The NFC South is sending three teams to the postseason, and that’s particularly impressive when you consider those teams were not only good, they all also had to play each other twice. Those teams played harder schedules than the other teams in the postseason.

Those teams, in fact, played the hardest schedules in the league. Atlanta and Carolina tied for the hardest schedule overall, and New Orleans was just a game back (tied with Chicago).

Tennessee and Jacksonville, meanwhile, played the league’s easiest schedules. Tennessee’s opponents went only 104-136 in their other 240 games. Jacksonville also benefitted from getting to play twice against Houston and Indianapolis (both of those teams went 4-12).

Here are the 32 teams, with playoff teams tagged.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE (wins)
TeamWLPct
• Tennessee104136.433
• Jacksonville105135.438
Baltimore106134.442
Cincinnati110130.458
LA Chargers110130.458
Indianapolis111129.463
• Pittsburgh113127.471
Denver115125.479
• Philadelphia115125.479
• Kansas City116124.483
Arizona117123.488
Cleveland117123.488
• Buffalo119121.496
Seattle119121.496
Dallas120120.500
Detroit120120.500
Houston120120.500
• New England121119.504
Oakland121119.504
San Francisco121119.504
NY Jets122118.508
• Minnesota123117.513
NY Giants123117.513
• LA Rams124116.517
Green Bay129111.538
Miami129111.538
Washington129111.538
Tampa Bay131109.546
Chicago132108.550
• New Orleans132108.550
• Atlanta133107.554
• Carolina133107.554

If you want to use points rather than wins, Tennessee still comes out No. 1. The Titans’ opponents allowed an average of 22.6 points in their other 240 games.

Green Bay, Detroit and Washington tended to play the schedules featuring defenses allowing the fewest points.

Among playoff teams, the Saints, Rams and Panthers tended to play the toughest defenses.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE (points)
TeamAvg
• Tennessee22.60
Arizona22.58
• Jacksonville22.52
Indianapolis22.39
Seattle22.28
LA Chargers22.27
NY Giants22.14
• Buffalo22.12
Baltimore22.09
Cincinnati22.04
• New England21.96
Denver21.94
Dallas21.91
San Francisco21.78
• Kansas City21.73
• Minnesota21.73
NY Jets21.63
Oakland21.57
• Philadelphia21.57
Miami21.53
Chicago21.49
• Pittsburgh21.45
• Atlanta21.43
Cleveland21.40
Houston21.37
• Carolina21.35
• LA Rams21.33
Tampa Bay21.30
• New Orleans21.16
Washington20.99
Detroit20.71
Green Bay20.67

—Ian Allan