The AFC North is nearly definitely going to have only one playoff workforce, and it’s prone to be one among these two groups. They nonetheless have two head-to-head video games remaining on the schedule, together with a Week 18 recreation in Pittsburgh.
Each groups are 6-6 and neither one goes into this recreation wanting overly spectacular. There are additionally important damage considerations with each quarterbacks as Pittsburgh’s Aaron Rodgers and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson are each coping with accidents.
They’re flawed groups backing into the sport, however it’s nonetheless a large recreation that may dramatically change the AFC North race.
It was just a few weeks in the past that the Colts had been 7-1 and in full management of the AFC South.
Now they’ve misplaced three of their previous 4 video games, discover themselves tied for the highest spot with Jacksonville and have Houston only one recreation behind them.
The remainder of their schedule can also be daunting as they play yet one more recreation in opposition to Houston, each video games in opposition to Jacksonville and in addition non-division video games in opposition to the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. Will they even win any of them? May they go from the No. 1 seed within the AFC to out of the playoffs fully? It’s not out of the query to suppose that they might end in third place within the division the best way issues are going and the best way the remaining schedule appears to be like.
The massive query with the Bears within the first half was the very fact they’d probably not crushed any good groups, and in reality had been blown out by the 2 potential playoff groups they performed. It created some questions as to what they might do with their second-half schedule that featured an in depth record of playoff contenders.
They made a giant assertion over the previous two weeks with wins over the Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles.
Now they’re getting one other massive take a look at on Sunday in opposition to a Packers workforce that’s wanting like a prime contender within the NFC.
It’s the third recreation of the weekend the place first place is on the road.
If the Bears win this recreation, there ought to be no extra questioning of them or their schedule. They are going to be legit.
One other week, one other pivotal recreation for the Chiefs and the playoff possibilities. After dropping to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving the Chiefs now discover themselves able the place they’ve nearly no margin for error the remainder of the best way. Even yet one more loss might be sufficient to knock them out of the playoffs this season. That might be extraordinary primarily based on the preseason expectations and what they’ve accomplished within the Andy Reid-Patrick Mahomes period.
Houston, in the meantime, can’t solely strengthen its wild-card possibilities, but additionally preserve tempo within the AFC South race. The Texans protection may be the perfect unit within the AFC and that alone makes them a tough workforce to take care of proper now.
