ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills scored a huge win Sunday in Detroit, beating the Lions 48-42 in a Week 15 game that many people called a possible Super Bowl preview.
Long before the Super Bowl, though, teams like the Bills are doing all they can to improve their postseason seeds, to have the clearest possible path. The Bills won the AFC East weeks ago, and they still have a chance to secure home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs, but Buffalo would need to catch some breaks, and get some help elsewhere.
The top four seeds go to division winners, and the next three seeds are wild cards. If the postseason were to start today, here are what the matchups would look like:
- No. 1 Kansas City Chiefs (13-1), bye
- No. 7 Los Angeles Chargers (8-6) at No. 2 Buffalo Bills (11-3)
- No. 6 Denver Broncos (9-5) at No. 3 Pittsburgh Steelers (10-4)
- No. 5 Baltimore Ravens (9-5) at No. 4 Houston Texans (9-5)
That brings us to teams who are on the outside looking in, at least for the moment. They are, in order:
- Indianapolis Colts (6-8)
- Miami Dolphins (6-8)
- Cincinnati Bengals (6-8)
- New York Jets (4-10), eliminated
- Cleveland Browns (3-11), eliminated
- Jacksonville Jaguars (3-11), eliminated
- Tennessee Titans (3-11), eliminated
- New England Patriots (3-11), eliminated
- Las Vegas Raiders (2-11), eliminated
Tiebreakers between and among teams are decided by a number of factors, including head-to-head outcomes, records against division opponents, records against AFC opponents, best win percentage in common games, and more.
Here's the remainder of the Bills' schedule:
- Week 16, Sunday, Dec. 22, vs. New England Patriots, 1 p.m.
- Week 17, Sunday, Dec. 29, vs. New York Jets, 1 p.m.
- Week 18, to be determined at New England Patriots