The Buffalo Bills fell to 4-8 on Sunday with their loss to the Miami Dolphins. With that, they have already limited their paths to the playoffs as they were eliminated from the AFC East divisional race with the New England Patriots’ win. This Sunday, Buffalo can be completely eliminated from the playoffs.
With two AFC West teams already at nine or more wins, Buffalo won’t be able to pass one of them for one of the Wild Card spots, so that eliminates one another path.
If the Baltimore Ravens beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, the Ravens’ record is pushed to 8-5. The best record Buffalo can achieve now is 8-8. Since the Ravens have already beaten the Bills, they would win the head-to-head tiebreaker with Buffalo even if Baltimore lost the final three games of the season. In a three-way tiebreak situation, the Ravens would be 7-5 in the AFC if they somehow fell to 8-8 after beating the Chiefs while Buffalo winning out would only get them to 6-6 in the conference.
Baltimore could still win their division at 8-8. If the Pittsburgh Steelers lose out, they will be 7-8-1. So if the Steelers win to push their record to no worse than 8-7-1, they will be guaranteed to finish better than Buffalo.
So long story short, if the Baltimore Ravens win any of their remaining AFC games plus the Steelers win a game, Buffalo is eliminated from the playoffs. The scoreboard watching starts this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
The Bills will be eliminated if...
- Buffalo loses a game
- Baltimore wins an AFC game + Pittsburgh win