Playoff Picture: Instead of 7th, Bills fall out of Wild Card position after loss to Eagles

The Bills could have been in playoff position, but couldn’t seal the deal.

With a win, the Buffalo Bills would have moved into seventh place and in playoff position in the competitive AFC. With their loss, Buffalo falls to 10th place and will need a perfect or near-perfect run down the stretch to secure a playoff spot.

There’s a four-way tie atop the conference with the Chiefs coming out on top for now with the better AFC record. The Jaguars are in second based on strength of victory and record in conference games. Then the Dolphins beat the Ravens on AFC record. Of course Baltimore is playing on Sunday night, so there won’t be a four-way tie for very long.

In the AFC East, the Bills are three games behind the Dolphins. It still may be Buffalo’s best path to the playoffs. Miami hasn’t beaten a team with a winning record (except Buffalo), so even if they beat the Commanders , Titans, and Jets to get to 11 wins, they could still lose to the Cowboys, Ravens, and Bills. If Buffalo wins the rest of their games, they would also be 11-6 and make the postseason. Big if, but maybe the best way in a convoluted AFC Wild Card race.

Here are the standings and we’ll update after Sunday night.

AFC Standings (pre-SNF)

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

+ Kansas City wins the four-way tie based on their record in AFC games. In the three-way tiebreak, it starts over at the beginning, so the Jaguars and Dolphins advance ahead of Baltimore based on AFC record. Jacksonville beats Miami on Strength of Victory. It starts over with Miami and Baltimore, and since they haven’t played yet, Miami wins the AFC record tiebreaker over Baltimore.

* In the three-way tie for the 7th spot, the Colts and Texans go to a division tiebreaker first. Indianapolis has a head-to-head win over Houston. Then the Colts and Broncos start over, going to record in AFC games. The Broncos and Texans then start over, when Houston tops Denver in record in AFC games.