Colts’ Updated Playoff Picture Revealed

Following Saturday’s blowout from the Los Angeles Chargers and a narrow victory from the Cincinnati Bengals over the Denver Broncos, the Indianapolis Colts‘ playoff chances are still alive heading into their final two contests of the season.

Yet, while the road for the Colts to go dancing in the postseason is feasible, it won’t be a simple feat.

With the Chargers’ 40-7 victory over the New England Patriots, they effectively lock themselves into the 7th playoff spot in the AFC, leaving one spot up for grabs between the Colts, Bengals, and Miami Dolphins.

The task for the Colts is simple across the upcoming two games: win out.

With the NFL’s 32nd-ranked strength of schedule against the New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars, securing two wins down the stretch to go 9-8 on the season sounds simple enough. However, if the Colts want to find their way into that 7th seed, they’ll need some additional help, even if they win out.

Indianapolis will need to be in a three or four-way tie with the Broncos at a 9-8 record alongside the Bengals and/or the Dolphins in Week 18 to have what it takes to get the last spot in the AFC.

For that outcome to transpire, the Broncos will need to lose against the Kansas City Chiefs, along with either the Bengals defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers, or the Dolphins winning vs. both the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets to tie with the Colts. If that happens, while the Colts take care of their business– they’re in.

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In the event of a multi-team tie in the standings, the deciding factor turns to each team’s win-loss record against their respective conference if they haven’t played head-to-head. For this case, Denver would have a 5-7 record against the AFC, Cincinnati would have a 6-6 record, and Indianapolis and Miami would tie at 7-5 if the Dolphins win out.

Since the Colts beat the Dolphins in Week 7, they have the head-to-head tiebreaker over Miami, so long as Indianapolis wins out over the final two weeks.

Simply put, a lot needs to go the Colts’ way over this week and next to make a last-ditch effort for a postseason run, but it’s far from out of the cards.

The first step to making such a miracle happen for Indianapolis lands on Sunday afternoon when Joe Flacco and the Colts travel to MetLife Stadium to take on the Giants at 1:00 PM.

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