Well, you can't win them all. We took an early lead against the Raptors but were unable to hold onto it, as they handed us our first loss in over a month, coincidentally to another team from the West. We're locked into the 3 seed as this point and are now just playing for pride. The final week of the regular season means just a bit more to us, as the Milwaukee Mallards are coming to town for the first time in several years. They've quietly put up a decent record in their first year back, and a win over us would put them at the .500 mark for the first time since they won the division in 2020. We won't be lying down to let them win, so we'll be using this as a tune-up before we get into the playoffs. Featured for this week is DB Dane Belton, who netted 7 total tackles (4 solo), 1.0 sacks, and a pass deflection against Utah. 

Following 14 weeks of football, we have eliminated 14 teams from the playoffs. This isn't like we eliminated one every week, but here we are. Let's start with the 2026 AltFL Rookie Draft order for the first 14 picks. 
1. Minnesota Voyageurs (1-13)
2. San Antonio Phantoms (2-12)
3. Birmingham Vulcans (4-10)
4. Arizona Scorpions (5-9)
5. St. Louis Explorers (5-9)
6. Kentucky Stallions (5-9)
7. Carolina Reapers (6-8)
8. Milwaukee Mallards (6-8)
9. Boston Nightriders (6-8)
10. Portland Grizzlies (6-8)
11. Philadelphia Brawlers (6-8)
12. Los Angeles Sabercats (6-8)
13. Dallas Bandits (7-7)
14. Seattle Steelheads (8-6)

And now for the playoffs!
Earning the top seed is New York. With them at 12-2 and tied with Orlando, we go to head-to-head first, but the Emperors and Galactics did not face one another. Next we go to points. New York scored 1885.80 on the season and Orlando scored 1581.60, giving the Emperors the top seed and the Galactics the second seed.

Chicago won the Central and finished 11-3, giving them the third seed.

Utah and San Diego tied atop the West Division at 9-5. From there we go to the head-to-head result, which saw the Raptors pick up a win over the Destroyers, giving Utah the West Division title and the fourth seed.

Even with their loss to Birmingham to close out the season, Tennessee had the best record of the non-division winners at 10-4. The Copperheads will go into the playoffs with the fifth seed.

There were three teams at 9-5 that didn't win their division that would claim the final playoff spots, Buffalo, Kansas City, and San Diego. Since it's a three way tie we went right to the points tiebreaker. Buffalo finished with 1700.35 points, Kansas City with 1502.70 points, and San Diego ending with 1646.20 points. This puts the Bolts in the sixth seed, the Destroyers in the seventh spot, and the Scarecrows in the eighth and final playoff spot.

This will send the Scarecrows to New York to face the Emperors, the Destroyers will head to Orlando to take on the Galactics, the Bolts head to Chicago to square off with the Cyclones, and the Copperheads head out west to Salt Lake City to take on the Raptors. Fun fact: none of these matchups happened during the regular season!

And finally, your All-Division Teams and All-League Team! As with the rookie of the year, this only factors in weeks in which players were in starting lineups for an AltFL team. Your fun fact? Only one player started for more than two teams this season: defensive lineman Kobie Turner who started for Birmingham, New York, and Tennessee!

Your All-Division Teams!

East Division
QB :: Josh Allen (Buffalo)
RB :: Jonathan Taylor (New York), Jahmyr Gibbs (Buffalo)
WR :: Amon-Ra St. Brown (Philadelphia), CeeDee Lamb (New York), Justin Jefferson (Boston)
TE :: Tyler Warren (Carolina)
DL :: Myles Garrett (Boston), Brian Burns (Carolina)
LB :: Jamien Sherwood (Buffalo), Bobby Okereke (Carolina)
DB :: Nick Cross (New York), Talanoa Hufanga (Boston)
K :: Jake Bates (Carolina)

South Division
QB :: Trevor Lawrence (Birmingham)
RB :: Devon Achane (Tennessee), James Cook (Orlando)
WR :: Puka Nacua (San Antonio), Davante Adams (Birmingham), DeVonta Smith (Tennessee)
TE :: Jake Ferguson (Tennessee)
DL :: Aidan Hutchinson (Dallas), Jeffery Simmons (Orlando)
LB :: Foyesade Oluokun (Dallas), Edgerrin Cooper (San Antonio)
DB :: Kevin Byard (Birmingham), Brandon Jones (Orlando)
K :: Ka'imi Fairbairn (Birmingham)

Central Division
QB :: Patrick Mahomes (Milwaukee)
RB :: Josh Jacobs (Chicago), Derrick Henry (Kansas City)
WR :: Tetairoa McMillan (Chicago), Drake London (Kentucky), Nico Collins (Kentucky)
TE :: Travis Kelce (Chicago)
DL :: Maxx Crosby (Kentucky), Montez Sweat (Milwaukee)
LB :: Jordyn Brooks (Kansas City), Bobby Wagner (Chicago)
DB :: Tykee Smith (Chicago), Kamren Curl (Kansas City)
K :: Tyler Loop (Kentucky)

West Division
QB :: Drake Maye (Los Angeles)
RB :: Javonte Williams (San Diego), Rico Dowdle (Los Angeles)
WR :: Jaxon Smith-Njigba (San Diego), Ja'Marr Chase (Utah), A.J. Brown (San Diego)
TE :: Trey McBride (Seattle)
DL :: Derrick Barnes (Portland), Leonard Williams (Seattle)
LB :: Jack Campbell (Los Angeles), Nick Bolton (Seattle)
DB :: Budda Baker (Arizona), Kyle Hamilton (Portland)
K :: Jason Myers (Arizona)

And here is the All-League Team!

All-League Team
QB :: Josh Allen (Buffalo)
RB :: Jonathan Taylor (New York), Jahmyr Gibbs (Buffalo)
WR :: Jaxon Smith-Njigba (San Diego), Puka Nacua (San Antonio), Davante Adams (Birmingham)
TE :: Trey McBride (Seattle)
DL :: Myles Garrett (Boston), Brian Burns (Carolina)
LB :: Jordyn Brooks (Kansas City), Bobby Wagner (Chicago)
DB :: Tykee Smith (Chicago), Kamren Curl (Kansas City)
K :: Jason Myers (Arizona)

 

The Mallards fought hard, but we beat them for the first time in a few years to set us up for the playoffs. We'll have at least one guaranteed home game against the 6th seeded Buffalo Bolts, who finished 3 games back behind the top-seeded Emperors but have similar stats to us. They're certainly a dark horse in these playoffs, having acquired Josh Allen before the season started and have RB Jahmyr Gibbs to worry about in the backfield. We'll have to toughen up to stop them, even with a few injuries scattered across the team. Featured is our highest scoring player, second year QB Caleb Williams, who has certainly improved upon a lackluster rookie year, throwing for 2908 yards for 19 touchdowns, rushing for 321 yards and 3 TD's, and even catching two passes for 22 yards and another score. We'll be in the regular home set of tan-maroon-tan for this pivotal matchup as we'll try to improve upon last year's one-and-done performance.

We held on to victory against the Bolts, and find ourselves 1 game away from the title game. We'll have to hit the road to play the Galactics in a rematch of our week 2 game. It'll be a test between the number #2 offense in the league against the top defense in the league, and we're hungry to avenge our loss early in the season. We'll be relying on RB Josh Jacobs for this pivotal game, who gained 92 total yards against last week against Buffalo for a pair of TD's,1 on the ground and catching another. We'll just be swapping out the red jersey for the white to get to our first championship in the modern era.