2 Weeks left and in typical NFL fashion all the Wild Card Spots are up for grabs and has tons of fans looking up the NFL Tie-Breaker Rules. Well here's a little breakdown of what can or has to drop in your teams favor in order to get that bye or last Wild Card.
Cruisin Towards a Bye
San Diego Chargers
Clinched: AFC West Title
Likely Spot: #1 seed
How to Bye It: Win Out, 1 Win 1 Loss from Colts or Ravens, Three Way Tie with Colts Ravens where Strength of Victory remains ahead.
The Chargers are in a great spot to position themselves for a bye, first off they are ahead of both the Colts and Ravens by a game. But additionally they no longer have conference games remaining on their schedule and have a phenomenal 10-2 Conference record. As long as the Chargers win one game and do not get blown out in the other they will get a bye.
Remaining Schedule: @SEA, ARI
Fighting for a Bye
Baltimore Ravens
Clinched: AFC North Champs
Likely Spot: #3 seed
How to Bye It: Win Out or maintain tie with Colts
The Colts and Ravens have an equal conference record and do not have enough common games to qualify for that particular tie breaker, therefore the next tie breaker is the BCS like Strength of Victory and the Ravens are currently much further ahead on point differential than the Colts. I just have a feeling that the Ravens will slip up in one of these next two games, especially if Senor Kyle is forced to QB.
Remaining Schedule: @PIT, BUF
Indianapolis Colts
Clinched: AFC South Champs
Likely Spot: #2 seed
How to Bye It: Win Out + 1 Bal loss or Make Up Margin of Victory Ground or Dual Losses from San Diego
The Colts will wipe the floor with the Texans next week and I expect them to do the same with the Dolphins at home in the last week. Playing the Texans certainly could help the Colts make up grounds on the Strength of Victory difference but in the end I expect the Ravens to stumble in one game.
Remaining Schedule:@HOU, MIA
New England Patriots
Likely Spot: AFC East Champs #4 seed
How to Clinch East: 1 Win or 1 Jets Loss
How to Bye It: 2 Wins + Dual Losses by Colts and Ravens
10-4 yet have not clinched the division. 2 losses combined with 2 Jets wins could not only keep the Pats out of a home playoff matchup but out of the playoffs completely. In that particular scenerio the Pats would be bounce in 3 way ties involving the Jaguars and either the Bengals or Broncos, due to their conference record. The Pats are 4-0 against the NFC North, and thus have poor tiebreaker abilities, and even though they beat the Bengals, in a 3 way tie situation the conference record would override that. Simply put the Pats need to win a game.
Remaining Schedule: @JAX, @TEN
Control Your Destiny
Denver Broncos
Likely Spot: Wild Card or Wondering why they switched QBs
How to WildCard: Win Out
The Broncos have the best chance of any of the teams at 8-6 to make the Wildcard. First they control their destiny similarly, to the Jaguars and Bengals. They play the Bengals at home which gives them an edge in that game, and they have a better conference record at this point than any of the 8-6 hopefuls.
Remaining Schedule: CIN, SF
Cincinatti Bengals
Likely Spot: Wild Card #6
How to WildCard: Win Out
Simple, win out you're in finish 9-7 and find a disasterous amount of tiebreakers to deal with. The Bengals will definately need to beat the Broncos to have a good chance of getting their as a loss in that game plus the tie-breaker advantage which it would give the Broncos would put the Bengals between a rock and a hard place.
Remaining Schedule: @DEN, PITT
Jacksonville Jaguars
Likely Spot: Continuing to enjoy the Florida Sunshine in January.
How to WildCard: Win Out
The most inconsistant team in the NFL. So what do you think the odds are that the Jaguars come out on fire and beat the Pats, but go out and lose to the dead carcuss that will be the Kansas City Chiefs come the final week of the season.
