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:
- No possibility of future tie games.
- 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.
- Tiebreakers that don’t affect playoff berths or seeding are ignored.
- Division ties are broken first. If MIA, CLE and BAL all finish 10-6, break the AFC North tie between CLE and BAL first, then break the tie between the CLE-BAL winner and MIA.
- If three or more teams are tied, apply that tiebreaker, not the two-team tiebreaker.
- 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.
- BUF has clinched the AFC East, PIT has clinched the AFC North, and KC has clinched the AFC West (and the #1 seed).
- NYJ, JAX, CIN, LAC, HOU, DEN, NE, and LV have been eliminated.
The complete tiebreaker rules are here.
Jump to North | South | Interdivisional ties 2-way • 3-way
AFC North
| If these teams tie | at | tie goes to | based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| CLE-BAL | BAL | head-to-head |
AFC South
| If these teams tie | at | tie goes to | based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| TEN-IND | TEN | division record |
Interdivisional ties
2-way ties
| If these teams tie | at | tie goes to | based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| BUF-PIT | BUF | head-to-head | |
| MIA-CLE | MIA | conference record | |
| MIA-BAL | MIA | conference record | |
| MIA-TEN | 10-6 | TEN | common opponents |
| MIA-IND | MIA | conference record | |
| CLE-TEN | 10-6 | CLE | head-to-head |
| CLE-IND | CLE | head-to-head | |
| BAL-TEN | 10-6 | TEN | head-to-head |
| BAL-IND | BAL | head-to-head |
3-way ties
| If these teams tie | at | tie goes to | based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| MIA-CLE-TEN | 10-6 | TEN |
|
| MIA-CLE-IND | MIA | conference record | |
| MIA-BAL-TEN | 10-6 | TEN |
|
| MIA-BAL-IND | MIA | conference record |
