Buffalo Bills still out of AFC playoff spot, but move up after Monday night

The Buffalo Bills have fallen out of playoff position and the AFC North has four teams in the top seven as the current playoff picture comes into focus. Buffalo’s loss drops them to 5-4 on the year and eighth in the AFC.

Buffalo was ninth heading into Monday Night Football but the win by the Los Angeles Chargers helped the Bills move back up into eighth. The Jets are now 4-4 and a half-game back of Buffalo. The Chargers are also 4-4.

The AFC North isn’t going to get four teams into the postseason as they beat up on each other, but it’s worth noting all of them are in position right now. The Browns and Ravens face off in Week 10.

Here are the standings:

1. Kansas City Chiefs (7-2, 5-1 AFC)
2. Baltimore Ravens (7-2, 4-2 AFC)
3. Jacksonville Jaguars (6-2)
4. Miami Dolphins (6-3)
5*. Pittsburgh Steelers (5-3, division tiebreaker*)
6*. Cleveland Browns (5-3, division tiebreaker*, win over CIN)
7*. Cincinnati Bengals (5-3, division tiebreaker*, loss to CLE)
8. Buffalo Bills (5-4)
9. Houston Texans (4-4, 2-2 AFC)
10. Los Angeles Chargers (4-4, 2-3 AFC, win over NYJ)
11. New York Jets (4-4, 2-3 AFC, loss to LAC)
12. Indianapolis Colts (4-5, 3-3 AFC)
13. Las Vegas Raiders (4-5, 2-3 AFC)
14. Tennessee Titans (3-5, 2-4 AFC)
15. Denver Broncos (3-5, 1-4 AFC)
16. New England Patriots (2-7)

* Steelers win a three-way tie in the AFC North because of their 2-0 division record. Then the Browns have a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Bengals.

The Texans, Chargers, and Jets are in a three-way tie for 9th, so the record in AFC games is used to put Houston in front. Then the head-to-head tiebreaker slots in the Chargers next.