AFC Week 15 project: Have I got a whopper for you....

I said earlier that I would work on a sheet and take a look at the schedules of the 12 teams in the AFC with at least 7 wins and no ties.

My goal is to find the maximum tiebreaker, hoping I could get to 11 teams.

I CAN!!!

There are some permutations, and most of this must precisely happen in one particular way, but:

• Kansas City must lose out, to PIT, CIN, and DEN
• New England must beat JAX, lose to BUF and MIA
• Tennessee must lose to MIA, and then beat either SF or HOU, but not both.
• Cincinnati must beat BAL and KC, but then lose to CLE
• Indianapolis must beat two of the three of ARI, LV (the only 7+ win no-tie team which is an impossibility), and JAX
• Buffalo must beat NE and either ATL or the Jets, but not both
• Baltimore must lose to CIN, but beat the Rams and PIT
• The Chargers must beat HOU and LV, but lose to DEN
• Miami must win out:  NO, TEN, and NE
• Cleveland must win out:  GB, PIT, and CIN
• Denver must win out:  LV, LAC, KC

If all of that happens, EVERY TEAM ON THIS LIST is 10-7.

• New England, Miami, and Buffalo out of the East
• Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Cleveland in the North (and Pittsburgh can't jump the lot to 10-6-1)
• Tennessee and Indianapolis out of the South
• Kansas City, the Chargers, and Denver out of the West

So then who gets in?  Plug into the ESPN Playoff Machine and find out -- several of the tiebreakers for the division-winner tiebreakers for the 1-4 would be Strength of Victory.

It seems to be that you can get scenarios where the Dolphins, Bills or Titans can be the #1 seed.