ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — With a big Week 14 victory in Kansas City, the Buffalo Bills are in the middle of a jumbled AFC playoff race.
Strictly going by the NFL standings and tiebreaking procedures, they are 11th in the AFC pecking order; only the top seven teams will reach the postseason.
However, the New York Times has a different perspective when looking at the final four weeks of the regular season. Its own NFL playoff simulator by The Upshot gives Buffalo the sixth-best odds of making the AFC playoffs at 49 percent, up 10 percent from the past five weeks.
The Baltimore Ravens (over 99 percent), Kansas City Chiefs (99 percent), Miami Dolphins (97 percent), and Jacksonville Jaguars (91 percent) are given the best odds of making the AFC playoffs, according to The Upshot.
After that comes the Cleveland Browns (86 percent) and the Bills, who are 1 percent higher than the Denver Broncos, who won a bizarre 24-22 game in Orchard Park on Nov. 13.
Tiebreakers between and among teams are decided by several 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 15, Sunday, Dec. 17, vs. Dallas Cowboys (10-3), 4:25 p.m.
- Week 16, Saturday, Dec. 23, at Los Angeles Chargers (5-8), 8 p.m. on Channel 2
- Week 17, Sunday, Dec. 31, vs. New England Patriots (3-10), 1 p.m.
- Week 18, Sunday, Jan. 7, at Miami Dolphins (9-4), TBA