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2020 AFC tiebreakers after Week 14 (and Raiders-Chargers)

by Jeremy Snyder - 0

The following charts seek to answer the following question: If these two (or more) teams finish with the same record, who wins the tiebreaker?

Notes and assumptions:

  1. No possibility of future tie games.
  2. Tiebreaker winners are as they would be if the teams were tied at the end of the season, NOT as if the season ended right now.  (Example: the only way MIA and NE wind up with the same record at the end of the season is if NE beats MIA next week.)
  3. Tiebreakers that don’t affect playoff berths or seeding are ignored.  (Example: any tie at fewer than 8 wins.)
  4. Any tie for the last wild card spot at exactly 8 wins must include BAL and either MIA or NE.
  5. Division ties are broken first. If MIA, NE, and BAL all finish 9-7, break the AFC East tie between MIA-NE first, then break the tie between the MIA-NE winner and BAL.
  6. If three or more teams are tied, apply that tiebreaker, not the two-team tiebreaker.
  7. Strength of victory is the combined winning percentage (essentially, the number of wins) of the teams a team has beaten. It has nothing to do with point totals.
  8. KC has clinched the AFC West.
  9. PIT has clinched a playoff spot.
  10. NYJ, JAX, CIN, LAC, and HOU have been eliminated.

The complete tiebreaker rules are here.

Jump to East | North | South | West | Interdivisional ties 2-way • 3-way • 4-way

AFC East

If these teams tie at with these things happening tie goes to based on
BUF-MIA 11-5 BUF beats NE BUF division record
BUF-MIA
  • MIA beats NE, and
  • BUF loses to NE
 BUF common opponents
BUF-MIA 10-6 MIA beats BUF; loses to NE BUF division record
MIA-NE NE head-to-head

AFC North

If these teams tie at with these things happening tie goes to based on
PIT-CLE PIT division record
PIT-BAL 11-5 PIT head-to-head
CLE-BAL BAL head-to-head
PIT-CLE-BAL 11-5 PIT head-to-head

AFC South

If these teams tie at with these things happening tie goes to based on
TEN-IND TEN beats HOU TEN division record
TEN-IND 11-5
  • TEN loses to HOU, and
  • IND beats JAX, HOU
 ? strength of victory
TEN-IND
  • TEN loses to HOU, and
  • IND loses to JAX or HOU
 TEN division record
TEN-IND IND loses to JAX, HOU TEN division record

AFC West

If these teams tie at with these things happening tie goes to based on
LV-DEN 8-8 DEN common opponents

Interdivisional ties

2-way ties

If these teams tie at with these things happening tie goes to based on
BUF-PIT BUF head-to-head
BUF-CLE CLE beats NYG BUF conference record
BUF-CLE CLE loses to NYG BUF common opponents
BUF-BAL BAL beats NYG BUF conference record
BUF-BAL 10-6 BAL loses to NYG BUF common opponents
BUF-TEN TEN head-to-head
BUF-IND BUF conference record
BUF-KC KC head-to-head
MIA-PIT 11-5 ? strength of victory
MIA-CLE CLE beats NYG MIA conference record
MIA-CLE
  • CLE loses to NYG, and
  • MIA beats LV
 MIA common opponents
MIA-CLE
  • CLE loses to NYG; beats NYJ, and
  • MIA loses to LV
 ? strength of victory
MIA-CLE CLE loses to NYG, NYJ MIA common opponents
MIA-BAL BAL beats NYG MIA conference record
MIA-BAL 10-6
  • BAL loses to NYG; beats JAX, CIN, and
  • MIA beats NE
 ? strength of victory
MIA-BAL 9-7
  • BAL loses to NYG; beats exactly one of JAX, CIN, and
  • MIA beats NE
 MIA common opponents
MIA-BAL 9-7
  • BAL loses to NYG; beats exactly one of JAX, CIN, and
  • MIA loses to NE
 ? strength of victory
MIA-BAL 8-8 BAL loses to NYG; loses to JAX, CIN MIA common opponents
MIA-TEN TEN beats DET, GB MIA conference record
MIA-TEN TEN beats exactly one of DET, GB TEN common opponents
TEN common opponents
MIA-TEN TEN loses to DET, GB TEN conference record
MIA-IND MIA conference record
MIA-LV 9-7 LV head-to-head
NE-CLE 9-7 NE conference record
NE-BAL NE head-to-head
NE-TEN 9-7 NE conference record
NE-IND 9-7 NE conference record
NE-LV 9-7 NE head-to-head
PIT-TEN PIT head-to-head
PIT-IND IND head-to-head
PIT-KC KC beats NO, ATL PIT conference record
PIT-KC KC beats exactly one of NO, ATL KC common opponents
PIT-KC KC loses to NO, ATL KC conference record
CLE-TEN CLE head-to-head
CLE-IND CLE head-to-head
CLE-KC 12-4 KC conference record
CLE-LV 9-7 LV head-to-head
BAL-TEN TEN head-to-head
BAL-IND BAL head-to-head
BAL-LV 9-7 LV conference record
TEN-KC 12-4 KC conference record
TEN-LV 9-7 ? strength of victory
IND-KC 12-4 KC conference record
IND-LV 9-7 IND head-to-head

