NFL Standings After Week 9: 49ers and Bills Lead, Deadline Lands Tuesday

Nine weeks in, the NFL playoff picture has a clear top and a crowded middle. San Francisco leads the NFC at 7 and 1. Buffalo and Minnesota sit at 6 and 1 in their conferences, and they meet tonight in Minneapolis in the game that closes Week 9. Denver holds the AFC's best record at 7 and 2. Every other division race is still open, and the trade deadline lands Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern.

The division leaders

In the AFC, Buffalo (6-1) leads the East, Pittsburgh (6-2) leads the North, Jacksonville (6-2) leads the South and Denver (7-2) leads the West. Kansas City (6-2) sits one step behind Denver in the West and holds a wild card spot on the current table. Cincinnati (6-2) and New England (5-4) fill the other AFC wild card places after Sunday.

In the NFC, San Francisco (7-1) leads the West and the conference. Minnesota (6-1) leads the North, the New York Giants (5-2-1) lead the East, and the NFC South is the weakest division in football: Carolina and New Orleans both sit at 3-5, and Tampa Bay fell to 3-6 after Sunday's loss in Chicago. Chicago (7-2), Detroit (6-2) and Green Bay (6-3) pack the NFC wild card places, which is why the North sends three teams on the current bracket and still complains.

What Sunday changed

Green Bay beat New England 45 to 27, with Jordan Love throwing for 372 yards and three touchdowns and running for a fourth. Dallas rallied to beat Indianapolis 27 to 23 on a late one-yard touchdown run, a result that left the Colts at 2-7 after five straight losses and the Cowboys at 4-5. Chicago beat Tampa Bay 27 to 24 on a last-play field goal even though Caleb Williams threw four interceptions. The Giants beat Philadelphia 19 to 11, the Eagles' seventh straight loss. Cincinnati beat Atlanta 34 to 17 in Madrid, San Francisco beat Las Vegas 38 to 17, Seattle beat Arizona 17 to 3 and Houston beat the Chargers 44 to 22. The Chargers are 0-8, the only winless team left.

Key numbers

Best records: San Francisco 7-1, Denver 7-2, Chicago 7-2. Best point difference: Jacksonville at plus 108. Winless: the Chargers at 0-8. Longest current losing run: Philadelphia and the Chargers, seven and eight straight. Closest race: the NFC South, where 3-5 leads the division.

The deadline, and what is actually reported

The trade deadline is Tuesday, November 10, at 4 p.m. Eastern. Search interest around Indianapolis running back Jonathan Taylor spiked on Monday morning, and the Colts' five-game losing run is the reason fans are asking the question. No reputable outlet in this check reported a Taylor deal, an agreed fee or talks at an advanced stage, so this article treats the Taylor talk as a search trend, not a trade report. One deadline move is already done and confirmed: Tennessee sent defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons to Chicago on October 29, with draft picks going both ways.

What happens next

Tonight's Bills at Vikings game (8:15 p.m. Eastern, U.S. Bank Stadium) is a meeting of 6-1 teams. A Buffalo win stretches its AFC East lead. A Minnesota win tightens its hold on the NFC North on a night when Chicago and Detroit both won on Sunday. Then the phones decide Tuesday: contenders with a hole at pass rusher or receiver have until 4 p.m. Eastern to fix it, and the standings above are the map they will work from.