With two weeks left in the regular season, six NFL teams are in the playoffs, including Carolina, which had been tormenting its fans with three straight losses.

The Panthers finally clinched the NFC South on Sunday on John Kasay’s 49-yard field goal with four seconds

left that gave them a 20-17 win in Arizona.

But along with Baltimore’s loss in Oakland, that only reinforces what’s been evident for weeks – when the playoffs begin, there will be six teams with shots at the Super Bowl (not including the Panthers) and six just glad to be there.

Make it St. Louis and Philadelphia in the NFC; New England, Kansas City, Indianapolis and Tennessee in the AFC. And the Titans almost surely will have to try to get to Houston on Feb. 1 as a wild card.

For the Colts, who probably will end up as the third-seed in the AFC, the next two weeks will be to hone skills. But the way Peyton Manning is playing, they have a shot even without a first-round bye.

“It’s important to play at a high level late in the season and going into the playoffs,” said Manning, who threw five touchdown passes in the Colts’ 38-7 rout of Atlanta. “Hopefully, we can keep this kind of momentum going.”

Manning became only the fifth quarterback since the 1970 merger to have two games with five TD passes in one season. That puts him in elite company; the others are Jim Kelly, Dan Marino, Warren Moon and Dan Fouts.

But that’s for another day.

A snapshot of the playoff races:

AFC

The Patriots have clinched the East and the Chiefs clinched the West on Sunday. Both are 12-2 and will have first-week byes if they win their final two, with New England getting the home-field advantage because it has one less AFC loss.

That could be huge. Until Jacksonville scored a meaningless touchdown with 3:22 left on Sunday, the Patriots had gone four games, 56 minutes and 38 seconds without allowing a TD in Foxboro.

The Colts (11-3) could get a bye if either the Chiefs or Patriots stumble. They are one win or one Tennessee loss away from the South title.

The Titans (10-4) could clinch a playoff spot as early as Monday night if Miami loses at home to Philadelphia. They lost two straight with Steve McNair playing hurt and won Sunday with McNair sitting out and Billy Volek making his first start at quarterback.

If McNair rests and is healthy in the postseason, they could cause trouble.

The other two AFC teams aren’t likely to challenge the top four.

Baltimore’s loss in Oakland left the Ravens tied with Cincinnati at 8-6 in the North, with tiebreakers depending on the final two games for each. The Bengals are at St. Louis and home to Cleveland; the Ravens are at Cleveland and home to Pittsburgh.

Right now, the wild-card spots would go to the Titans and the Broncos (9-5). Denver holds the tiebreaker for now over Miami (8-5).

NFC

The Rams (11-3) and Eagles (10-3) are the class of the conference. Philadelphia plays Monday night in Miami and holds the tiebreaker for home-field advantage in the playoffs.

The Rams clinched the West by edging the Seahawks 27-22, perhaps with help from an official who tripped Seattle’s Bobby Engram just as Engram got momentarily free for what might have been the winning touchdown. Instead, the pass fell incomplete.

Dallas’ win over Washington means the Eagles can’t clinch the East even if they win Monday night.

Carolina (9-5) is now the champion in the South, but has seven wins by three points or less or in overtime. That won’t cut it against the Rams or Eagles in the playoffs.

Minnesota’s loss in Chicago was its sixth in eight games after starting 6-0. That left the Vikings tied at 8-6 with Green Bay in the Central. Minnesota holds the tiebreaker, but who’s to say the Vikings will win out – they get Kansas City next week in Minneapolis.

Dallas’ 27-0 rout of Washington looked impressive and puts the Cowboys (9-5) in good position for a wild-card spot. The other could go to Seattle (8-6); the Vikings-Packers loser; or even to defending champion Tampa Bay (7-7), whose win over Houston gave it its first two-game winning streak this season.

“We could have mailed it in a long time ago,” Keenan McCardell said. “We lost three straight. Everybody was writing us off. But we’ve hung in there.”

Hanging in won’t get Tampa Bay back to the title game. And probably not to the playoffs.

AP-ES-12-14-03 2105EST