Remaining Schedule: NE, @KC
Need Some Help
New York Jets
Likely Spot: Out looking in at 9-7
How to Get a Home Game: Win Out, Pats Lose Out
How to WildCard: Win Out + Jax loss or Loss by Winner of Denver Cincy
Win out and the Jets are in good shape and at worst will simply need one of three teams to lose in the final week of the season to gain a playoff spot. The intriguing part of this is that they are currently not out of the AFC East Title run and with the Pats playing Jacksonville this week and a hot Titans team in the final week the title remains a possibility.
Remaining Schedule: @MIA, OAK
Collapse at Arrowhead
Kansas City Chiefs
Likely Spot: Bumbling About the Offseason
The Chiefs looked like a playoff team three weeks ago. Now? They have almost no hope, with a 7-7 record they need to win out and hope the 8-6 teams struggle down the stretch, just like the rest of the 7-7 teams. Now throw in the fact that they would have the worst conference record of any 9-7 team, well then they are going to need a miracle.
Remaining Schedule: @OAK, JAX
Too Little Too Late
Not only do these 7-7 teams need to hope that the 8-6 teams above them don't win out but in most cases each 7-7 team will lose tiebreakers due to poor conference records.
Buffalo Bills
Likely Spot: Flying out of the Buffalo Snow ASAP.
Keys to Their Chances: Jets loss to Miami
The Bills have had a terrific stretch run and I wouldn't be surprised if they do in fact go 9-7. Problem they really need the Jets to lose to Miami, if the Jets defeat Miami they would win any tiebreaker with the Bills. In addition the Broncos would win any tiebreaker with the Bills due to superior conference record and the Bengals would most likely surpass the Bills via the Strength of victory tie-breaker.
Remaining Schedule: TEN, @BAL
Tennessee Titans
Likely Spot: Enjoying the Start of the Vince Young Era.
Unfortunately for the Titans they have a 4-6 conference record and lost to the Jets so part of their hope relies on a Raiders victory on New Years Eve.
Remaining Schedule: @BUF, NE
Pittsburgh Steelers
Likely Spot: Looking at Their Shiny Old Superbowl Ring.
4-6 Conference record, will lose any tiebreaker with the Denver, Jacksonville, Cincinatti, Buffalo, etc... They'll be the first team eliminated this weekend.
Remaining Schedule: BAL, @CIN
Cruisin Towards a Bye
San Diego Chargers
Clinched: AFC West Title
Likely Spot: #1 seed
How to Bye It: Win Out, 1 Win 1 Loss from Colts or Ravens, Three Way Tie with Colts Ravens where Strength of Victory remains ahead.
The Chargers are in a great spot to position themselves for a bye, first off they are ahead of both the Colts and Ravens by a game. But additionally they no longer have conference games remaining on their schedule and have a phenomenal 10-2 Conference record. As long as the Chargers win one game and do not get blown out in the other they will get a bye.
Remaining Schedule: @SEA, ARI
Fighting for a Bye
Baltimore Ravens
Clinched: AFC North Champs
Likely Spot: #3 seed
How to Bye It: Win Out or maintain tie with Colts
The Colts and Ravens have an equal conference record and do not have enough common games to qualify for that particular tie breaker, therefore the next tie breaker is the BCS like Strength of Victory and the Ravens are currently much further ahead on point differential than the Colts. I just have a feeling that the Ravens will slip up in one of these next two games, especially if Senor Kyle is forced to QB.
Remaining Schedule: @PIT, BUF
Indianapolis Colts
Clinched: AFC South Champs
Likely Spot: #2 seed
How to Bye It: Win Out + 1 Bal loss or Make Up Margin of Victory Ground or Dual Losses from San Diego
The Colts will wipe the floor with the Texans next week and I expect them to do the same with the Dolphins at home in the last week. Playing the Texans certainly could help the Colts make up grounds on the Strength of Victory difference but in the end I expect the Ravens to stumble in one game.
Remaining Schedule:@HOU, MIA
New England Patriots
Likely Spot: AFC East Champs #4 seed
How to Clinch East: 1 Win or 1 Jets Loss
How to Bye It: 2 Wins + Dual Losses by Colts and Ravens
10-4 yet have not clinched the division. 2 losses combined with 2 Jets wins could not only keep the Pats out of a home playoff matchup but out of the playoffs completely. In that particular scenerio the Pats would be bounce in 3 way ties involving the Jaguars and either the Bengals or Broncos, due to their conference record. The Pats are 4-0 against the NFC North, and thus have poor tiebreaker abilities, and even though they beat the Bengals, in a 3 way tie situation the conference record would override that. Simply put the Pats need to win a game.
