Lights out? Four NFL teams pushed to brink in Week 12

Call this Elimination Sunday.

No, not because the San Francisco 49ers’ last-second loss at Miami made it mathematically impossible for Chip Kelly’s overmatched crew to reach the playoffs. (A 10-game losing streak will do that.)

Several teams that entered the season with far better postseason prospects are barely clinging to relevance before the calendar flips to December.

· The defending NFC champion Carolina Panthers have played better of late, but they fell to 4-7 with a 35-32 loss at Oakland – three games back of the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC South with five to go. A lot of issues have factored into their fall, but removing the franchise tag from all-pro cornerback Josh Norman will go down as an all-time head scratcher.

· The Arizona Cardinals haven’t seemed quite the same since getting blasted in January’s NFC title game at Carolina. The Cardinals are talented on both sides of the ball and entered Sunday with the NFL’s No. 1-ranked defense. But their 38-19 defeat at Atlanta left them at 4-6-1, still three games back of the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC West.

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· The Cincinnati Bengals’ five-year playoff streak appears over after a 19-14 loss at Baltimore dropped them to 3-7-1 – 2 ½ games back of the Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North. The focus will increasingly shift to coach Marvin Lewis’ expiring contract and whether a unique organization goes another direction after 14 years (and zero postseason wins).

· The Los Angeles Rams’ coach, Jeff Fisher, declared on HBO’s Hard Knocks he’d no longer tolerate “7-9 bulls---.” Now, the Rams would be lucky to get to 7-9, leaving Fisher’s job in doubt with his contract set to expire, too. Rookie No. 1 pick Jared Goff showing some flashes Sunday wasn’t nearly enough to avoid a 49-21 rout at New Orleans that dropped them to 4-7 in their return to L.A.

Week 12 could claim another season Monday night, too.

If the Green Bay Packers lose, they’d drop to 4-7, three games back of the NFC North-leading Detroit Lions. The Philadelphia Eagles already are toast in the NFC East race, and a loss would send them to 5-6 and leave them in an uphill battle in the wild-card race, with Washington currently in line for the last spot at 6-4-1.

Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero.

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