ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills earned a huge 20-17 victory Sunday in Kansas City, helping create a chaotic wild card race.
Six teams will head into Week 15 with 7-6 records, and only two of them would make the playoffs, if they started today. The other four would fail to make the cut, losing on a number of tiebreakers.
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 Baltimore Ravens (10-3), bye
- No. 7 Indianapolis Colts (7-6) at No. 2 Miami Dolphins (9-4)
- No. 6 Pittsburgh Steelers (7-6) at No. 3 Kansas City Chiefs (8-5)
- No. 5 Cleveland Browns (8-5) at No. 4 Jacksonville Jaguars (8-5)
That brings us to teams who are on the outside looking in, including the Bills. They are, in order:
- Houston Texans (7-6)
- Denver Broncos (7-6)
- Cincinnati Bengals (7-6)
- Buffalo Bills (7-6)
- Los Angeles Chargers (5-8)
- Las Vegas Raiders (5-8)
- New York Jets (5-8)
- Tennessee Titans (5-8)
- New England Patriots (3-10)
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 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