NFL Week 17 playoff picture: Five AFC teams have clinched, two more spots remain

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With the Chargers clinching a wild card berth on Monday night, only two spots remain in the AFC playoffs.

The Chargers join the Bills, Chiefs, Bengals and Ravens already in the playoffs. The Jaguars and Titans will fight it out for the AFC south in Week 18, while the Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, Steelers and Raiders all still have wild card hopes alive.

Here’s how the AFC playoff picture looks heading into Week 17:

CURRENTLY IN
1. Bills (12-3) Own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Chiefs.

2. Chiefs (12-3) Have to hope the Bills lose one.

3. Bengals (11-4) Big game looms against the Bills on Monday night.

4. Jaguars (7-8) Winner of their Week 18 game against the Titans wins the AFC South.

5. Ravens (10-5) Control their destiny in the AFC North.

6. Chargers (9-6) Clinched a wild card.

7. Dolphins (8-7) Still have a wild card lead, but they’ll lose that lead if they lose to the Patriots on Sunday.

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
8. Patriots (7-8) Haven’t been playing well, but still control their playoff destiny.

9. Jets (7-8) Zach Wilson has thrown away a promising season.

10. Titans (7-8) If they win in Week 18, they win their division.

11. Steelers (7-8) Still playing hard but it’s too little, too late.

12. Raiders (6-9) Lead the league in blowing leads.

NO CHANCE OF GETTING IN
13. Browns (6-9) Mathematically eliminated.

14. Colts (4-10-1) Mathematically eliminated.

15. Broncos (4-11) Mathematically eliminated.

16. Texans (2-12-1) Mathematically eliminated.

11 responses to “NFL Week 17 playoff picture: Five AFC teams have clinched, two more spots remain

  1. I think the Dolphins are done. Tua should not play the rest of the year or his brain will be mush in 20 years, it may be heading that way already. Jets have found their future QB and it’s not Wilson. Titans look terrible without Tannenhill and Trevor Lawrence has improved dramatically so I think they get in. Best Monday night game of the year coming up Bills vs Bengals.

  2. logicalone says:
    December 27, 2022 at 7:52 am
    I think the Dolphins are done. Tua should not play the rest of the year or his brain will be mush in 20 years, it may be heading that way already. Jets have found their future QB and it’s not Wilson. Titans look terrible without Tannenhill and Trevor Lawrence has improved dramatically so I think they get in. Best Monday night game of the year coming up Bills vs Bengals.
    ———————————————————————
    It may not be Zach, but I’m quite sure it’s not Mike White either.
    This isn’t his first year with the Jets, I feel if they didn’t see him as a potential starter before this season then there’s not much chance they had a complete change of mine with his performance this past campaign.

  3. Whoever gets the 7 seed will probably get destroyed by the 2 seed, regardless of who the 2 seed will be. Could be the Chiefs, Bills, or Bengals and each of those teams would thoroughly wreck the final team limping into the playoffs.
    Adding a seventh playoff spot was a bad idea.

  4. The Dolphins/Patriots game is huge. On paper, the Dolphins should beat the Patriots and the Jets. If the Patriots pull off a win against the Dolphins this week they could face a Bills team that is sitting their starters the last game of the year and waltz into the playoffs.

  5. Jets have found their future QB and it’s not Wilson.

    I’m not sure what the hype is on Mike White.
    The guy has started 7 games the last two seasons
    The team is 2-5 when he starts and in 7 games he has 8 tds and 10 ints. while completing only 62% of his passes.

  6. cletuspstillwaterjr says:
    December 27, 2022 at 9:11 am
    The Dolphins/Patriots game is huge. On paper, the Dolphins should beat the Patriots and the Jets. If the Patriots pull off a win against the Dolphins this week they could face a Bills team that is sitting their starters the last game of the year and waltz into the playoffs.

    The Bills can only sit there starters IF KC loses this week.
    If KC wins out the next two weeks the Bills will also have to win out to secure home field.

  7. It’s put up or shut up time for all the hype surrounding Herbert. The only big game he has ever been in was a play-in game loss to Derek Carr so the pressure should be on given the media hype he has received.

  8. Steelers can still clinch. Nobody wants to face us in December. We are definitely the most dangerous team in the league right now.

  9. It doesn’t really matter where anyone ends up. KC, Cincy and Buffallo are so far ahead of the competition that you can write the divisional round in ink.

    1 vs 4 or 5

    2 vs 3

    Whoever gets the number 1 seed will have a huge huge advantage. But on the upside we should have 1 great game in the divisional round and the AFC championship should be too.

  10. It’s really pretty simple in the AFCE.

    The Fins win both (against the Pats and Jets) then they are in based on wins-loses.

    If the Jets win both (Seahawks and Fins) then they are in (having the tie breaker against the Fins). If the Jets lose either they are eliminated.

    If the Pats lose to the Fins this week they are eliminated because the Fins having the tie breaker over them.

    Still it is nice to have all 4 AFCE teams still in contention, for a change, for the playoffs this late in the season.

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