ESPN - NFL Football Standings - National Football League

The National Football League regular season closes out

Tampa Bay and the Redskins head to the playoffs with 9-7 records, while the luckless Browns are unable to cash in on their marvelous and totally unexpected 10-6 season. The lads from Cleveland finished seventh in a six team AFC race, even though the next best team behind them was only 8-8! The key factor in keeping them out of the playoffs was that the Colts made no real effort to beat Tennessee. Manning sat down after going 14 for 16, to be replaced by Sorgi who went 11 for 24 for a whopping 68 yards of offense. Of course, the Colts had to reason to care about the game and wanted to keep their starters healthy for the post-season, but if they had beaten Tennessee, the Browns would have made the playoffs. So it goes.