3-way ties

If these teams tie at with these things happening tie goes to based on
BUF-PIT-TEN TEN beats DET, GB BUF
  1. TEN eliminated on conference record
  2. head-to-head
BUF-PIT-TEN 11-5 TEN loses to DET or GB ? strength of victory
BUF-PIT-IND BUF
  1. PIT eliminated on head-to-head
  2. conference record
BUF-PIT-KC 13-3 KC beats NO or ATL ? strength of victory
BUF-PIT-KC KC loses to NO, ATL KC conference record
BUF-CLE-TEN
  • CLE beats NYG, and
  • TEN beats DET, GB
 BUF conference record
BUF-CLE-TEN
  • CLE beats NYG, and
  • TEN beats exactly one of DET, GB
 TEN
  1. CLE eliminated on conference record
  2. head-to-head
BUF-CLE-TEN
  • CLE loses to NYG, and
  • TEN beats DET, GB
 BUF
  1. TEN eliminated on conference record
  2. common opponents
BUF-CLE-TEN
  • CLE loses to NYG, and
  • TEN beats exactly one of DET, GB
 ? strength of victory
BUF-CLE-TEN TEN loses to DET, GB TEN conference record
BUF-CLE-IND CLE beats NYG BUF conference record
BUF-CLE-IND CLE loses to NYG BUF
  1. IND eliminated on conference record
  2. common opponents
BUF-CLE-KC 12-4 KC conference record
BUF-BAL-TEN TEN head-to-head
BUF-BAL-IND BAL beats NYG BUF conference record
BUF-BAL-IND BAL loses to NYG BUF common opponents
BUF-TEN-KC 12-4 KC
  1. BUF eliminated on head-to-head
  2. conference record
BUF-IND-KC 12-4 KC conference record
MIA-PIT-TEN 11-5 TEN beats DET, GB MIA or PIT
  1. TEN eliminated on conference record
  2. strength of victory
MIA-PIT-TEN 11-5 TEN loses to DET or GB TEN common opponents
MIA-PIT-IND 11-5 MIA or PIT
  1. IND eliminated on conference record
  2. strength of victory
MIA-CLE-TEN 11-5
  • CLE beats NYG, and
  • TEN beats DET, GB
 MIA conference record
MIA-CLE-TEN
  • CLE beats NYG, and
  • TEN beats exactly one of DET, GB
 TEN
  1. CLE eliminated on conference record
  2. common opponents
MIA-CLE-TEN 11-5
  • CLE loses to NYG, and
  • TEN beats DET, GB
 MIA
  1. TEN eliminated on conference record
  2. common opponents
MIA-CLE-TEN
  • CLE loses to NYG, and
  • TEN beats exactly one of DET, GB
 ? strength of victory
MIA-CLE-TEN TEN loses to DET, GB TEN conference record
MIA-CLE-IND CLE beats NYG MIA conference record
MIA-CLE-IND
  • CLE loses to NYG, and
  • MIA beats LV
 MIA
  1. IND eliminated on conference record
  2. common opponents
MIA-CLE-IND
  • CLE loses to NYG; beats NYJ, and
  • MIA loses to LV
 MIA or CLE
  1. IND eliminated on conference record
  2. strength of victory
MIA-CLE-IND CLE loses to NYG, NYJ MIA
  1. IND eliminated on conference record
  2. common opponents
MIA-CLE-LV 9-7 LV head-to-head
MIA-BAL-TEN 11-5 TEN beats DET, GB MIA conference record
MIA-BAL-TEN
  • BAL beats NYG, and
