With the NFL season heading into Week 12, the playoff race is heating up.
If you’re a fan of a team that currently has a losing record, don’t give up on the season just yet, as many teams have made the playoffs despite having a losing record in Week 12. In fact. , since the NFL expanded the playoffs to 14 teams in 2020, 10 teams with a record of .500 or below going into Week 12 ended up making the playoffs.
Here’s a breakdown of that:
2020: 1 (Commanders)
2021: 3 (Raiders, Eagles, 49ers)
2022: 3 (Jaguars, Chargers, Pirates)
2023: 3 (Rams, Pirates, Packers)
Does any team that is currently .500 or under have a chance to make the postseason this year? Let’s head to this week’s playoff projections and find out.
These projections are based on data from number cruncher Stephen Oh of SportsLine. Each week, Oh plugs some numbers into his SportsLine computer and simulates the rest of the NFL season. Using those numbers, we then project the 14 teams we expect to make the playoffs.
With that in mind, let’s move on to the Week 12 projections.
AFC playoff projection
Here is a list of the playoff chances for all other AFC teams (their percentage chances of making the playoffs are listed next to them in parentheses): Colts (21.5%), Bengals (14.5%), Dolphins (13.4%), Jaguars (0.6%), Jets (0.4%), Titans (0.3%), Patriots (0.2%), Browns (0.1%), Raiders ( 0.0%)
Note: The Raiders aren’t eliminated from playoff contention, but their chances are listed at zero because the computer has given up on them.
NFC playoff projection
Here is a list of the playoff chances for all other NFC teams (their percentage chances to make the playoffs are listed next to them in parentheses): 49ers (32.1%), Pirates (28.2%), Seahawks (26.8%), Rams (10.2%), Saints (7.1%), Bears (0.7%), Panthers (0.3%), Cowboys (0.1%), Giants ( 0.0%)
Wild round projection
AFC
(7) Broncos at (2) Bills
(6) Ravens at (3) Steelers
(5) Chargers at (4) Texans
goodbye: bosses
NFC
(7) Packers at (2) Eagles
(6) Commanders at (3) Cardinals
(5) Vikings at (4) Falcons
goodbye: Lions
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