Remaining Schedule: @JAX, @TEN
Control Your Destiny
Denver Broncos
Likely Spot: Wild Card or Wondering why they switched QBs
How to WildCard: Win Out
The Broncos have the best chance of any of the teams at 8-6 to make the Wildcard. First they control their destiny similarly, to the Jaguars and Bengals. They play the Bengals at home which gives them an edge in that game, and they have a better conference record at this point than any of the 8-6 hopefuls.
Remaining Schedule: CIN, SF
Cincinatti Bengals
Likely Spot: Wild Card #6
How to WildCard: Win Out
Simple, win out you're in finish 9-7 and find a disasterous amount of tiebreakers to deal with. The Bengals will definately need to beat the Broncos to have a good chance of getting their as a loss in that game plus the tie-breaker advantage which it would give the Broncos would put the Bengals between a rock and a hard place.
Remaining Schedule: @DEN, PITT
Jacksonville Jaguars
Likely Spot: Continuing to enjoy the Florida Sunshine in January.
How to WildCard: Win Out
The most inconsistant team in the NFL. So what do you think the odds are that the Jaguars come out on fire and beat the Pats, but go out and lose to the dead carcuss that will be the Kansas City Chiefs come the final week of the season.
Remaining Schedule: NE, @KC
Need Some Help
New York Jets
Likely Spot: Out looking in at 9-7
How to Get a Home Game: Win Out, Pats Lose Out
How to WildCard: Win Out + Jax loss or Loss by Winner of Denver Cincy
Win out and the Jets are in good shape and at worst will simply need one of three teams to lose in the final week of the season to gain a playoff spot. The intriguing part of this is that they are currently not out of the AFC East Title run and with the Pats playing Jacksonville this week and a hot Titans team in the final week the title remains a possibility.
Remaining Schedule: @MIA, OAK
Collapse at Arrowhead
Kansas City Chiefs
Likely Spot: Bumbling About the Offseason
The Chiefs looked like a playoff team three weeks ago. Now? They have almost no hope, with a 7-7 record they need to win out and hope the 8-6 teams struggle down the stretch, just like the rest of the 7-7 teams. Now throw in the fact that they would have the worst conference record of any 9-7 team, well then they are going to need a miracle.
Remaining Schedule: @OAK, JAX
Too Little Too Late
Not only do these 7-7 teams need to hope that the 8-6 teams above them don't win out but in most cases each 7-7 team will lose tiebreakers due to poor conference records.
Buffalo Bills
Likely Spot: Flying out of the Buffalo Snow ASAP.
Keys to Their Chances: Jets loss to Miami
The Bills have had a terrific stretch run and I wouldn't be surprised if they do in fact go 9-7. Problem they really need the Jets to lose to Miami, if the Jets defeat Miami they would win any tiebreaker with the Bills. In addition the Broncos would win any tiebreaker with the Bills due to superior conference record and the Bengals would most likely surpass the Bills via the Strength of victory tie-breaker.
Remaining Schedule: TEN, @BAL
Tennessee Titans
Likely Spot: Enjoying the Start of the Vince Young Era.
Unfortunately for the Titans they have a 4-6 conference record and lost to the Jets so part of their hope relies on a Raiders victory on New Years Eve.
Remaining Schedule: @BUF, NE
Pittsburgh Steelers
Likely Spot: Looking at Their Shiny Old Superbowl Ring.
4-6 Conference record, will lose any tiebreaker with the Denver, Jacksonville, Cincinatti, Buffalo, etc... They'll be the first team eliminated this weekend.
Remaining Schedule: BAL, @CIN
Comments
Divisional tiebreakers supercede head-to-head non-divisional games...some of those scenerios seem very plausible.