Baltimore clinched a playoff spot with its win over Jacksonville on Sunday, and a third straight AFC North title officially is out of reach for Cincinnati but the division is not yet locked up for the Ravens, thanks to Cleveland’s narrow win over Chicago on Sunday.
If the Bengals are to make it back to an AFC Championship for a third straight year, it will have to come as a Wild Card team.
Going into Week 15, six AFC teams were 7-6, but only four of them won over the weekend – the Bengals, Colts, Texans and Bills. Jacksonville, which was 8-5 before the loss to the Ravens, remain in the No. 4 seed as the AFC South leaders based on head-to-head win percentage. AFC East-leading Miami (10-4) and AFC West-leading Kansas City (9-5) sit at No. 2 and 3, respectively.
Cleveland (9-5) sits at No. 5, and the Bengals follow in sixth thanks to head-to-head wins over Buffalo and Indianapolis, which had the division advantage over Houston based on head-to-head win percentage. The Colts have the tie break over Buffalo for the No. 7 spot, based on best win percentage in conference games, where they are 6-4 compared to the Bills at 4-5.
The Texans are the next team in line for a playoff spot, just below the cutoff line in eighth, thanks to a better conference record than the Bills, but if Houston goes on to win the AFC South and Cincinnati keeps winning, the Bengals have a head-to-head advantage against Indianapolis and Jacksonville.
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