FanPost

The Common Enemy

Seattle’s win on Monday Night Football about wrapped up the #5 seed in the NFC for them. The Rams are locked in as the division winner.

Similarly, the Chargers look solid as the #5 seed as they’d need to run the table and hope the Chiefs lose another one of their last two. There is a remote chance that Los Angeles could end up the #1 seed in the AFC, as the Chiefs have to play in front of a hopefully jacked Seattle crowd and then a lowly Oakland team looking to play spoiler, so maybe. Just maybe.

Oddly, perhaps, the final AFC wild card spot is currently held by the Ravens, but the Steelers—fresh off their three game losing streak to the AFC West—could conceivably miss the playoffs.

The Titans and Colts likely won’t catch Houston, so they’ll have to fight it out with the Dolphins to have any shot at the postseason.

Had the Broncos not crapped their Levi’s in Santa Clara, they’d be in the playoff conversation, too. But they did, so they’re not.

Because the AFC West played both the AFC North and the NFC West this year, that means that, as a division, they played or will play 6 (Los Angeles), 7 (Kansas City, who lost to the Patriots), 8 (Oakland), or 9 (Denver, who narrowly lost to Houston) games against current playoff-bound teams. That’s a total of 30 games.

How’d they do?

Against the NFC West Oakland did particularly poorly. They lost to the Rams, as every team in the AFC West did, but also got smacked around by the 49ers and the Seahawks. They did beat Arizona, as did everyone in the division.

Denver was ok, beating Arizona 45-10 (remember that score), squeaking past Seattle, and losing close ones against the Rams and, to effectively end their season, the Niners.

The Chiefs, who still have a game to play at Seattle, came up short in an epic game against the Rams, but dispatched the Niners and Cardinals.

The Bolts lost the "Battle for LA" (is anyone still trying to make that happen?), won close ones against Seattle and San Francisco, and walked over the Cardinals, 45-10.

In all, with one game to play, the AFC West holds a slim 8-7 lead over the season against the NFC West, and are only 2-5 against the playoff-bound Rams and Hawks. All good Chargers fans should be rooting for that to end at 8-8 (3-6) as that last game is Chiefs at Seahawks.

To note, the NFC West, who played the NFC North, have played or will play 7 (Los Angeles, who lost in New Orleans, and Seattle, who beat Dallas) or 8 (Arizona and San Francisco)—also 30—games against playoff teams. Their record against the NFC North is 7-8 and 2-5 against the Bears and Vikings. The 49ers still have to host the Bears.

The NFC North is a weird beast this year. Early on, Pittsburgh was dominant, Cincinnati was pretty good, Cleveland was showing promise, and Baltimore was having an identity crisis. Over the past few weeks, Pittsburgh looks lost, Baltimore looks energized, Cincinnati has moved its locker room to the ICU at Mercy, and Cleveland is playing for brighter days ahead, again.

Against them, the Raiders, with a game to go against Cincinnati, beat the Steelers. But everyone in the division beat the Steelers [insert happy emoji here]. They won against Cleveland, but they lost in Baltimore.

The Broncos, with a game still to go against Cleveland, also lost to Baltimore, but beat Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

Kansas City swept the division with narrow wins over Baltimore and Pittsburgh. They beat Cleveland with more breathing room and downed the Bengals 45-10.

The Chargers, with a week 16 home game against the Ravens, have beaten the three other teams.

The total then, is an impressive 11-2—5-2 against playoff teams—with three games still to play.

The Chargers are 2-2 against current playoff teams with two more to come. The Chiefs are 3-2 also with two more ahead. These records will change on Thursday night.

Finally, a note of apology. I posted on one article or other that the Denver loss was a no-big-deal, things-are-gonna-happen loss. I was wrong. Had the Chargers won that ultimately winnable game, they’d only need to win on Thursday to take the #1 seed in the playoffs. Now, they need a win and lots of luck. Stupid Broncos.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Bolts From The Blue community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Bolts From The Blue editors or SB Nation.