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. (Example: If HOU and IND both finish 4-12, IND finishes in front of HOU in the AFC South.)
- Division ties are broken first.
- 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.
- The #6 seed will have at least an 8-8 record. Any 8-8 tie for the #6 seed must include all three of BUF, TEN, and LAC.
- Clinched division and first round bye: NE, PIT.
- Clinched division and #3 seed: JAX.
- Clinched division and #4 seed: KC.
- Eliminated: NYJ, CIN, CLE, IND, HOU, DEN, MIA, OAK.
- Eliminated from division: BUF, BAL, TEN, LAC.
- The complete tiebreaker rules are here.
AFC East
NE clinched division and first-round bye. NYJ and MIA eliminated from playoffs.
AFC North
PIT clinched division and first-round bye. CLE and CIN eliminated from playoffs.
AFC South
JAX clinched division and #3 seed. IND and HOU eliminated from playoffs.
AFC West
KC clinched division and #4 seed. DEN and OAK eliminated from playoffs.
| If these teams tie | at | with these things happening | tie goes to | based on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KC-LAC | 9-7 | KC | head-to-head |
Conference tiebreakers
2-team ties
| If these teams tie | at | tie goes to | based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| NE-PIT | NE | head-to-head | |
| BUF-BAL | 9-7 | BUF | strength-of-victory |
| BUF-TEN | 9-7 | TEN | conference record |
| BUF-LAC | 9-7 | LAC | head-to-head |
| BAL-TEN | 9-7 | TEN | head-to-head |
| BAL-LAC | 9-7 | BAL | conference record |
| TEN-LAC | 9-7 | TEN | conference record |
| JAX-KC | 10-6 | JAX | conference record |
3-team
| If these teams tie | at | tie goes to | based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| BUF-BAL-TEN | 9-7 | TEN | conference record |
| BUF-BAL-LAC | 9-7 | BUF |
|
| BAL-TEN-LAC | TEN | conference record |
4-team
| If these teams tie | at | tie goes to | based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| BUF-BAL-TEN-LAC | 9-7 | TEN | conference record |
