Sports 3 min read By Callum Montgomery
Are AFC playoff spots already settled? Forbes looks at NFL Week 9
John Cassillo's Forbes column for NFL Week 9 asks whether the AFC playoff picture is already locked in, and also weighs the Cowboys' position in the NFC East and which teams need a quarterback.
With the NFL season moving into Week 9, John Cassillo's Forbes column asks a pointed question for AFC fans and analysts alike: are the conference's playoff teams already locked in? The piece frames the question as the central storyline of the week, asking whether the field has taken its shape or whether the remaining weeks can still change who reaches the postseason.
The column also turns to the NFC East, where the Dallas Cowboys are examined in terms of how they are handling their position in the division. Alongside that, the piece raises the matter of which clubs need a quarterback, a question that tends to define a team's ceiling more than any single result in midseason.
The notes available for this report contain the headline and standfirst of the column, along with its publication date of November 5, 2026. They do not include game results, specific standings, team records, or individual player statistics, so the column's conclusions on the AFC race cannot be confirmed in detail from the material on hand. Readers looking for the exact seeding scenarios, the records behind them, or the reasoning for each team will need the full column itself.
What the framing makes clear is that the column treats the AFC as a conference where the picture is not yet beyond change. Asking whether teams are locked in at Week 9 suggests the author sees enough uncertainty to test the assumption rather than accept it. Whether that uncertainty is real or overstated is the question the column sets out to answer, and the answer depends on results that the available notes do not contain.
The Cowboys segment adds a second thread. Discussion of how a team handles its division at this stage of the season typically weighs head-to-head records, the current standings, and the health and form of the roster. The notes do not specify the Cowboys' record or the particular decisions the column criticises or praises, so any judgement on that front must rest on the full text rather than on this summary.
The quarterback question closes the column's main threads and is one of the most consistent themes in NFL analysis. Clubs without stable starting quarterbacks often struggle to convert strong rosters into wins, and the column's focus on which teams need one reflects that broader concern. The notes do not name the teams involved, leaving that part of the analysis for readers to follow in the original piece.
Source: forbes.com
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