Steelers playoff scenarios

There are three that don’t involve a million ties. All of these must scenarios involve the Steelers winning next week against Miami of course:

1) Texans lose or tie and Jets lose or tie.

2) Texans lose or tie and Ravens lose or tie.

3) Jets lose or tie and Ravens lose or tie and Broncos lose or tie.

Some reaction and predictions on the scenarios after the jump…

Those are probably ranked from most likely to least likely. Houston hosts New England next week, who has looked great in recent weeks. But it’s certainly a winnable game for the Texans, even if the Pats play every starter for 60 minutes. Houston can score on anybody. I’d say Houston has about a 40 percent chance of winning that game.

The Jets play the Bengals on Sunday night, which makes things really interesting. If New England beats Houston at 1 p.m., the Bengals are looked into the 4th seed and have nothing to play for. They could rest their starters against a desperate Jets team, which would be bad news for Pittsburgh. With that in mind, I’d say the Jets have around a 60 percent chance of winning.

Option 2 provides the Steelers another chance, but Baltimore plays Oakland and needs a win to clinch a playoff spot. The Raiders have played well at home though so it might not be easy. I’d still say there’s a 70 percent chance the Ravens win.

All in all, the odds are slim but that doesn’t matter. There’s still a chance and a lot better one than most people thought their would be two weeks ago. Sports Club Stats says that there is a 14.9 percent chance that the Steelers make the playoffs, up five percent from last week.

Let’s not forget about the Dolphins though. It’s easy to look at these scenarios and forget that the Steelers have to beat a pretty solid team too. If they don’t show up to play on Sunday, nothing else matters.