As the NFL season gets ready to head into Week 15, there have only been four playoff spots clinched, which means there are still 10 up for grabs.
The Chiefs and Bills have clinched a spot in the AFC while the Lions and Eagles have punched their ticket in the NFC. In Week 15, we could see four more teams join them with the Vikings, Packers, Texans and Steelers all having the ability to clinch a playoff spot (The Steelers and Vikings simply need to win this week to clinch a postseason berth while the Texans and Packers will need some help to clinch a spot this week. You can check out all of the clinching scenarios here).
With all this clinching talk, you might be wondering who’s actually going to make the postseason, so we’re going to try and figure that out by making some playoff projections.
These projections are based on data from number-cruncher Stephen Oh of SportsLine. Each week, Oh plugs some numbers into his SportsLine computer and simulates the rest of the NFL season. Using those numbers, we then project the 14 teams we expect to make the playoffs.
With that in mind, let’s get to the projections heading into Week 15.
AFC playoff projection
Here’s a list of the playoff chances for all the other AFC teams (with percentage chance of getting into the playoffs in parentheses): Colts (16%), Dolphins (11.4%), Bengals (2.2%), Titans (Eliminated), Browns (Eliminated), Jets (Eliminated), Jaguars (Eliminated), Patriots (Eliminated), Raiders (Eliminated)
NFC playoff projection
Here’s a list of the playoff chances for all the other NFC teams (with percentage chance of getting into the playoffs in parentheses): Falcons (30.8%), Rams (26.6%), 49ers (4.2%), Cardinals (3.7%), Saints (1.0%), Cowboys (0.3%), Panthers (0.0%), Bears (0.0%), Giants (Eliminated)
Wild-card round projection
AFC
(7) Broncos at (2) Bills
(6) Chargers at (3) Steelers
(5) Ravens at (4) Texans
Bye: Chiefs
NFC
(7) Commanders at (2) Eagles
(6) Packers at (3) Seahawks
(5) Vikings at (4) Buccaneers
Bye: Lions
