AFC playoff picture, Week 16: Titans get huge win
After beating the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night, the Tennessee Titans are holding strong in the AFC playoff picture.
With the early games of the week behind us, let’s take a look at the AFC playoff picture heading into Sunday’s Week 16 action:
1. Kansas City Chiefs (10-4)
2. Tennessee Titans (10-5)
3. New England Patriots (9-5)
4. Cincinnati Bengals (8-6)
5. Indianapolis Colts (9-6)
6. Los Angeles Chargers (8-6)
7. Buffalo Bills (8-6)
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8. Baltimore Ravens (8-6)
9. Pittsburgh Steelers (7-6-1)
We might be seeing the playoff picture in the AFC beginning to take hold, even if the seeding questions are still aplenty.
Let’s start with the biggest game, which has the Patriots and Bills fighting it out at Gillette Stadium. While nothing would be mathematically certain, New England and Buffalo are essentially playing for the AFC East on Sunday afternoon, while the loser falls into fighting for seeding among the wild card teams.
Then, in the AFC North, a battle for first place between the Bengals and Ravens in Cincinnati. However, Baltimore is going to be without quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is still recovering from an ankle injury sustained against the Cleveland Browns in Week 14.
Kansas City and Pittsburgh will play at Arrowhead Stadium in the late window on CBS, with the Chiefs trying to hold onto the top seed in the AFC with two weeks remaining. Kansas City hasn’t lost a game since Week 7 when they were blown out by the Titans, but the Steelers are hoping to pull off the upset and give themselves a real shot in the AFC North.
Meanwhile, the Titans handled their business already, coming back from a 10-0 deficit at halftime of Thursday night’s game against the 49ers. Tennessee now only needs one more win (or a loss from the Colts) to officially wrap up the AFC South and clinch a minimum of one home game in the postseason.
Speaking of Indy, its win over the Arizona Cardinals on Christmas night puts the Colts in prime position to be the top wild card team in the AFC. Indianapolis only has the Las Vegas Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars remaining on the slate, two games it’ll be favored to win by a considerable amount.
Finally, the Chargers are working through some COVID issues but take on the Houston Texans, who have even more problems with the illness. Houston is also a one-win squad when not playing the Jaguars, so look for Justin Herbert and Co. to move to 9-6 on the campaign.