  • TEN beats exactly one of DET, GB
 TEN
  1. BAL eliminated on conference record
  2. common opponents
MIA-BAL-TEN 10-6
  • BAL loses to NYG, and
  • TEN beats exactly one of DET, GB
 ? strength of victory
MIA-BAL-TEN TEN loses to DET, GB TEN conference record
MIA-BAL-IND BAL beats NYG MIA conference record
MIA-BAL-IND 10-6
  • BAL loses to NYG; beats JAX, CIN, and
  • MIA beats NE
 MIA or BAL
  1. IND eliminated on conference record
  2. strength of victory
MIA-BAL-IND 10-6
  • BAL loses to NYG; beats JAX, CIN, and
  • MIA loses to NE
 BAL
  1. IND eliminated on conference record
  2. common opponents
MIA-BAL-IND 9-7
  • BAL loses to NYG; loses to JAX or CIN, and
  • MIA beats NE
 MIA
  1. IND eliminated on conference record
  2. common opponents
MIA-BAL-IND 9-7
  • BAL loses to NYG; loses to JAX or CIN, and
  • MIA loses to NE
 MIA or BAL
  1. IND eliminated on conference record
  2. strength of victory
MIA-BAL-LV LV conference record
MIA-BAL-DEN 8-8 DEN conference record
MIA-TEN-LV 9-7 TEN or LV
  1. MIA eliminated on conference record
  2. strength of victory
MIA-IND-LV 9-7 LV conference record
NE-CLE-TEN 9-7 NE conference record
NE-CLE-IND 9-7 NE conference record
NE-CLE-LV 9-7 NE conference record
NE-BAL-TEN 9-7 NE
  1. BAL eliminated on head-to-head
  2. conference record
NE-BAL-IND 9-7 NE conference record
NE-BAL-LV NE head-to-head
NE-BAL-DEN 8-8 DEN
  1. BAL eliminated on conference record
  2. head-to-head
NE-TEN-LV 9-7 NE conference record
NE-IND-LV 9-7 NE
  1. LV eliminated on head-to-head
  2. conference record
PIT-TEN-KC 12-4 KC conference record
PIT-IND-KC 12-4 KC conference record
CLE-TEN-KC 12-4 KC conference record
CLE-TEN-LV 9-7 TEN or LV
  1. CLE eliminated on conference record
  2. strength of victory
CLE-IND-KC 12-4 KC conference record
CLE-IND-LV 9-7 LV conference record
BAL-TEN-LV 9-7 TEN or LV
  1. BAL eliminated on conference record
  2. strength of victory
BAL-IND-LV 9-7 LV conference record

4-way ties

BUF-PIT-TEN-KC 12-4 KC conference record
BUF-PIT-IND-KC 12-4 KC conference record
BUF-CLE-TEN-KC 12-4 KC conference record
BUF-CLE-IND-KC 12-4 KC conference record
MIA-CLE-TEN-LV 9-7 TEN or LV
  1. MIA & CLE eliminated on conference record
  2. strength of victory
MIA-CLE-IND-LV 9-7 LV conference record
MIA-BAL-TEN-LV 9-7 TEN or LV
  1. MIA & BAL eliminated on conference record
  2. strength of victory
MIA-BAL-IND-LV 9-7 LV conference record
NE-CLE-TEN-LV 9-7 NE conference record
NE-CLE-IND-LV 9-7 NE conference record
NE-BAL-TEN-LV 9-7 NE conference record
NE-BAL-IND-LV 9-7 NE conference record

 

Jeremy Snyder

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