AFC Playoffs Scenario Final Week Cheat Sheet
The Steelers are gearing up for their final game of the regular season in what is essentially the AFC North Championship game. What about the rest of the AFC?
The AFC playoffs scenario isn’t as wild as the one going on over in the NFC. However, there are about five games that will determine some major seeding shifts as well as who is in and who is out this year. We’ve come up with a nice little cheat sheet for yinz to follow based off one created by CM Towle over at FanSided. Disclaimer! Ties are not taken into consideration with this chart. It’s win/loss only. God help us if there’s a tie.
The Bengals have the most movement potential – going from a 5th seed away wild card game all the way to a 2nd seed and a bye week.
The only way the Broncos fall is if they screw themselves against the Raiders on Sunday. What’s important to note is that they cannot rest players nor take the Raiders lightly. Since they lost to the Bengals, they need to make sure they win their game against the Raiders because they will not know the outcome of the Steelers and Bengals. That game was flexed to Sunday night from Sunday at 1pm.
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If that game took place at the usual start time and the Steelers won, the Broncos could have played their starters for a couple quarters and then sit them not having to care about winning or losing. They can’t take that risk and potentially lose the bye week if the Bengals were to beat the Steelers and they themselves fall to the Raiders. Tough break on that flex game, eh?
The Colts are locked in and completely unaffected by any outcome this week.
The Steelers will either land in the 5th seed or the 3rd seed depending on their outcome against the Bengals this weekend. They own the tiebreaker against the Colts and would sit in the number three slot should they both win this weekend.
The sixth and final spot in the playoff seeding fluctuates the most between the outcomes of the five games. There are up to four different teams who could nab the last spot depending on how things shake out. Of that group, the Chargers are the only team who are in charge of their fate. They win and they are in. The other three teams – Chiefs, Ravens, and Texans – all need lots of help from these other games to get in.
Should be a fun weekend! GO STEELERS!