Those of us in the word business are running out of ways to say that the AFC playoff picture is complete chaos. There are teams near the top that have a decent chance to fall out of the race entirely, and there are teams outside the top seven that could still wind up winning their respective divisions. Overall, according to ESPN Stats and Information research, the 2021 NFL playoff race is the first time in 19 years that every team in a conference has at least four losses through Week 13.
Sunday, the Ravens dropped their fourth game of the season, a 20-19 loss to the Steelers that left a logjam of 8-4 teams atop the AFC. For one day, at least, the Patriots own the top seed. But they could tumble all the way to No. 5 if they lose Monday night to the Bills. Week 13 did deliver the first playoff elimination of 2021. The Texans are officially looking toward 2022 after a 31-0 loss to the Colts. (The Lions managed to avoid a similar fate after upsetting the Vikings for their first win of the season.)
Let’s run through the entire playoff picture as it stands Sunday night, with an update to come after Monday night’s game. As always, we’ll combine ESPN’s Football Power Index with a little bit of human instinct to sketch out where the league is headed. Until the chaos returns, of course.
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AFC
FPI chances to make playoffs: 91.4%
FPI chances to win division: 33.1%
Look what we have here. In the spring of 2020, the Patriots ushered in a new era after parting ways with Tom Brady. A year and a half later, they’re back on top of the AFC, thanks to a superior conference record to the Titans and Ravens. The Patriots are the NFL’s hottest team, with six consecutive victories, but their seeding here could be quite temporary. A loss Monday night to the Bills would not only drop them from atop the AFC, but also into second place in the AFC East. In that scenario, the Patriots would finish Week 13 seeded fifth in the AFC. So, yeah, Monday night is a big game on several…
Source : espn
