Clinched a First Round Bye?

[tukafan21]

Can someone explain how we haven't already clinched a first round bye?

Just read an article that was posted today, about how we can secure the bye with a win this weekend, but I feel it should have been secured last night with the Vikings loss, no?

The worst our record could be right now is 12-4

Which means at the most, 3 teams from the NFC could have 4 losses or less, so wouldn't our win over the Packers mean the only team that could finish above us be the Cardinals?

Hence us already having wrapped up the bye?

I know it's not a big deal as it's not very likely that we lose out and one more win means only the Cardinals could have less losses than us, but I'm still confused by it and curious

[Davidson Deac II]

If we get in a three-way tie with Zona and Green Bay, the head to head record might not come into play.  An exception set of circumstances would have to occur for that to happen though. 

[Thorrez]

A three way tie means conference record is first unless s team swept both other team. 

[Shields17]

Yeah, the Conference Record is really important when it comes to tie-breakers, and unfortunately, that isn't beneficial for us.

Say the Cardinals, Green Bay, and the Panthers end 12-4.

The Panthers would have to lose out, and since all 4 of our remaining games are against NFC opponents, we would have 4 NFC losses, 0 AFC losses.

The Packers, if they win out, would have 3 NFC Losses, 1 AFC Loss.

The Cardinals would also have 3 NFC Losses, 1 AFC Loss.

Therefore, if we finished all tied up, those AFC losses count as less of a loss, than the NFC losses, meaning we would be the 3rd seed.

[Bronn]

Put simply, win this weekend and we have a first round bye. Win this weekend and next weekend, and we have a chance to lock up the #1. Win this weekend, next weekend, and the weekend after, then we are guaranteed the #1 seed.

In other words, just win one game at a time for the next 3 games.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

49 minutes ago, Bronn said:

In other words, just win one game at a time for the next 7 games.

Ftfy :)

As to the OP, there's been a lot of confusion over this. The short answer is that in a 3 way tie with the Packers and Cardinals, the Panthers would become the #3 seed. Head to head records won't count because we only beat one of the two teams. 

Win this week and the bye is clinched. Alternately, thanks to the Vikings losing, if the Packers lose this week the Panthers would also clinch a bye.

[UpstatePanther]

We need to win at least three more games to clinch home field in the playoffs. Winning this weekend will at least earn us a bye. 

[Pazhoosier89]

 Green Bay and Arizona play each other in week 16 but that shouldn't matter if we take care of business.